Scottish Tour Guide's Blog

Glasgow Necropolis, Scotland

This evening, I am focusing on Glasgow’s famous Necropolis which has become a visitor attraction in its ow right.

Necropolis means City of the Dead. There are two such burial grounds in Glasgow; the one under reference and the southern Necropolis close to the Gorbals area.

The Glasgow Necropolis is located on a high point close to Glasgow Cathedral (also a major visitor attraction).  The burial ground developed  from around the 1830s as a function of limited and unhygienic burial space elsewhere in Glasgow in turn a function of the city’s rapid population growth due to industrialisation.

The Necropolis evolved as a burial ground for the rich, famous and powerful in what at the time was a world class city known as the ‘second city of the (British) Empire’. Here can be found a collection of stunning and impressive burial monuments reflecting the wealth and importance of the persons venerated. There is even an official Heritage Trail guiding visitors around the extensive collection of monuments, vaults and mausoleums. At the pinnacle is 58ft high monument to 16th century Protestant reformer, John Knox which was erected in 1825 and thus pre-dates the Necropolis proper.

Overall, a fascinating place which, due to its elevation, offers good views of Glasgow City and the nearby Cathedral. I will be taking a small group to visit later in the month.  continue reading…

Latrines at Housesteads, Hadrian's Wall

This evening, I am focusing on one of the most popular visitor attractions on the Hadrian’s Wall site, namely the Housesteads Roman Fort which is about 30 miles from Wallsend.

Very briefly, Hadrian’s Wall was the main element of a frontier which ran coast to coast across northern Britain (now England). The Wall was 73 miles long was built by the Roman Army using a labor force of some 10,000 men over a period of 10 years and was completed around AD132. It was abandoned for the period AD142 AD 162 and thereafter, for the next 250 years, was the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire.

Housesteads is one of 16 forts along the line of Hadrian’s Wall. An image of the remains of the Wall at Housesteads is shown below.

Hadrian's Wall at Housesteads, England

Housesteads fort covers an area of two hectares and  complies with the standard ‘playing card’ design of Roman forts.  A video clip of the interior can be found here.  There are four entrance gates (north, south,east and west), a Commanding Officer’s House, a Headquarters Building, Workshop, Bath House, Hospital, Granaries, Barrack Blocks, a Storeroom and Latrine (see top image).  The fort is strategically well placed, on a steep natural escarpment which provides a natural defence from the (hostile) north. Internally, there is sophisticated water supply system to feed the baths and latrine with stone water tanks still in situ.

Typically, the complement of military would comprise a cohort of infantry (480 men) or an ala of cavalry (500-1000 men plus mounts).  A mix of both categories was possible. The Wall was not intended as a defensive barrier but as a base for military excursions (pre-emptive strikes) into hostile territory to the north,

I thoroughly enjoy touring Hadrian’s Wall and environs. Here is a blog record of a tour from 2010. I may even achieve my personal objective of either walking or cycling along the Wall this year.

Elsewhere today, I have:

• Designed a new page for my main website.
• Responded to an enquiry for a private, ancestry themed tour of Scotland. 
• Visited a local cemetery to gain more data for my GlasgowAncestry blog.

Today, I took a stroll around the beaches at Newquay which possibly ranks as the U.K.’s premier surfing resort. Notwithstanding being mid-winter and with continuous rain there were still a good number of hardy souls ( in wet suits) braving the elements to ride the waves which roll in off the Atlantic.

There was a reasonable swell today thus facilitating good surfing conditions and interesting photo opps, a selection of which are provided below. Although utterly drenched by the persistent rain, I am reasonably pleased with the outcome.

Although Fistral is probably the best know beach for surfing it appears that conditions were optimum at nearby Towan Beach which attracted a group of, maybe, twenty surfers prepared to tackle the rollers coming in from the west. 

Surfing at Newquay, Cornwall, England

Surfing at Newquay, Cornwall, England

Riding the Surf at Newquay, Cornwall, England

 This is Fistral Beach taken during persistent rain in mid-winter.

Fistral Beach, Newquay, in Winter

Elsewhere today, I have responded to a number of new tour enquiries and posted information to my Glasgow Ancestry blog on Robertson family history (Paisley).

Fingers crossed for improved weather tomorrow!