About Me

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Hi! I'm Eunice and I live in Bolton, Lancashire, with my two dogs Sophie and Sugar and an assortment of cats - well it used to be Sophie and Sugar, now it's Sophie and Poppie. I first began camping back in 1997 when my then partner took me to Anglesey for my birthday weekend. We slept in the back of the car - a hatchback - using the cushions off the settee at home as a mattress, and cooked and brewed up on a single burner camping stove. The site was good, the views were great, the weather fantastic and I was completely hooked. Following that weekend we got a two-man tent and some proper accessories and returned to Anglesey two weeks later, then over time we progressed to a three-man tent followed by an old trailer tent, then a new trailer tent, a campervan and finally a caravan. When my partner decided that the grass was greener on the other side of the street - literally - in April 2009 and I suddenly found myself alone after fifteen years, I decided there was no way I was going to give up camping and caravanning if I could cope on my own. This blog is the story of my travels, trials and tribulations since becoming a solo camper - I hope you like it

Tuesday June 18th 2019 Part 1 - Senhouse Roman Museum, Maryport

Another lovely morning arrived and as I intended visiting three different places that day, including one where I would probably spend some considerable time, I was on the road soon after 10am. Now I've no doubt that everyone has heard of a traffic jam but as I drove round the country lanes I was met by something completely different - a 'sheep jam'. Rounding a bend I came face to face with a herd of blue-tinged sheep spread across the road and heading towards me, followed by a guy with a stick who was herding them along. This was a great opportunity for a photo so grabbing the camera from the passenger seat I took a shot through the front windscreen. Some of the sheep were rather skittish and were jumping about all over the place but they passed by without any of them hitting the van and I was free to continue my journey.


My first stop of the day was at the Senhouse Roman Museum on the cliff top in Maryport. The museum, which is adjacent to the remains of an ancient Roman fort, was built in 1885 by the Navy, originally to be used through the years as a Naval Artillery Reserve drill hall, then in 1966 military cuts ended its life as a Naval building but it was saved from demolition by the efforts of the Maryport people.

The collection of artefacts from the Roman fort was started in 1570 by John Senhouse, Lord of the Manor of Ellenborough, and these were originally kept within the walls of Netherhall, the family mansion. In the 18th century much of the Roman fort was plundered to provide stone for the building of Maryport town and during that time any carved stonework discovered was preserved and recorded. Fast forward through the generations and after the Senhouse family left Netherhall in 1962 the building began to deteriorate, then in 1965 concerns for the collection of artefacts led Roger Senhouse and someone named Brian Ashmore to recover some 125 items from the mansion's ruins and relocate them to the safety of the coach house. The determination of Brian Ashmore and Joe Scott Plummer, heir to the Senhouse estate, finally led to the collection being housed in the old Naval drill hall on the cliff top and this was eventually opened to the public as a museum in 1990.

Now I have to confess that although I find local history in my home area quite fascinating I've never really had any interest in history in general - I hated it at school - so I was really only going to this place for any possible photo opportunities, not because I wanted to learn about the Romans in Maryport. The building looked quite attractive on the outside and inside the rooms were bright and well set out; it wasn't a big place so it didn't take me long to look round, then back outside I climbed to the top of the observation tower to see the views over Maryport and its surroundings, though unfortunately the sun was in the wrong direction for photos overlooking the town.


Back at ground level I retrieved the dogs from the van and took them for a short walk along the cliff top where I was able to get a decent shot looking towards the harbour and marina. While I was there I got chatting to a lady who said she lived in one of the new properties by the harbour and it turned out that she had previously lived less than seven miles from my own home on a road I've often travelled along - sometimes it really is a small world.


Before I left Maryport for the next town on my itinerary there was one more place I wanted to see - Fleming Square not far from the museum, in fact I'd passed part of it on my way there earlier on. I'd previously seen a picture of it on the internet and with its coloured houses and four diagonal paths converging on a central war memorial it looked like quite an attractive place.


It didn't take many minutes to get photos from all four corners of the square, and though a few less cars in the shots would have been better I was happy with the results so I hopped back in the van, drove back to the main road through Maryport and set off on the next part of my day.





10 comments:

  1. A sheep jam has to be more bearable than a traffic jam :) Unusual shaped building and looks like an interesting museum.

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    1. It's certainly a very unusual shaped building but it's really well set out inside (all at ground level) and would be very interesting to anyone who likes Roman history.

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  2. I was thinking "well done for getting so FEW cars in your Fleming Square pictures". The residents don't have anywhere else to park so you did really well :-)

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    1. Quite coincidentally, while trying to find details of the war memorial, I came across an old blog post of yours from several years ago when you went to a couple of open gardens there. Presumably the houses don't have back streets/alleys/gardens where people can park?

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    2. A few of the properties have small yards. I know one of the houses in your last picture - the lilac/grey one, and you can see the arched doorway. It is sized for a horse and carriage and there is a gorgeous carriage house in the back garden. Downstairs was for the animals, small upstairs for the groom. Not much room for cars though, and no "back lanes".

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    3. I suppose when those houses were built cars hadn't been invented so there was no need for parking places! lol

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  3. Pretty town, and the museum looks interesting.

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  4. I don't know what the rest of the town looks like residential-wise but that bit looked quite an attractive place to live.

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  5. In my part of the country we don't have sheep jams, but pony or cattle jams are common and occasionally, during the pannage season, we can get pig jams!
    I like your Roman Museum photos - definitely a photogenic building. I also have very little interest in general history but very much enjoy learning about local history. Fleming Square is really lovely.

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  6. I came across an ostrich jam once while in South Africa several years ago - that was definitely something different!
    The Roman museum is very well set out and informative, worth a visit for anyone who likes that sort of thing.
    Fleming Square is very attractive, I don't know if there's a town rule that residents must paint their houses every so often but they are all really well kept.

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