The English Heritage Angel Awards, celebrate the efforts of local people who saved historic buildings and local places.  They were founded by Andrew Lloyd Weber and are supported by the Telegraph.

The awards take place annually and the winners from the 2013 shortlist are due to be announced at an awards ceremony in London on 21st October 2013.  There were four categories in this years Angel Awards:

• The best rescue or repair of a historic place of worship
• The best rescue of a historic industrial building or site
• The best craftsmanship employed on a heritage rescue
• The best rescue of a listed building, scheduled monument, registered park, garden or battlefield, protected wreck site or conservation area

The ‘Remembering Flodden Project for Flodden Battlefield, Branxton, Northumberland’ was one of the projects that was shortlisted for ‘The Best Rescue of Any Other Type of Historic Building or Site‘:

An Excerpt from the Submission

• Flodden is one of only three locations in the British Isles where a reigning monarch died in battle. Hastings and Bosworth are renowned but Flodden, where James IV of Scotland died in 1513, is less well-known.
• A large granite cross erected in 1910 on top of Piper’s Hill became neglected and covered in weeds. A faded interpretation board gave a limited account of the battle and a short footpath to the monument was the only access to the battlefield. Visitors asked “Where is Flodden Field?”, then a little later “Is this all there is?” Flodden needed to be remembered.
• In 2003 a group of local volunteers set up: Remembering Flodden Project. Permission was granted by the landowner for a new 2 km Battlefield Trail that was in turn funded by the Local Heritage Initiative. Seats and new interpretation boards describing aspects of the battle were positioned along the trail and a larger board and map installed at the car park.
• Donations for an A3 leaflet help pay for the reprints and petrol for the mower that is used to cut the grass each week. Last year we produced a DVD, The Battle of Flodden – Then and Now and this year we will publish a battlefield guidebook. There is no visitor centre on the Battlefield but the village bought the disused phone box from BT for £1 and this is now ‘The Smallest Visitor Centre in the World’. It contains a detailed map of the routes taken to the battle by the two opposing armies, information about local places of interest that are relevant to the Flodden story and audio and WiFi links.
• The rescue of this site started in 2003 and work has been ongoing since then. All work is done by a small group of local volunteers and the site has earned a Quality Assured commendation, and in 2012 won a Love Northumberland award. This year heralds the 500th anniversary of the Battle and as we approach, visitor numbers have increased tenfold (we expect 20,000 this year) and the Battlefield Trail is used for conducted walks and talks.

Find out more about Flodden Battlefield

See the Heritage List entry for Flodden Field

My review of the battlefield guidebook can be found here.

One of he events that was taking place on the 500th anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Flodden was an archaeological dig in one of the fields where the main conflict took place. The dig hoped to find the remains of bodies of those who had fallen. The bodies would not be disturbed, but left in situ and the site would be marked as a mass war grave.

On Sunday Mr C went to the Derby wargame show with a couple of his mates.  I was asked if I wanted to go and I considered perhaps being dropped of at a Stately home nearby.  I decided to stay at home, I thought there might be too much wargame talk in the car.

I had just finished reading a chapter in a book about The Battle of Flodden to help me with a post I was writing for Vision & Verb, when the phone rang.  It was Mr C.  He started off by telling me that a Battle of Flodden re-enactment game was going on at the show.  But more importantly as he arrived at the show he bumped into Gavin & Jen (two of the Aussies we met at the Coach House).  It turns out that he is a wargamer too!!

What are the chances of that?

In the morning we visited Alnwick Castle which was labelled a ‘must do’ on Mr C’s list.  We both enjoyed revisiting the castle and were rather relieved that we were English Heritage members, which allowed us discounted entry to the castle which normally costs £14.50.  After I bought up yet another book from the gift shop, we lunched in the cafe before driving along the spectacular coastal route towards Bamburgh Castle.

We stopped in Bamburgh so that we could visit St. Aidan’s Church, a place I had never even noticed let alone visited before.  In the graveyard there is shrine over the grave of Grace Darling who was famed for rescuing survivors of a shipwreck in 1838.  Opposite the church is a museum dedicated to Grace Darling, which we have penciled in for a visit next time we are in the area. The church itself was very interesting and well worth a visit. I was quite fascinated by the shadows cast by the Angels that top a recently installed commemoration to St. Aidan.

After which we made our way back towards Crookham so that we could experience the ‘Flodden Drive’ as described in ‘The Battle of Flodden Why & How’ by Clive Hallum-Barker.  Along the way we called in at the Chain Bridge honey farm for a cup of tea in their tea shop which is a converted red double decker bus.  I eyed up the cakes but resisted temptation.  The tour around the battle field was very interesting and gave us more insight into the battle and the Scots’ difficulties due to the contours of the land.  We then returned to the Coach House where I packed my bags before our last dinner of this trip.

When we retired to the guest lounge for after-dinner coffee, Leona commented that she wouldn’t pop over later (to lock up); she needed an early night.  But to our surprise as the last of the other guests were leaving the residents’ lounge, both she and Toby turned up for a quick drink with us on our last night. Suddenly it was 1.45am!!!

Preparing breakfasts and long journeys back home sprung immediately to our minds…

Needless to say I went straight to bed after I entered my room

The 9th September was the 500th anniversary of The Battle of Flodden which took place in 1413.  We visited the battlefield straight after breakfast whilst it was still quiet and there were only a few other people about.  One of those people was a kilted Scotsman with whom we got into a discussion.  We talked about the battle which led onto discussions about politics and politicians.  We agreed that politicians have a tendency to behave like overgrown school children.  He commented that he would like to think that we had learned from the battle and that we (and our political leaders) wouldn’t make the same mistakes again.

Access to the field itself has been refreshed and a zig-zag path has been added across one of the fields to allow easier access for those who are less mobile.  This is good in one way but it detracts a little from the atmosphere of the place.  As we made to leave the hill where the memorial stands it was starting to get busy.  In the distance the first bus pulled up and I saw someone with a very long flag pole sporting the English flag.  As we made our way down the hill they were making their way up.  As they came close I heard ‘I am Justin from the BBC’ and as I turned I noticed Justin was talking to the flag bearer and his two companions.  They looked at me and asked the quickest way to the monument.  I answered and then we beat a hasty retreat to the car park where we noticed some people dressed up ready for re-enactment of the battle.

We left them to it and made our way to Holy Island to visit the ruined priory.  The museum explaining the history of the site is much improved since my last visit many years ago and we also took the opportunity to visit St Mary’s Church which is right next to the priory.

Unfortunately our chosen tea shop wasn’t able to provide any sandwiches that day due to staff shortages so we settled on lunch in the local pub where  I had a very delicious crab sandwich.  The weather looked a little uncertain so we decided against a stroll along the beach and departed the island to visit the churches of Ladykirk and Norham.  Before arriving at the first church there was a slight detour through Berwick for shopping list pads…  I decided to stay in the car!!

After visiting the churches we had a leisurely drive in the countryside near the hotel before returning there for afternoon tea. We had convivial conversation with some of the other guests, which we all continued over dinner as well.

See my previous post for reference.

A moments silence is in order…

This photo depicts the monument that was erected on Piper’s Hill to remember the fallen of both sides.  The memorial cross is positioned approximately where the English formed their battle lines.  A plaque on the north side of the monument states:

FLODDEN
1513
TO THE BRAVE OF BOTH NATIONS
ERECTED 1910

More information about the battle can be found in my Flodden index.

This theme had me scratching my head for something suitable. Then I remembered the hay bales at Flodden on top of the freshly cut field. I then realised that the site being a battle field meant their was a sadder hidden meaning for the word chopped.

More chopped can be found here.

This weeks prompt was:

Where the sky meets the earth.
That thin line, the farthest point in
your field of vision.
Where are you?
What do you see?

I see many things on the horizon, most of them are beautiful and uplifting.

But once again I am drawn to this haunting horizon.  Flodden field has an ethereal presence about it.