Sheep Henge

With this week’s weather report seriously depressing me (rain, rain, rain, rain. Oh, and snow in Wales where we were supposed to go hiking), I decided to use yesterday’s good weather for the northern part of Cumbria to my advantage and set out for the town of Penrith. Penrith’s train station is one of the stops for the train to Edinburgh, so I had seen a bit of the city (and the castle ruins directly adjacent to the station) on my two trips up to Scotland. Since I LOVE castle ruins and Kevin thinks they are all basically the same, I thought this might be a great thing to do while he was at work. I’m glad he wasn’t there because he would have gotten very annoyed at me when once again my supposed short walk around town turned into an adventure.

Sitting on the train, I found four things that I definitly wanted to visit in Penrith – the castle ruins , King Arthur’s Round Table, Mayburgh Henge and Brougham Castle. According to the English Heritage book, they were all located near each other and were less than a 2 mile walk outside of town. I figured I would start with the Penrith Castle, then find a better map and head out for the other three locations.

When I stepped off the train – I immediately regretted not bringing a winter coat (I don’t even have one in England). So, I ran across the street to the castle and then proceeded to hop around the grounds checking it out. (Seriously, I was so cold I was hoping from one foot to the other to warm up). While the castle is an English Heritage site, it was lacking in any real information about it. usually, at sites like this there are signs everywhere telling you what it used to look like, what it was used for, who built it, etc., but all I could find was a reconstruction of what the castle once looked like. Based on a little internet research (thank you Wikipedia) I discovered it was built between 1399 and 1470 to counter the ever present raids by the Scots. (Penrith is really close to the Scottish border). While still the Duke of Gloucester, King Richard III lived here. Therefore, when he became King, the castle became property of the crown and remained Crown property until William III gave it away to a friend.

By the time I was done exploring the castle, I was thoroughly frozen. I thought to find a teashop and grab a cup of tea to warm up and maybe something to eat when I looked across the street and saw McDonalds! Unfortunately, they were only serving breakfast so I could not grab a delicious double cheeseburger, but I did get two hash browns and a coffee. Once I had thoroughly warmed up, I headed into town to check at the information center for a map.

Map in hand, I headed out for my 1.5 miles walk to the first location – King Arthur’s Round Table. After I walked about 1.0 miles, I consulted the map. According to the map, I wasn’t even close. I started cursing the English Heritage book, which apparently was not accurate with distances. I then walked over a crest and saw a huge traffic circle where the A66, A6 and M6 all meet. I had to cross the traffic circle! If Mumsy was there, she would have panicked. Granted, there was a pedestrian walking area, but I had to quickly run as cars were coming screaming off the M6. I then had to repeat this at the A6 crossing. Racing heart aside, I had finally arrived in a location that was close to King Arthur’s Round Table on the map. A short 1/2 mile walk later, and I had found it! The guidebook claimed that the henge was not well preserved, but I was pretty impressed with it.

Although built in the Neolithic period, it is referred to as King Arthur’s Round table as local legend has it that the henge was used for his jousting tournaments. It once consisted of two circular henges. Today, half of henge sits next to a farmer’s field, with the other half located under the B5320 road.

I stole this ariel photo to give a better sense of what it looks like.

As I wandered around the henge, I noticed sheep droppings everywhere, especially at the center of the henge. I imagine that the neighbor’s sheep must be pagans who sneak into the henge at night to perform ritualistic dances.

The next item on the agenda was Mayburgh henge, a henge built of tiny stones rather than earth. The guidebook told me it was adjacent, but really, it was about 400 meters up the road, and 500 meters down a side road. This henge was much more impressive than the previous one, as some of the walls were a good 10-15 feet high. There has been no archaelogical excavation at the site to determine its age, but it is estimated to be from the Neolithic or Bronze age due to some artifacts found just outside the circle.

Once again, I stole an aerial photo to give a sense of what it looks like

Once again, evidence of sheep ritual existed in the center of the henge, especially around the standing stone at the center. What are these local sheep doing??

Henges out of the way, it was time to head out to Brougham Castle. I had seen a sign pointing to a public footpath to Brougham, so I decided to try that, rather than go back out to the main road. Something you need to know about England (and Scotland) is that public right of way is a given here. If there is some attraction that people want to go to on the other side of your field, they are allowed to walk through it. Or, if you live at the bottom of a fell, people can walk through your yard to get to the hiking trail. This is a bit strange for me as an American where you could be shot for walking though someone’s yard without permission. I’ve walked a good number of public footpaths in the area. When they go through a farmer’s field, there is usually a ladder to climb over the fence, or a kissing gate. To use a kissing gate, you walk into the enclosure, and then close the gate behind you. Since the gate you closed was originally closing off the entrance to the field, you can now enter the field. This is especially used in fields with sheep. Kevin claims sheep are very dumb and thus would never be able to figure out the gate. I think he’s a bit harsh towards the sheep myself. Now I’ve been on a public footpath through many a sheep field and through fields for planting, but this trip marked a first – right through a field full of cows!

I jumped down off the fence, turned around and was a bit taken aback to see a good 100 cows in front of me. Now I am not afraid of cows, but it was a little disconcerting to be so close to so many huge animals. Some of them barely moved out of my way as I walked down the path. As I took out my camera to take some pictures for my cow-loving dad, one of them walked right towards me (probably thinking I had food). Being the daughter of Gary Deal, I naturally reached out and pat her on the head a few times before continuing on my way. I kept laughing to myself that had my dad actually been on the walk with me, he would have visited ALL the cows in the field.

My new friend, who I named Mooney (kind of like Rooney)

A good 45 minutes from the time I left Mayburgh Henge, I finally caught site of the castle, and boy did it look cool! I picked up the pace and made it to the gate in record time, only to yell “BOLLOCKS!” once I got there. Brougham Castle is one of the English Heritage sites staffed by employees. However, it is only open from 1April to 30September. I was extremely mad since I hoofed it all the way out there, it had now started to rain, and I really, really REALLY wanted to go in the castle. Hopefully, I can find some time in between nursing school next year to come visit Kevin because I am dying to go inside the castle.

Brougham castle, why must you torture me so!

Dejected, I headed back a more direct route to Penrith, starving and mad at English Heritage. According to the guidebook, the castle was 2 miles from the center of town. Based upon my walking speed of 15 minutes per mile (hey – my mom is a fast walker. If you didn’t keep up as a kid, she left you in the dust), I estimated it should take me approximately 30 minutes. However, it took me an hour! Even if I was walking tortoise-paced (normal people/20 minute mile), this would be at least 3 miles. I need to write to the English Heritage people and complain about their distances.

I’m off to run and get ready for my tea with the Admiral. Cheers!