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Book reviews

By STEWART BONNEY

NON-FICTION

VISITORS’ HISTORIC BRITAIN NORTHUMBERLAND ROMANS TO VICTORIANS By Craig Armstrong Published by Pen and Sword History (www.pen-and-sword.co.uk) Softback £12.99

This Northumbrian-born author’s latest book provides a detailed overview of the county’s history and a visitor guide to historic places.

The first chapter focuses on the Roman occupation AD43-399. The legions faced resistance from northern tribes for decades, and when Hadrian visited in AD122 he ordered the construction of his wall to separate the Roman British from northern barbarians. Other Roman locations featured include the fort and supply base at Corstopitum near Corbridge; the growth of civilian settlements known as vici that developed next to forts such as Vindolanda; and Housesteads, the most complete example of a Roman fort in Britain.

Moving into the Anglo-Saxon period, in 547 Ida the Flamebearer captured the coastal fort of Din Guyaroi, which was pivotal in establishing the Kingdom of Bernicia. By 593, the kingdom was ruled by King Aethelfrith who, having seized power in neighbouring Deira, combined them to form the kingdom of Northumbria.

Later, King Oswald installed an Irish monk named Aidan to oversee the conversion of Northumbrians to the Celtic Christian church. He chose Lindisfarne as a base for his bishopric, founding a priory there in 635 which became one of the most important centres of early English Christian religion. In 793 the island was subjected to the first attack by Vikings. For the next century, this rich monastery was the target of more raids. In 875, the monks abandoned the island.

After King Aethelfrith, between 617-670, successive Anglian kings Edwin, Oswald and Oswui made Bamburgh the capital of the High Kings of England. Work to build a castle keep began in the reign of Henry I. It received its first attack in 1138, when David I of Scotland invaded Northumberland. It was subject to numerous sieges during the War of the Roses. In 1463, it was besieged and taken by 10,000-strong Yorkist forces. When it was attacked by the Earl of Warwick a year later, it was the first English castle brought low by artillery fire.

Throughout the medieval period, Northumberland was on the front lines of Anglo-Scottish Wars. This led to the county having more castles and towers than any other in England. Alnwick Castle was so well fortified that it was largely untouched in the early Anglo-Scottish wars. In 1309, it was bought by Lord Henry Percy, beginning an association with this family which continues.

Norham Castle, founded in 1121 to protect a vital crossing point on the River Tweed, was, over the centuries, besieged on at least nine occasions. Largely destroyed in 1513, it was soon rebuilt and turned into an early Tudor border fortress.

Warkworth Castle was granted to Henry Percy in 1332 and remained the family’s principal seat until 1576. Thereafter, it was left in a ruinous state until the fourth Duke of Northumberland, Admiral Algernon Percy, repaired it in the early 19th Century.

Country seats featured include Wallington Hall. Originally the seat of the Fenwick family, it passed to Sir William Blackett who knocked down a Pele tower and built a country house. He died in 1705, his reputation for partying continued by his son Arthur, whose father famously employed six men purely for the purpose of carrying him and his drunken guests to bedrooms after parties. Arthur, who was an MP for Newcastle, died in 1728 with debts equivalent to £10m today. The estate passed to the Trevelyan family in 1777.

Cragside, another country house highlighted in the book, was built on crags near Rothbury on land owned by the entrepreneur, engineer and businessman William George Armstrong, later Lord Armstrong. He designed a water-driven piston engine used to power hydraulic cranes worldwide, and he became a weapons manufacturer and warship builder. His country house, which took 30 years to complete in the latter part of the 19th Century, was described by Pevsner as ‘the most dramatic Victorian mansion in the North of England’.

CHILDREN’S

THE RETURN OF KITTY THE TOON by John Mills, illustrations by Sarah Farooqi Published by Chick Books (www.chickbooks.co.uk) Softback £5 + p&p

Containing fine colour illustrations, this book highlights the importance of the kittiwakes who, since the 1960s, have made their home on the River Tyne in Newcastle and Gateshead. These are the first known inland nesting colonies of kittiwakes in the world. The Tyne Bridge now has around 700 nesting pairs around its structure. The story follows the adventures of ‘Kitty’ as she crosses the Atlantic, survives storms, makes landfall in Newfoundland, then, navigating by the stars and the magnetic force of the planet, makes the long journey back to Tyneside. Joined by a new partner, she then searches for a suitable nest site for the breeding season and finds a space on the ledges of the old Baltic Flour Mill.