First week in Hexham

One of the best known and most popular attractions in Northumberland is the Beamish Museum, which we visited at the beginning of our first week in Hexham. Less than an hours drive from our home-base, this open air museum is an example of everyday life in urban and rural north-east England in the early 20th century - when industrialization was at its height. The museum has successfully achieved its purpose without being Disney-like, and since its opening in 1972, has received a number of awards.
Covering 350 acres of ground, it uses both replicas and translocated buildings, vehicles, equipment and artifacts from the era. Along with an assortment of livestock and the interpretation of costumed workers, it has become a living museum, providing not only entertainment value, but an educational resource helping to preserve the traditional times of this area. There is a circular path around the whole place, with “themed” areas that branch off - each area being somewhat self-contained. Although free trams and buses have a “hop on, hop off” circular route, we decided to walk the paths.....kudos to Glyn who pushed Marjie in her wheelchair for most of the day - and to Marjie herself who walked most of the more uneven surfaces.
We headed first to the colliery - without which no recreation of the history of Northern England would be complete. We all grew up in an area of coal mines, when generations of families worked in the pits. Here in Beamish there’s an opportunity to see pit-ponies, a colliery railway and an opportunity to go down a Drift Mine - which we decided to give a miss.....there were however lots of school trips that day and the kids were more than enthusiastic to descend into the mine! There are miners’ houses (which were very small and owned by the colliery), each with their own vegetable gardens. Although the “local” fish and chip shop looked authentic, it was unfortunately, a little too early for us to sample the offerings.....apparently line-ups can be long!
Other areas include a home-farm, a railway station dating back to 1913, a church, a school and a town. A town-hall was of particular interest - the ladies there were knitting and sewing items for the war effort, including hand-knitted poppies for Remembrance Day. The school brought back many memories for us all, with classrooms and playgrounds that looked very familiar. One classroom had a group of children, who were on a school outing, seated at desks - with a very stern looking man acting the part of a teacher - much to the kids’ amusement.
In town we visited some of the “homes” and businesses, including those of a piano teacher and also a dentist who had some scary looking equipment. With a “copper” directing traffic in the middle of the road, a newspaper office and a co-op shop, the whole place felt authentic......the sweet shop and the bakery were particularly popular - I can personally recommend the gingerbread cake! There was also a replica of a village fair on the green outside the town - with old fashioned rides and “test your luck” stalls.
Our last stop of the day allowed us to see some ongoing work in progress - the house of “Joe the Quilter” which is currently being replicated. An archaeological dig by Beamish staff and volunteers uncovered the remains of Joe’s Cottage, including the base of the walls, some coins and pottery. The re-built house will be true to the original, including a heather-thatched roof - with the heather being sourced locally and volunteers learning the craft from a master thatcher. While we were there we saw some other enthusiastic volunteers using their bare feet to make the “daub” - a kind of plaster used for coating a surface. Usually made with a mix of clay, water and straw, these volunteers were using a mix of clay, water, straw and manure to make their daub - which was then applied to “wattles” to form the walls of the house.....”wattle” being made by weaving thin sticks of hazel or willow through thicker ones to make the framework for the walls. The use of the manure did not seem to deter the helpers!
At the end of the day as we were running low on energy, we finally boarded the tram for the last stop to take us back to the entrance & car park - all agreeing that although much of Beamish was familiar to us, it provides hours of entertainment and education to any visitor of any age.....and the expansion and building is ongoing - next up will be a 1950’s suburb......we highly recommend a visit!
Mid week we all had a “day-off” due to car trouble - which luckily was fixed in the same day......the only down side being the 2 mile walk undertaken by Glyn & Trevor to pick it up when ready - all the local taxis were busy doing “school runs”.....and, of course, there was the matter of the car repair bill for Marjie & Glyn!
The next day we were back on the road again - this time to visit Vindolanda - one of Europe’s most important archaeological sites. This Roman auxiliary fort, just south of Hadrian’s Wall, was under Roman occupation from roughly 85 AD TO 370 AD, but the site itself comprises at least 8 other forts, several of which were occupied before Hadrian’s Wall was even built! In addition to the excavated Fort there is a modern museum and gallery, set in the attractive grounds of the estate of Chesterholm.....reached by an attractive path through some lovely gardens. For us the most exciting part of all were the live excavations which take place here every year.
The remains visible today date back to the early 3rd century and include the Fort walls, the headquarters and the commander’s house. Just west of the Fort lay extensive remains of a civil settlement with a Main Street that was lined with buildings. We walked the various outlines and remains of the Fort and settlement - including a tavern which was in a prime location in the village close to the workshops! 25 years ago and 2 metres below one of the existing houses, a massive timber building was excavated - believed to be a place that housed the Emperor Hadrian and his attendants when he visited Vindolanda to inspect the beginning of the Wall being built.
The ongoing live excavations are an amazing and exciting part of Vindolanda - with archaeologists and volunteers of all ages working side by side. Volunteers sign up to do 2-week stints on the dig.......apparently competion for this honour is strong and spaces fill up quickly. In full sight of the excavated areas and its visitors, they happily dig and sift while providing information to any and all who ask. Their enthusiasm and camaraderie is obvious as they go about their assigned tasks. We talked to a couple of the volunteers, who were excited to tell us about the day’s finds, and an archaeologist who was happy to explain their significance to us. The main thing we learned is that exceptional ground conditions in this area have preserved thousands of items that do not usually survive - including clothing and shoes, which the Romans dumped into the Fort’s many ditches. These articles sank into the soft black silt, became covered in water, which provided the perfect environment for preservation. The footwear collection at Vindolanda is well over 4,000, and growing daily - a couple more shoes had been found on the day we were there!
The most amazing find at Vindolanda happened in 1973 when Robin Birley, British archaeologist, discovered the first of over 2,000 wooden writing tablets which are now classified as “Britain’s Top Treasure.” These writing tablets are almost exclusively held at the British Museum, but a few are displayed here in the museum at Chisholm. The documents record both military matters and personal messages from members of the Fort to their families. The wooden tablets are truly remarkable in their requests - from soldiers asking for socks and underwear, to the most famous - which was written by Claudia Severa inviting Sulpicia Lepidina (the Prefect’s wife) to a birthday celebration.....dated around 100/104 AD it is the earliest surviving writing by a woman.
Touring the museum and gallery we saw many of the artifacts discovered here -shoes and other leather objects, including a horse’s leather face-mask with its copper decorations. There were tiles from a pre-Hadrianic Bath house, a pile of discarded pottery from France, jewellery and a striking painted glass bowl (broken) depicting gladiators, which had been found in two separate places, 20 metres and 15 years apart!
The discoveries, as mentioned, happen daily - and the enthusiasm around this site is contagious. Robin Birley, who now heads the Vindolanda research committee, made the following comments in 1973, after his find of the first tablets:- “if I have to spend my life working in dirty, wet trenches, I doubt wether I shall ever again experience the shock and excitement I felt at my first glimpse of hieroglyphics on thin strips of wood.” Over 40 years later, he now believes there are at least 150 years of discovery left on this ancient and multi-levelled excavation site!
The weather in Northumberland improved a little this week - the sun has peeked out from time time, and the weekend promises warmer temperatures.....we’re looking forward to seeing more of this lovely county - perhaps wearing shorts?!