Durham - 20th June

Headed off for a bit of a drive.
First stop was Seaham Harbour, because we took a wrong turn on our way to Hexham.
Lovely little harbour village.










We visited the Church.
Unfortunately it wasn't open.
It is one of the 20 oldest churches in England dating back to the 7th and 8th century. The current building was built in 1835 










Then we headed towards Hexham, took a wrong turn and ended up following a signpost to a relic of the industrial revolution. We found the car park and set off on a walking path, through the woods and then through the fields, the mud farm gates, horse fields. After about 40 minutes of walking we decided we weren't really that interested in the stupid thing anway and returned to the car park. Although we did see more squirrels, lot's of them.

In the car park we saw the sign pointing across the road to the building we were looking for, oh well, it was nice walk through the stinging nettles.

Tammy moves the horses off of the track


The Derwentcote steel furnace was built in the 1730's.It was used to convert wrought iron into steel. The furnace was used until 1891.




 



We retraced our steps and headed for Hexham, passing through lovely villages and rolling hills on the way.












We reached Hexham with only one hour left before we had to head back to Durham.
Hexham is a market town on the River Tyne. It has the most amazing old buildings in it.
The building we have come to see is the Abbey. We passed the old gaol from 1330 and the Moot hall from the 1400's.
The Moot Hall was a gatehouse.










 







The Abbey
Tammy gives the size of the building some scale.



 




The current building dates from 1170. However the original building was constructed in 674, a long time ago. The Anglo Saxon Crypt is part of the original church dating back 1300 years. It was covered over during the 12th century and was forgotten about until it was rediscovered in the 18th century, as a result it is in its original condition, complete with reused Roman stones. We spoke to one of the Elders of the church and he allowed us to go down into the Crypt. To see and touch stones that were laid that long ago was an amazing experience. We walked up the Night stair which has been in use since the 13th century, the stone steps have been worn smooth by many feet over the centuries.




This is the 1300 year old Crypt.
 

 

 



Then it was time to get back to Durham because we were being picked up by Percy and Laura to go out for tea.
We got back to the park 5 minutes before they arrived. Luckily for us keeping with the tradition of "Rowsthorn Time" they were running behind schedule. We first went to their house to meet Laura's parents and their little boy William, who is 2 years old and immediately hit it off with Tammy.
 We then went out to a fabulous pub for the largest meals of all time, they needed 2 large plates each because they wouldn't fit on one.
It was a great night, Laura drove us back to the campervan.