You have to understand it was 2003 when I first toured in England. On a typical two-week American holiday, I obviously couldn't take it all in, and two of the things I missed were Leeds Armoury and Hadrian's Wall. For non-UK residents, the Royal Armouries house weapons --including Henry VIII's armor, when he could still fit into armor--from the medieval to the present. Royal Armouries is plural because there are three of them -- the original was in the Tower of London, which still exists, and incidentally is the fourth oldest museum in the world, with records going back to 1545. However, Leeds ithe largest, with over 70,000 items. So I was pretty shocked to arrive and find Iron Man and a Stormtrooper.
It turned out it was "superhero weekend," with talks on the armour and weapons of superheroes. Not surprisingly, the place was thronged with children. It was actually a little disturbing to think these parents thought "a good day out" was a museum dedicated to violence and war! However, ignoring them -- which is a little hard when you turn a corner and walk into Boba Fett -- the collection itself was pretty amazing. I do have to say that, like almost every museum, I was really disappointed they don't put items into context and try to tell a story. For example, having ten suits of armor is pretty cool, but with no idea why one is better than the other, or what technological changes occurred that spurred innovation, it just looks like ten suits of armor.
I only planned to spend a couple of hours there and then go to the Leeds Museum or art gallery, but I ended up spending the entire day the armoury, and the other museums were just closing when I arrived. I didn't spend much time in central Leeds, because the people were pretty rough. I don't think I've ever seen to many tattoos, skin tight pants, and multicoloured hair--and that was just the women over 50!
The next morning I bought a one-way ticket to Carlisle and got off at Keighley. I did verify I could hop on/off the train along the way, and was planning on making the most of the day, including a 6-mile trek through the Dales. Keighley was a steam train through the Worth valley, which is only of note because the
Brontë sisters (authors of
Jane Eyre and
Wuthering Heights) lived in Haworth, a sleepy little hillside town. Of course I had my luggage and it was making the most horrific noise on the cobblestones, so I ended up carrying it. Uphill. For a mile. Thus ended all thought of walking through the dales; when I got back to Keighley I took the train straight to Carlisle. As a result, I did get to see the Carlisle Cathedral, which wasn't on my to do list, but was lovely anyway.
As you remember from my visit to Chester, England was a Roman outpost from 43CE to 410CE, and although England was conquered rather easily, Scotland was not. To keep the Scottish raiders out, the Roman emperor Hadrian ordered a 73-mile wall built from Carlisle to Newcastle in 122CE. I had tried to see the wall in 2003 but had not understood the brochure, which said Corbridge was a Roman town that *supported* the wall, which was a mile away. (And in any case Corbridge is now only the foundations of a town that supported the wall a mile away, and hardly worth the exorbitant entry fee they charge.)
So this time I took a bus -- appropriately known as the AD122 bus -- to the wall. I ended up getting off at Chester Fort, which coincidentally was hosting a "Roman living history" day. Just as people in the States host Civil War re-enactments, people in the UK host Roman re-enactments, which was a lot of fun. But more importantly, I got to see two sections of the wall! Or, more accurately, the foundations of two sections of the wall. I'm sure it looked much more imposing in its day.
I also went to the Tullie House museum which, not surprisingly, had a lot of information on Hadrian's Wall. What was surprising was that it was funded by the European Union, not the UK, but of course Roman history is a big part of European history, and the wall was the northern border of the Roman Empire.
The next morning, I caught the train into Workington, just 50 minutes away, for my 10am meeting. That was much more civilised than getting up at 4am and driving 6 hours! Plus I have marked out several spots in the Yorkshire Dales that I want to revisit by car. Mindy Smith, one of my favourite singer-songwriters, is coming to Leeds at the end of June, so I may make another weekend out of it.
