Asby History Group

Churches of Hadrian’s Wall

Led by: Bruce Bennison

9.15 Meet Great Asby to finalise car sharing arrangements

9.30 Depart Great Asby

10.45 Coffee Lanercost [In October 2023 the cafe here was awarded ‘The Best Cafe in England’ by England Business Awards]

11.15 Depart Lanercost

11.30 Arrive Bewcastle (Bewcastle Church and Cross. The cross, which probably dates from the 7th or early 8th century, features reliefs and inscriptions in the runic alphabet. The head of the cross is missing but the remains are 14.5 feet high. The crosses of Bewcastle and Ruthwell have been described by the scholar Nikolaus Pevsner as “the greatest achievement of their date in the whole of Europe”, with the Bewcastle Cross being regarded by Nikolaus as one of the twelve most important monuments in England)

12.45 Depart Bewcastle

1.00 Arrive Lanercost – Lunch [I’ll be in touch again, when we have confirmed numbers, to take advance orders for lunch]

1.45 St Mary Magdelene church, Lanercost. (It occupies what was the original nave of Lanercost Priory, an Augustinian monastery founded in 1169)

2.15 Depart Lanercost

2.30 Arrive Birdoswald [£12.70 entry for those who are not members of English Heritage] Roman fort, where excavations were one of the first to begin to reveal how military installations like this were used after the end of formal occupation by the forces of the Roman Empire.

4.00 Depart Birdoswald

AHG members free; non-members £5