Exploring the hills of England & Wales

Category: History

  • Ribblehead Viaduct

    Ribblehead Viaduct carries the Settle-Carlisle railway across the upper Ribble Valley. It is 400 metres long, and 32 metres high at its highest point. It consists of 24 arches, each 14 metres wide. The viaduct was built between 1870 and 1874. British Rail attempted to close the line in the 1980s, but a public outcry led to…

  • Bradgate House

    The ruins of Bradgate House are to be found in the grounds of Bradgate Park, a few miles north-west of Leicester. Who might have lived here? The mansion was completed in 1520, and was one of the first great unfortified country houses in England. It was also one of the first buildings since Roman times…

  • Miles Dock

    One of the delights of coastal walking is coming across places that seem, initially, not to be worth a second look; but which turn out, on closer inspection, to have a unique and special history. Such a place is Miles Dock. At first, this small indentation in the riverbank looks as though it could be…

  • Devon’s parliament

    Sometimes, just a word on an Ordnance Survey map can ignite curiosity, especially when that word is written in a fancy Old English font. An example is Parliament, marked on the map a few miles from Brixham, in South Devon. To what “Parliament” does that refer? On the ground, Parliament is made up of a…