Selfies from the Soccer Pitch

Before heading home, we made a couple more random, but interesting, stops at Goathland Station (of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway) and the Hellfire Caves (in West Wycombe).

The Hellfire Caves are a series of hand dug tunnels and caverns excavated by Sir Francis Dashwood in the 1740’s and 50’s. Originally, the endeavor was to give employment to local villagers, after a succession of harvest failures, by using the chalk from the caves to build a main road through the area. Soon, however, the flamboyant Sir Francis Dashwood began using the caves for the meetings and parties of the men’s club he called the Knights of Saint Francis of Wycombe. This notorious club of purported pagans/satan worshippers later came to be known as the Hellfire Club. The caves extend over a quarter mile underground beneath a small hill. Three hundred feet above, on top of the hill, is St. Lawrence’s Church and the Dashwood family’s mausoleum.

Goathland Station is part of a heritage railway network still running for tourists and rail aficionados in the North York Moors National Park. Originally opened in 1865, it has remained mostly unchanged since that time – the last recorded change was in 1908. It’s been used in many film and tv productions, most notably appearing as Hogwarts Station at Hogsmeade in the Harry Potter films.

Cuthbert of Lindisfarne was a monk and bishop in the Kingdom of Northumbria (today part of Northern England and Southern Scotland). He died in 687 and became regarded as the patron saint of the region. Cuthbert was buried on the island of Lindisfarne, but over the ensuing years his enshrined remains were threatened by repeated Viking raids. In 995 the Lindisfarne monks, entrusted with the protection of the remains of St. Cuthbert, set out to find a safer location for their charge.

According to local legend, one of the monks received a vision from St. Cuthbert with instructions that his remains should be interred at a place called Dun Holm. Searching for this, the monks came across two milkmaids looking for a lost dun (a dull shade of brownish grey) cow. They followed the maids to the area where the wayward cow was last seen – a place called (you guessed it) Dun Holm or Durham. Here, on a promontory above a tight, looping bend in the River Wear, the coffin holding the saint’s remains became unmovable. Declaring a miracle, the monks built a shrine to St. Cuthbert on that spot.

The shrine became a popular pilgrimage destination, prompting construction of a monastery, chapels, a church and eventually an entire cathedral complex. The settlement around it grew, as well, becoming the city of Durham. Over the many centuries Durham Cathedral has been expanded and embellished making it the Norman/Romanesque, Gothic masterpiece it is today.

There was so much to see that we’ve included two photo galleries in this post! Enjoy!

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