A group of  early Christian stones were discovered in the 19th century during construction of a family mortuary chapel in Kirkmadrine.

Some of the earliest Christian stones in Scotland

Kirkmadrine is situated in the Rhins of Galloway in the Western Sottish borders and the region is rich in history.

The Kirkmadrine stones are recognised as the remains of an early christian cemetery and date from the 5th to 12th centuries AD.  Three of them are among the oldest Christian monuments in Scotland; only the Parish of Whithorn has an older stone.

Other than these memorial stones, there is no trace of the early Christian church or cemetery, nor the medieval parish church which succeeded it.

The present chapel was built at the end of the 19th century as a family burial chapel by Lady MacTaggart Stewart of Ardwell in the style of a 12th century Romanesque church of Cruggleton, near Whithorn.

The oldest stone is a pillar stone dating to the 5th century AD.  The cross inside the circle has a hook on the top limb, to represent the Greek Chi-rho (ch r), the first two letters of Christ’s name. Below the circle is a Latin inscription;

HIC LACENT S(AN)C(T)I ET PRAE CIPUI SACER DOTES IDES VIVENTIUS ET MAVORIUS :Here lie the holy chief priests, Ides, Viventius and Mavorius”.

One of the later stones is thought to date from the 12th century and is quite crudely carved.

The stones are on display in a glass fronted porch attached to the MacTaggart Stewart memorial chapel and can be reached by a footpath leading from a small parking area on the roadside.  An Historic Scotland waymarker points the way.

More information

Gravestonepix.com – The MacTaggart Stewarts of Ardwell family burial chapel

Scottish Places - Kirkmadrine Stones

Electric Scotland – The Lost Stone of Kirkmadrine

Undiscovered Scotland - Kirkmadrine Stones

Carrying the busy A66 between the M6 and Keswick is what is possibly the largest concrete span bridge in Cumbria, the Greta Bridge.

Four lanes of thundering traffic pass over this bridge everyday, however many motorists are unaware of the valley below or what an achievement it was to build it.

The structure, is said to have been designed purely by engineers with no architectural input and is renowned for its aesthetic qualities which ensure it blends well with the surrounding Lake District countryside.

Greta Bridge, Keswick

Opened in 1977 Greta Bridge spans the River Greta and is sandwiched between the edge of the town of Keswick and the fells including Latrigg.

Passing underneath the bridge is the National Cycle network route 71.

This path and the associated Keswick railway footpath uses the old track bed of the Keswick railway which closed in 1972.

Construction began on the bridge in 1974 and forms part of the Keswick Northern Bypass project.

With five spans the 220m long structure sits on very tall pillars spanning the valley below.

It was one of the longest bridges of it’s type at the time.

The bridge is said to be one of the first structures to be designed using finite element analysis.

Leading Expert

One of the major structural engineers involved in the bridge design and in particular the use of pre-stressed concrete in road building was Roy Rowe.

Greta Bridge, Keswick

He devised mathematical formulae to work out stresses and loads on concrete structures and was to become one of the leading experts in the use of concrete as a building material in civil engineering.

Roy Rowe died of heart disease on December 18, 2008, aged 79.

Proud

Writing in the NCE (New Civil Engineer) Mr. Peter Donaldson who was the structures Agent for the main contractor Tarmac Construction, says that the building of Greta Bridge was not without difficulty.

Mr Donaldson writes “In plan, the bridge follows a reverse curve which requires a constantly changing carriageway crossfall from one abutment to the other. In turn, this varying crossfall geometry is repeated in the cross sectional alignment of the deck itself, resulting in webs which, although apparently vertical, are actually at right angles to the deck soffit and upper slab”.

Mr Donalson was writing to the letters section of the New Civil Engineer in response to the announcement that the Great Bridge had been nominated as Britain’s best civil engineering structure of the century (NCE 4 November 1999).

Mr Donaldson adds ”  I think I can speak for all of us involved in its construction when I say that we remain immensely proud of what we achieved”

Award winning

Best Civil Engineering Structure of the Century, Greta Bridge

In 1977 the bridge was awarded a Highly Commendation by the Concrete Society.

Readers of Concrete magazine however voted it Best Civil Engineering Structure of the Century in 1999.

Beverley Hughes MP, Minister for the Environment, unveiled a plaque, which is positioned beneath the bridge.

The Plaque reads:- ‘GRETA BRIDGE Voted Best Concrete Engineering Structure Of The Century September 1999 / Consulting Engineer : Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick & Partners / Contractor : Tarmac Construction / Maintained by The Highways Agency.

Other links

The urban morphology of Keswick

Location details from Google Maps      54.605880, -3.114635 +54° 36′ 21.17″, -3° 6′ 52.69″ Link:

Dales Volunteers have been doing their bit to preserve an historic footbridge in Swaledale.

A group of five volunteers and some Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority rangers stripped down the damaged arch on Usha Gap Bridge near Thwaite and rebuilt it.

Ian Broadwith, the Authority’s Access Ranger for Swaledale and Arkengarthdale, said: “The bridge is more than 100 years old and the centre had sunk and was in danger of collapse.

The Dales Volunteers identified the need to repair it in a survey of the rights of way that they carry out every year.

A very popular footpath crosses the little tributary of the River Swale so a temporary timber bridge was installed in September, 2007, to keep the path open.

Bridge at Usha Gap - Photos courtesy of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority

The stones have been bedded in with traditional lime and mortar so that it is in keeping with the age of the bridge.

Work on the bridge was scheduled for last year but was delayed as a result of the bad weather

The team had to build a wooden support – a former – that fitted underneath the bridge to help them dismantle and then rebuild the arch.

The timber bridge was then taken down and will be reused.

The National Park Authority is responsible for the maintenance of more than 2,000kms of rights of way, including more than 800 bridges crossing streams, becks and rivers, and its Dales Volunteers gave more than 6,000 days of work last year.

Generally, there are very few Volunteer vacancies but, in the Northern Dales, there may be opportunities for one or two new people with practical skills.

For further information, please contact Rae  Lonsdale on (01756) 751630 or e-mail volunteers@yorkshiredales.org.uk.

Standing alone in the middle of rough salt marsh just outside the village of Burgh by Sands, is the King Edward I Monument.

The Monument can just be seen in the distant fields

Erected in 1685 as a memorial to King Edward 1st of England (Hammer of the Scots).

He planned to unify the kingdoms of England and Scotland by the betrothal of his son Edward to the infant Queen of Scots, the Maid of Norway.

His plans fell apart when the young queen Margaret was drowned returning from Norway leaving several claimants to the kingdom of Scotland.

When pressed to select a successor, Edward chose John II De Baliol. This displeased the Scots and thus the wars of Independence ensued, ultimately won by Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn in 1314.

Edward had fought a long and bitter campaign to conquer Scotland

Plaque sited at the base of the monument

and made camp on these barren, windswept marshes on his way to do battle once more and subdue his enemy, Robert the Bruce but he was now old, tired and his health poor. He died on this marsh on 7th July 1307.

The monument stands in the middle of grazing land about 1 KM from the road. Now surrounded by a metal fence, it is incredibly imposing yet lonely in such a vast space.

Two plaques adorn the monument, one toward the top is much older and written in Latin, presumably the original plaque installed when the monument was built. The second plaque is situated at the base of the monument and is a modern day equivalent.

From the car parking area, the monument can just be seen in the distance. Here an information panel gives a potted history and directions. A pleasant walk along a dirt footpath, leads to a double stile crossing a small bridge. The marsh ground can be a little boggy in wet weather, so good walking footwear is recommended.

Signposts point the way across the salt marsh

Dogs must be kept on a lead as grazing animals are in the fields surrounding the monument

The OS Grid Ref for this monument is NY326

Watch a video about the monument

Great Britain in the 15th and 16th Centuries was a place of many small parishes, some very rural and isolated.  Most of these villages did have their own church or chapel but they were linked to Mother churches or Minsters, which at this time were the only churches to have burial rights.

Increasing pressure for autonomy from outlying villages led officials at these Mother churches to be concerened over loss of control and income. Corpse roads were instituted, connecting outlying locations and their mother churches.

These corpse roads, death or Ley roads, usually went in straight lines from the parish to the mother church, which would seem to harken back to an age of pagan belief that a spirit can only travel in straight lines.

Corpses were transported long distances, often over difficult terrain, usually the coffin would be carried but sometimes the deceased would have the luxury of horseback.

Coffin stones at Frank's Bridge, Kirkby Stephen

Distinguishing features of a corpse road, would be that it went in more or less a straight line with resting places or coffin stones along its way (shown above at Frank’s Bridge in Kirkby Stephen).  Sometimes markers such as crosses or stones marking the distance would be present and can exist to this day.  Many seem only to be a footpath now with little or no evidence to support their previous purpose.

Boundary marker on corpse road at Whinlatter

This boundary marker (we presume for the forest) is situated on a corpse road which passes over Whinlatter in the Lake District.

Fields crossed by corpse roads often had names like “Church-way” or “Kirk-way Field”, which can give a clue to the location of the old corpse road. These paths through fields were never ploughed.

According to the Encyclopaedia of Superstitions (E &,V M Radford, Hutchinson, 1948: edited and revised by Christina Dole, 1961). ”A very widespread belief, still far from extinct, is that if a corpse is carried over private land, its passage establishes a right of way for ever… but this has no actual foundation in English law”.

A great number of superstitions and Ghostly tales are linked to these roads… If you know of any, then send the details to us via the comments link below.

There is no official record of these roads but an interesting website belonging to The Society of Ley Hunters has compiled data from around the UK and further afield.

Historical Geographer, Paul Hindle, lectures on the subject of old maps, roads and tracks, and the Lake District. Limestone landscapes & caves, and towns & roads in medieval England.

For those interested in reading more; the following books may be of interest.