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Off The Wall |
4 Front Street,
Brampton, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA8 1NG
Tel: 016977 41600 Email: offthewallweb@aol.co.uk |
Off The Wall 2 Guided Heritage Tours
Tours are finished for the season,
visit again spring 2012
Heritage tours by
minibus.
Follow in the footsteps of Romans, King Arthur, Reivers, Bonnie Prince
Charlie and much more.
Travel quiet byways and see villages and hamlets in the Eden Valley,
hardly changed since Victorian days.
Visit battle sites, ancient monuments, castles, stone circles, Hadrian’s
wall.
Evening or day tours (Day tours include stopping for refreshments) by
minibus with the services of a guide.
To book
call in at Off The Wall or contact through email:
offthewallweb@aol.co.uk or phone: 019677 41600
Please wear appropriate footwear and waterproofs in bad weather.
The Reivers and the Debatable Lands
Follow in the hoof prints of the Reivers, the name give to the
families who lived either side of the Border, who in the 15th and 16th
centuries raided across the Borders, destroying, looting, rustling and
murder was a common occurrence during this time. Travel to this land
and see the strongholds and castles of that time, travel into the
Debatable land, the disputed area of land claimed by both England and
Scotland, where the law of the sword ruled. |
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The End of the Wall (Roman)
Travel from Brampton westwards to Carlisle, then on to Bowness on Solway,
where the stone wall ended but not the Roman defences which carried on
along the coast to Maryport.
On the way see what use the local population made of this ready made
supply of good stone work, from Cathedrals and Castles to farmhouses and
farm walls. Look at the history and natural beauty of this area.
Arthurian Legends
Travel back in time to the day of King Arthur’s last battle Camlann.
Follow his last journey to the Solway Firth where he died and his body was
placed in a ship for the voyage to Avalon.
See where Merlin’s pagan army fought a celtic Christian army.
Also look down on the site of the battle of Solway moss in 1542.
Halloween Ghost Tour!
Saturday 30th October 2010Off The Wall Spooky Tour Saturday 29th
October 2010
Report by Mike Goodman from Off The Wall.
Fifteen brave souls gathered at the Off The Wall
Coffee shop for my first Spooky Tour, just after sunset they boarded the
bus hired for the evening from Airbus 2000, with Martin at the wheel.
First stop was at the Tarn End Hotel, overlooking
Talkin Tarn, where three tales were told, the first about Lizzie Douglas
the Brampton Witch, then about Martha, the old woman of Talkin Tarn,
finally a short mention of Mary Stobbart’s ghost who haunts the
Blacksmiths Arms in Talkin Village.
Boarding the bus we set off for Cumrew, where in
the remains of an old castle’s earthworks witches would gather in the 19th
century. There I told of the almost supernatural elements of the Helm
wind which blows along the edge of the Pennines at certain times of the
year.
Moving on we reached Croglin, there in the
churchyard I told the story of the Croglin Vampire, within those
suitable surroundings, my victims, sorry, guests held on to each other
as I told of the vampires attack and the hunt to find and destroy him,
Although I must remind you that the actual story is based on Croglin Low
Hall which is about one mile west of the village and is now a working
farm, I thought that the churchyard was a more atmospheric place for the
story.
Quickly boarding the bus we moved on to Renwick
where outside the church wall I told the tale of the Renwick bat, a
strange creature that was disturbed from it’s lair when the old church
was dismantled in the 1700’s, it was supposedly killed by one of the
workers John Tallentire, however reports of the creature flying over the
village have carried on, indeed the last reported sighting was in 1959!
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Watching the night sky we quickly climbed
back on to the bus and set off home. We stopped briefly for me to talk about
Long Meg and her daughters, the stone circle just outside Kirkoswald,
talking about the stories and legends associated with it. Then finishing
with a ghostly tale involving King Arthur, Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot.
We finally returned to the coffee shop, I
counted fifteen people off the bus, phew none missing, where we sat down to
steak and ale pie with all the trimmings, followed by fruit crumble and
polished off with a glass of wine or a bottle of beer.
Suitably relaxed I then gave a slideshow
on ghost stories from the local castles of Corby, Scaleby, Naworth and
Carlisle, finishing with a creepy story about Netherby Hall and the ghostly
footprints!
Wish to know more? You’ll have to book for
next years Spooky Tour.
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