York

I've always enjoyed staying in quirky, unconventional places when I travel. No mainstream hotels for me, thanks. York was no exception. Our home away from home was the guesthouse at The Bar Convent, England's oldest living convent. (In this case "bar" refers to an official entrance or gate to the walled city of York.) It was lovely, and not as spartan as one's imagination might think. In fact, it is one of our favorite places we have stayed in. Founded in 1686, during a time of persecution of Catholics, the convent was a secret community where nuns concealed their identity and established a school for girls. The current buildings date to the 18th century.

The Bar Convent, whose brickwork is being repointed, can be seen with scaffolding and a green screen.

The garden and outdoor cafe at the convent. An oasis in what is otherwise a bustling city.

Gorgeous encaustic (not glazed, but colored clay) tile on the floor of the indoor courtyard and dining room.

Micklegate Bar, once the primary entrance into medieval-walled York, dates back to the 1100s and has had many royal visitors, including Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII, James I, Charles I, James II, and Elizabeth II. the severed heads of rebels and traitors were spiked and displayed on the roof. We behaved ourselves!

York Minster comes into view from atop the city walls.

 

York is the ancient capital of the north and the Minster, the Saxon term for a mission church, was the flagship of Christian faith at the far end of the Roman Empire. The Nave was built between 1291 and 1350, and is one of the widest in Europe.

 

 

 

 

 

We lucked out and heard the choir rehearsing for evensong.

York is a bit of a mecca for serious shoppers. We had fun "window shopping" here,...

 

...and here,...

 

and, well, I caved and did some real shopping here!

 

 

The timber-framed Shambles (once Great Flesh Shambles), a popular shopping street dating back to the 14th century, gets its name from "flesh shelves," which were the shelves butchers displayed meat on.

 

 

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English National Dish

It's long been thought that Fish and Chips were the unofficial national dish of the English. Apparently not so! My dig buddy, Dave, tells me it's now Chicken Tikka. He may be "taking the Mickey out of me," (pulling my leg), but Indian restaurants are everywhere, and Chicken Tikka is found on the menus of many mainstream restaurants. Take a look at what is known as "Indian Mile" in South Shields. There are eight, yes eight, Indian restaurants literally right next door to one another. This doesn't include the others that are scattered along Ocean Road, South Shields' high street.

 

 

 

 

On any given night, each of these restaurants did a steady stream of eat-in and take-out business. We watched with amazement night after night, during our evening strolls down to the beach, as locals and tourists alike fulfilled their hankering for "a curry." Where does this love of the cuisine from the Indian subcontinent come from? One needs only look at the history books to see how far back the British have been connected with this part of the world. Trading in the region dates back to the 17th century, The East India Company was established in the early 18th century, and the British Raj assumed control in 1858. Immigrants from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have deliciously spiced up British cuisine ever since.

 

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Walking the Wall

I have dreamed of walking portions of Hadrian's Wall for some time now. There is an almost mythical appeal about it for me. I knew some parts of it are challenging, but that quite a bit of it is slight undulating inclines and declines. My husband and I do a bit of day hiking from time to time, such as climbing Cadillac in Maine and some of the Shawangunk Range in upstate New York. Nothing could have prepared me for this four hour journey! While on a map the distance from the Walltown Crags to Steel Rigg isn't long, the topography of the land makes it very challenging at times, with almost vertical climbs and steep slippery downhill scrambles. The view makes it all worthwhile, though! Here are a few images from our journey.

Our journey began at the Walltown Crags.

Up and over we go!

What goes up...

 

...must come down. Jennie, my friend and travel companion makes her way down one of the many "hills."

 

Several sections of the hike require walking through farm property. Can you guess where the builders of this centuries old farmhouse got the stone to build with? Look closely and you'll see the signature square-cut blocks from the wall.

 

The cows did not look amused, so we steered clear of them!

This farm sits on top of the mostly unexcavated Aesica Fort.

 

This altar from the fort sits at the entrance to the farm. Fellow walkers have left coins as offerings.

One of the most spectacular sights along the wall. I was thrilled when I realized we didn't have to climb it! This is an old quarry.

 

This is one of the best and highest preserved sections of the wall.

Everywhere you look there are clues to the past, but the land hides many secrets beneath.

As I learned on the dig, you must look for "the humps and bumps" in the landscape. The vallum (the ditch around a fort) is unmistakable

 

Jennie taking what we call a "panting break" on a steep uphill climb.

Truth be told, I'm taking a break, too, insisting we stop for a photo!

Another climb ahead!

 

Another break to look back at our latest accomplishment. A lovely straight stretch of wall, too.

These low bits are jokingly referred to as "Hadrian's Shelf."

 

Up again!

 

Yikes! This time horses are waiting for us. I wonder what they think of all the walkers?

At the very top we had to go on all fours to negotiate a very craggy and muddy bit.

 

A light mist waiting for us at the top, but it was absolutely worth it when we reached the highest point.

 

Our four hour walk at an end with so much wall ahead of us. Another time, perhaps.

 

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Examples of Female Finds

 

 

 

Today I saw some excellent examples of the "female finds" I referred to in the last post, so I thought I'd share them. These are in the fabulous Roman Baths in Bath, which we toured today. More on the visit to come.

Hair pins, made primarily of bone.

 

Bracelets

Earrings

Spindle whorls

Bracelets, finger rings and brooches (not necessarily women's), and beads.

 

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When it rains on a dig...

Please forgive my absence in the blogosphere. We've been on the move constantly since leaving the dig and I'm now playing catchup!

During the four days when it rained and we weren't able to dig, we got to help with a few other tasks. Several people sorted through pieces of broken box and roof tile looking for evidence of maker's stamps. The craftsmen had their own stamps and these identifying marks are very useful to archeologists.

 

Others cleaned and sorted through pottery sherds (shards are glass, which was new information for me) and looked for characteristics such as textures, patterns, lips, bases, or spouts, to help identify what they once were.

 

 

Alex Croom, a world-renowned Roman pottery expert, received help from Arlene (Arizona) and Suzanne (Hawaii) on identifying pottery.

 

In some cases, there were enough pieces found, belonging to an individual piece, that they could be glued together.

(Chris, who is 18 and from London, is attempting to glue sherds together and not having much luck!)

 

I was given an assignment that I thoroughly enjoyed -- working as a research assistant to our supervising archeologist. My rainy days were filled with working in one of the offices (warm and dry!) with the computer database of finds to search for evidence of "female finds" in the barracks. He is working on a journal article, which he gave me a draft to read, about the suspected presence of women in certain men's barracks during particular time periods. These finds would have been hair pins, bangles, spindle whorls (heavy weights that add momentum when spinning yarn on a spindle) or earrings made of bone, jet, silver, and gold. I searched by material, then by object, barrack number, and occupation period. My spreadsheet skills were minimal prior to this assignment and after four days of doing this, I was whizzing through filters and sorts! My supervisor was so impressed that several times on the last day he said, "While you are in there, would you mind looking for...?" I was pleased on our closing day, when reviewing our team's accomplishments, that he highlighted my efforts and that they had brought him much closer to finishing his work, perhaps by as much as a year. I never thought I'd come home from this with increased computer skills!



 

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Digging for Treasure

After missing four days of digging due to rain, it was great to be back on the job today. The sun made appearances throughout the day, but more importantly, it didn't rain! Today's assignment was a mystery area. I was digging in what appears to be a dumping ground of sorts. It is right up against a wall of sorts, but is missing the usual trench in between the two. It didn't take long before I started to find things.

 

First up was a bit of pottery that appears to be the base of a small pot, perhaps used for incense.

Not long after finding that, I noticed the lip of a pot protruding from the hard mud-like earth. It helped that I had processed some previous finds during our indoor rainy days.

 

I proceeded cautiously...

...and this is what came out.


 

 

As I contined to dig in the same area, I found a few more pieces most likely from the same pot. After digging most of the day in the same area, I hit the jackpot.

 

This pottery sherd has wonderful grooves in it, which usually help in identifying the piece in question. Not long after I found it, the manager of the entire excavation happened to make a rare walk through the site while we were working. My supervisor encouraged me to show the piece to him, as he is also a world-renowned expert in Roman pottery. After examining it with everyone watching and waiting, he said, "I'm baffled." After he left the site, I did my happy digger/I stumped the experts dance!

 

 

It was a very successful day. Here is what one areas finds tray looked like at the end of the day.

Lots of bone, pottery, tile, a bit of iron, and a brass piece from perhaps a belt. This will dry overnight, be cleaned, identified, and recorded, if deemed of any value.

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