Lanercost Priory is not far and a bit east from Carlisle in Cumbria. It was founded in the Twelfth Century.

Just before his death Edward I of England (Malleus Scotorum of evil memory) also known as Longshanks, on his last campaign against the Scots and during his final illness spent some months at Lanercost, almost bankrupting the place.

Priory information board:-

The remains of the Priory lie behind the Church:-

In the grounds to the left is the stub of a cross, known as the Lanercost cross:-

Stitch of two photos. Remains of Priory. Church to left and cloisters and Dacre Hall even further left:-

Cloister area and Dacre Hall behind:-

From cloisters:-

Church wall:-

Edward I of England, known as Edward Longshanks, and also Malleus Scotorum or Hammer of the Scots may have been a Middle Ages hard man but it seems he loved his wife, Eleanor of Castile. When she died at Lincoln he had her bodytransported to London for burial and at each stop along the way ordered that a cross be erected in her memory. These are known as Eleanor Crosses.

On our trip down south last summer we were so close to two of these we had to photograph them.

The first was at Hardingstone just south of Northampton:-

There is an inscription (pretty much unreadable) in the stone on the wall behind the Cross:-

The inscribed words are reproduced on the plaque:-

Another descriptive plaque is on a pedestal nearby:-

A bridge has spanned the River Forth at Stirling for centuries. Not the same one obviously but the most famous of them was the one where William Wallace won his great victory over the army of Edward I of England (Edward Longshanks) at the eponymous battle in 1297.

The “old” bridge that still survives now carries foot traffic only. It was built 500-600 years ago. It is a lovely structure of four arches and three supports, here shown from the “east” bank.

These are the approaches from the west. Note the cobblestones:-

This is the old bridge from the modern road bridge:-

And this is a view from the “west” bank. The Wallace Monument can be seen as a distant spire beside the lamp standard at the extreme right of the bridge as seen here:-

Two “modern” bridges also cross the Forth close by. This is the railway bridge from the modern road bridge:-

The road bridge is in the foreground here with the railway bridge supports visible through its arches:-

The Wallace Monument from the old bridge:-