Whereas Green Hill is made up of free draining chalk, as are the hills that surround it, just five miles away Damp Dale is a valley of impervious clay surrounded by ridges of drier sandstone. Along the boundary between the two types of strata many small streams issue from the ground and coalesce in the […]
Tag: Habitats.
All the land in flowery squares.
All the land in flowery squares, This is a line from Tennyson’s The Gardener’s Daughter a relatively early poem by the bard. It is referring to the countryside in May, which he was familiar with while growing up in Lymndale. The squares are small hedged fields filled with meadow flowers and much more. After then […]
Widening the Wolds
Although the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB stretches some 50 kilometres from north to south (Caistor to Gunby) the distance across it south of Louth is as little as 11 kilometres. North of Claxby St. Andrew the eastern boundary follows close to the line of the 50 metres contour, which overlooks the marsh up to Little Cawthorpe. […]
Tennyson Knolls
In Tennyson’s In Memoriam A.H.H. he spends a significant amount of time reminiscing of days spent with his close friend Arthur Hallam at his family home in Somersby. It allows the reader to get a glimpse into life at the rectory, especially at Christmas, but there is one section (XCV) which he describes spent in […]
Trails through the Dales.
The Snake Trail. Of the remaining possibilities for walking in Tennyson’s footsteps I have picked out a route called the Snake Trail, which is a short walk and the Geology trail which gives a more comprehensive view of the area. Snake trail is called this because the dry warm sandy soils around Somersby would have […]
Somersby and Bag Enderby.
The two villages of Somersby and Bag Enderby tucked away in the middle of Hill Wapentake essentially form a single unit and two hundred years ago were ministered as one by Tennyson’s father Dr. George Clayton Tennyson. They are separated from the rest of the Wolds by distinct physical boundaries with the steep red chalk […]
New England Ravine & Warden Hill
The distinctive winding shape of the New England Ravine starts just south of Tetford where the River Lymn cuts it way through a low ridge of Spilsby Sandstone to create a narrow valley two kilometres long and 15 metres deep. It has steep sides with the occasional sandstone bluff overlooking a flat boggy floor. It […]
Ashby Puerorum & Stainsby
Stainsby & Snake Lane. As Greetham was an important soke at the time of the DB it is not surprising that a number of roads converge nearby. To the north there is a straight road to Tetford and fairly straight road to the neighbouring soke of Belchford and just to the south there is a […]
The Ancient Soke of Greetham
It is probable that sometime between the Legions leaving Britain and Christianity arriving in the area that the main focus of administration for the South Riding moved ten kilometres inland from the Hub to Greetham with a sub centre just two kilometres north of the Hub along the Bluestone Heath Road at Calceby. Today Greetham […]
Walmsgate & Deepdale.
The long steady climb along the Bluestone Heath Road out of South Ormsby eventually takes you to the top of Dog Hill. From here the road continues along the ridge top for a few kilometres offering expansive views on both sides of the road. Before this however it is worth stopping to consider the view […]
