From Thornborough Henges to the Marmion Tower

A visit to the Thornborough Henges, a trio of massive Neolithic earthworks near the River Ure, offered little for ground photography. Though the banks rise up to four metres, their layout is best seen from the air, so I have linked to this Wikipedia image. Once standing above wetlands, the site is now surrounded by quarried and drained land. Some quarries have become landfill, others nature reserves. The altered landscape has reshaped the view dramatically.

The Marmion Tower at West Tanfield proved more photogenic. I have not read Scott’s Marmion, but the name lingers. The tower, all that remains of Tanfield Castle, rises on the north bank of the Ure, still marking the division of the North and West Ridings. Parliament ordered the castle’s destruction after the Civil War, but the gatehouse survived — solid, richly carved, and once grand. The turret is blocked now by opaque perspex, the kitchen vaults still groined, and the upper chamber has a fine oriel window apparently added a century after the tower’s construction.

Nearby, in Tanfield Church, lies Sir John Marmion — or perhaps his body still lies in Spain where he was killed supporting John of Gaunt’s efforts to secure to himself the crown of Castile¹Information on display inside the church.. His alabaster effigy shows him in chainmail, head on helmet, feet on lion, beside his wife, Elizabeth St. Quintin who rests on a pillow supported by cherubs, lioness at her feet. Their tomb is marked by an iron hearse for candles during Mass. The detail is precise; the graffiti, less so. Whether or not Scott’s Marmion has any basis in fact, these carved figures are enough to stir the imagination.

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  Information on display inside the church.