Twistleton Scar End, Ingleton

I'm not convinced by this one. Like most people we were lead to believe these ravaged windblown trees were the work of nature herself but now we are not so sure.

For on our decent we came across the remains of a pristine skeleton, picked clean to the bone by the indigenous carnivorous Swaledale sheep that use to terrorise these dales in the early 18th century. We deduced the remains to be that of a gardener, possibly Capability Grey (so named for his love of granite) - the little know brother of Capability Brown - the famous 18th century landscape gardener. So called for his creative workings of the landscape that we now know today as the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales.

He disappeared at the height of his fame, just before his younger brother got the gig to do Chatsworth. Could this be sibling rivalry or fowl play... only history and a proper forensic investigation will determine the truth, but rural budgets are tight at the moment.

I hear you ask, what makes you think these are the remains of a gardener and the unknown Capability Grey?... it was the rusty pruning shears still gripped in his skeleton hand!

Tags:   Twistleton Twistleton Scar End Lancashire Dales trees ravaged windblown limestone pavement limestone cracks erosion Ingleton Capability Brown Capability Grey gardening topiary pruning shears rusty skeleton mystery murder tall tales Andy Rouse Canon EOS 5D MkIII EF24-105mm f/4L

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Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays

Another dip into the archives from our Manchester recky in May starting off with sunrise at the Quays with Mark Dixon.

Tags:   Salford Quays Lowry theatre MediaCityUK docks basin north bay new restaurant Alchemist bar cocktails sunrise first light Andy Rouse Canon EOS 5D MkIII EF17-40mm f/4L

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Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays

An almost identical shot to the one I posted a couple of weeks ago except it's a shorter long exposure in the hope of retaining some of the cloud definition. Just wanted to see how it punched up in black and white as well as in Silver Efex Pro 2.

Tags:   Salford Quays Lowry theatre LS Lowry Manchester Ship Canal canal nightshoot reflections lights mono black and white B&W Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 long exposure 0.83 Dixon Lee Filters 0.6 med ND grad batter the Quays

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Lyme Park, Disley, Cheshire

A very spur of the moment trip to Lyme Park to photograph the house reflected in the lake. Only the house and gardens don't open until 10:30am. A couple of hours to kill... not much fun for a non-photographer.

Tags:   Lyme Park Lyme House National Trust estate house National Heritage Grade I listed building grounds The Cage walk trees hanging about bored wife Lee filters 0.6 ND grad 10 stops big stopper Andy Rouse Canon EOS 5D MkIII EF17-40mm f/4L

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Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland

The classic view of the lone tree at Sycamore Gap helped by a nice cloudscape to fill the frame. First time here and I was more impressed with Hadrian's Wall. I always imagined it to be quite wide with side walls (like the great wall of China) to protect against the marauding Scots! I found a nice article by English Heritage about the wall but it's a bit lengthy so here's just a few facts...

1) It took around 15,000 men about 6 years to build
Hadrian’s Wall was built by legionaries – the citizen-soldiers of the Roman army. The army contained specialists in masonry, engineering and architecture. It took units from all three of Britain’s legions to construct the Wall: the II Augusta based in Caerleon in South Wales, the VI Victrix from York and the XX Valeria Victrix from Chester – who were also once based around Wroxter Roman City.

2) It wasn’t abandoned after the end of the Roman Empire
People have continued to live along Hadrian’s Wall ever since it was built. Evidence from Birdoswald Roman Fort shows that the buildings were still being adapted and occupied after the Empire had ended in AD 410.

3) We can only see 10% of the original Wall
The Wall that you see today is only a small fraction – estimated at around 10% – of the original. Over the course of the intervening centuries stone has been removed, buried or destroyed.

4) Hadrian’s Wall has never been the border between England and Scotland
These two kingdoms didn’t exist when Hadrian’s Wall was established. And if it was used as the border today, it would place parts of Cumbria and much of Northumberland in Scotland.
The Romans invaded, and held, large parts of modern-day Scotland, even after the construction of Hadrian’s Wall in AD 122. Hadrian’s Wall was abandoned for about twenty years from c.AD 138, when the Romans established a new frontier in Scotland between what are now the Firths of Forth and Clyde (the Antonine Wall), before being reoccupied around AD 160.

5) Hadrian probably designed the Wall himself
Hadrian is noted for his interest in architecture and the number of provinces he visited whilst Emperor. He is likely to have visited Britain in AD 122, after some kind of conflict in the preceding years, and we know that it was in this period that construction of the Wall started.

6) Hadrian’s Wall is 73, 80, 84 and 174 miles long
A Roman unit of distance was the mille passum, which translates to ‘thousand paces.’ A pace was five Roman feet, meaning a Roman mile measured 5,000 feet. This made Hadrian’s Wall 80 miles long, and each mile was marked by a milecastle fort. These were used for controlling the movement of people, goods and livestock along the Wall.

The ‘modern’ mile was standardised in 1593 as eight furlongs, or 5,280 feet. (A furlong was how far a team of oxen could plough in a day – roughly 660 feet.) This means that modern miles are longer than Roman ones, so Hadrian’s Wall is 73 miles.

Tags:   Sycamore Gap Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Hadrian's Wall Emperor Hadrian AD122 Milecastle 39 Pennine Way Crag Lough Northumberland National Trust Roman Fort World Heritage Roman wall footpath Absolute Black and White

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