PW_1_2022

Spotlight on the SIGs

Three Kingdoms Nick Clarke , Hampshire Branch & Motorcycle SIG During lockdown, I read about a motorcycle ride that explored three of the four Anglo Saxon Kingdoms, travelling through several National Parks, and along some great motorcycling roads.

I live on the Isle of Wight, so with my mate Pete , our tour began by riding through the New Forest to Winchester, where the Statue of King Alfred the Great was our official start point. Heading north into Wiltshire we crossed part of Wansdyke, (a line of earthworks built in the 6th Century by Anglo Saxon kings) to Marlborough, and on into the Cotswolds to Bourton on the Water, where the 11th century church was built on the site of a Saxon timber church. More Cotswolds roads took us to Willersey, where in 709AD a Charter by the Kings of Mercia gave Willersey to the Abbey of Evesham. We stopped for tea by the Avon at Stratford, (first inhabited by Anglo-Saxons in the 17th century), before a stop at Warwick Castle, (where earthworks were instigated by Æthelflæd, daughter of Alfred the Great) and stayed the night at Tamworth, the seat of the Kings of Mercia Before leaving Tamworth in the morning, we visited the statue of Æthelflæd , who ruled Mercia from 911 until her death in 918. Moving briefly from the Saxons, we also visited the statue of Sir Robert Peel , who as well as founding the modern police, was once M.P. for Tamworth. Our journey passed the National Memorial Arboretum, so keeping to the police theme begun in Tamworth, we visited the new Police Memorial. Riding through the Derbyshire Dales to Buxton and Glossop, we passed Woodhead Reservoir, where the weather went downhill as we crossed Nidderdale, towards our overnight stay in Ripon. Our third day’s roads began curvy and quiet, along the north edge of Nidderdale, and it wasn’t long before we joined “England’s Route 66” for a run into Barnard Castle, and the magnificent North Pennines to Haltwhistle for lunch. Hadrian’s Wall runs through Haltwhistle, which proclaims itself to be the centre of Britain, being equidistant from Portland Bill and North Orkney. Entering the wild and rugged Northumberland National Park, we rode east to Bamburgh Castle , the seat of the Kingdom of Northumbria. Our overnight accommodation kept us on a police theme, staying in the YHA hostel, that was once Alnwick Police Station. Leaving Alnwick on day four, we rode north to the Saxon site at Ad Gefrin, before crossing the Tweed to enter Scotland at Coldstream. Our Scottish section took us through Kelso and Jedburgh on quiet curvy back roads, re-entering England through the Kielder Forest. Next we crossed the North Pennines and the Hartside Pass to Penrith, where, in 927, having defeated the Vikings at York, Æthelstan accepted overlordship of his competing rulers, and became the first King of England, bringing peace until 934AD. Having stayed overnight in the Lake District at Borrowdale, day five took us south, past Helvellyn, via Windermere to Kendal. Cumbria turned into Yorkshire, where we passed the Ribblehead Viaduct, on our way south to Settle, where the Angles took up residence in the 7th century. An overnight stay in Halifax led to our sixth day, towards Langsett, where we rode the famous Mortimer Road (a former turnpike) into the Peak District National Park. Delightfully twisty Derbyshire roads took us to Hathersage, where Angles and Saxons farmed the area before the Norman Invasion. Moving on to Bakewell, we rode west across the Peak District, before turning south into Staffordshire, for ice cream by the Mere at Ellesmere. Next, we rode the western extremity of the Kingdom of Mercia, crossing the border several times as we traced Offa’s Dyke, as far south as Clun and Knighton, before heading southeast back into England for a last overnight stay, in Hereford.

King Alfred’s Statue

Sunday was our seventh day, and instead of resting, we rode through the Forest of Dean and the Cotswolds, making a stop in Wootton Bassett to remember those who had taken their final ride home through the town. From there we continued south to Edgington, for a visit to Bratton Hill, Bratton Camp and White Horse , the scene of King Alfred’s definitive victory over the Vikings. Alfred’s victory allowed his descendants to unite England as a country, making this a fitting conclusion to our 1290 mile tour.

Sir Robert Peel

The statue of Æthelflæd

Bamburgh Castle

The White Horse at Bratton Hill

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POLICE WORLD Vol 67 No.1, 2022