Seaton Delaval Hall is a stately home in Northumberland near the village of Seaton Sluice. It was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh for Admiral George Delaval in 1718 and is now owned by the National Trust.

The Hall:-

Side view:-

Courtyard:-

Entrance:-

Paintings of the historical Hall:-

Model of Hall frontage:-

Blanchland is a village in Northumberland (just.) We visited it because it was featured in a book of picturesque British villages which we have. (Titled the AA Book of British Villages.) Its buildings are lovely, all built of stone.

The village’s focal point is a kind of square whose entrance is on the left below:-

The Square. Note The Lord Crewe Arms on the left:-

The Lord Crewe Arms:-

The Square:-

The Square’s entrance porch building houses the village shop:-

One of the buildings has a stream running under it:-

An old church:-

Vindolanda Roman Fort, Northumberland, was our next stop on Hadrian’s Wall. It’s in the hands of a charitable trust.

This is the view from the entrance. The building in the background right is a replica tower:-

This is a model of the fort (in the museum at Vindolanda):-

On the way down to the remains you pass these wells and water cisterns:-

Replica tower:-

The tower gives you a feel as to how it would have been to garrison the place. This is the view south from the tower battlements:-

Roman remains from the replica tower:-

Ponteland is a largish village in Northumberland, just northwest of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Beside the A 696 road into the town from the northwest lies an Art Deco style church building, St Michael’s Catholic Church.

Curved wall, rule of three in nearer windows, styling of cross:-

Curved exterior, canopy and roof line, styling of cross:-

Due to the legacy of Hadrian’s Wall the north of England is festooned with Roman ruins. They range from the reaonably large – the forts along the wall, not to mention the remnants of the wall itself – to quite small. One of the latter lies just off the B6318 at Carrawburgh, Northumberland. It is the remains of a Mithraic Temple. The B6318 runs south of Hadrian’s Wall and is very straight (see here at the Carrawburgh car park) presumably by following the course of a Roman original

Temple from path:-

Centre isle from entrance:-

The information board has a representation of how the inside of the temple would have looked when in use:-

Altar:-

At its centrepiece the altar has a small dish which presumably was originally intended to receive votive offerings. Certainly modern visitors have been leaving coins, sweets and, for some reason obscure to me, a piece of wood:-

In July we visited the Northumberland town of Hexham for the first time.

I spotted this statue to Lieutenant Colonel George Elliott Benson, Royal Regiment of Artillery, who died at the Second Boer War Battle of Braakenlagte, 30/10/1901.

Dedication:-

In the old village square in Cramlington, Northumberland, is an information board.

One of the items on it commemorates the men from mining communities who joined up and went off to fight. 170 Cramlington men did not came back. Victory arches were erected as, of course was the permanent War Memorial:-

Another panel on the board remembers a Zeppelin attack on the village:-

Cramlington‘s War Memorial is a figure of Saint George atop an obelisk surmounting a hexagonal base.

The dedication runs round the top of the hexagonal section and reads, “Their names live together in honour and glory.”

Figure of Saint George:-

There are two memorial benches. The first is dedicated to the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment. The Poachers.

The second is the usual kind of Great War 100th anniversary bench:-

This memorial is in the village of Powburn, Northumberland, and is of relatively new construction, dedicated in 2018.

We often stop off in Powburn on our way down to or up from Northeast England as it has an antique centre and a good wee tea-room.

War Memorial from gate:-

From green:-

Flag and memorial:-

Names:-

Rothbury’s Co-op.

Minor deco, mainly in the stonework round the windows. Pity those windows have had their eyes put put.