Scarborough Castle, England, June 2022

Scarborough Castle is located in the town of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. This former medieval Royal fortress sits on a promontory overlooking the town and the North Sea. The present stone castle dates from the 1150s. There was an earlier wooden castle, and going back in time before this, an Anglo-Scandinavian settlement, a Roman signal station and an Iron Age settlement. Today the site is a scheduled monument open to the public and managed by English Heritage.

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Exeter, Devon, England, June 2022

Sunday, 12th June 2022.

Exeter's City Wall with a plaque attached. The plaque reads 'Built by the Romans about 200 AD, since repaired by others. Much of the City Wall still stands, some of it of original Roman workmanship'. Exeter was once a Roman city known as Isca Dumnoniorum. The Roman's took over the settlement from Celtic tribes and Isca seems to have been the local name for the Exe River and the Dumnonii were the tribe then inhabiting what is now Devon and Cornwall.
Exeter’s City Wall with a plaque attached. The plaque reads ‘Built by the Romans about 200 AD, since repaired by others. Much of the City Wall still stands, some of it of original Roman workmanship’. Exeter was once a Roman city known as Isca Dumnoniorum. The Roman’s took over the settlement from Celtic tribes and Isca seems to have been the local name for the Exe River and the Dumnonii were the tribe then inhabiting what is now Devon and Cornwall.

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Birmingham and Coventry, England, June 2022

Birmingham

Birmingham is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.14 million in the city proper and 4.3 million for the wider metropolitan area. Birmingham is often considered to be the social, cultural, financial and commercial centre of the Midlands. Unusually the city has no large river running through it with only the small River Tame and its tributaries flowing close to the centre. The city grew in the 18th century during the Midlands Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution and became known as “the first manufacturing town in the world”.

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Big Pit National Coal Museum, Wales, May 2022

Saturday, 28th May 2022.

The Big Pit National Coal Museum is located in Blaenavon, Torfaen, Wales. A working coal mine from 1880 to 1980, the site is now an industrial heritage museum, which has been open to the public since 1983 under the auspices of the National Museum of Wales. The underground tour of the mine is fantastic and guided by former miners, who provide excellent exploration through the mine. Big Pit is located adjacent to the preserved Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway and is part of the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape World Heritage Site.

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Italy, May 2022

Genoa

Genoa (Genova) is a historic port city in the Italian region of Liguria on the Mediterranean coast. It is the sixth largest city in Italy with a population of around 580,000. For over seven centuries, from the 11th century to 1797, the Republic of Genoa was one of Europe’s most powerful maritime republics. Particularly between the 12th century and 15th centuries the city played a leading role in European trade and became among the wealthiest cities in the world.

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