Pootler

  The period after the Romans left is known as the  Dark Ages, not because they were particularly gloomy, but because we don't know much about them, so we superimpose our current ideas about how things are organised around kings, nations and regular armies. The reality was almost certainly more chaotic.  It  might be better to think of early England as being a bit like the Congo, with weak or non-existent central control and people with strong family and tribal loyalties. There would probably have been frequent informal invasions, many refugees, and a few wandering, plundering warlords. It all started with what appears to have been the takeover of much of the country by a consortium of tribes whose business plan was international expansion.  Procopius, a historian in the embers of the Roman Empire ,  referred to the inhabitants as being 'Angles, Frisians and Britons.  I alluded to this in my previous post. Gildas, a British monk and chronicler wit...

  GPX File of the Route :   High Chilterns & Horrible Henrys  This route covers some of the upland villages in the Southern Chilterns.It heads out of Goring using the Icknield Way and climbs along the open country on the east side of the Thames Valley and onwards to picturesque Ewelme. Thence onwards, ascending the Chiltern Hills circling clockwise past the manors of Stonor and Grey’s Court, then through Stoke Row on the return to Goring. It is almost entirely based on quiet and minor roads and although there are quite a few climbs, none are steep. For more detail see the Route Tips below. Zoom In Highlights are: Goring itself, check the view from the bridge. Views across the Goring Gap from the valley side. Historic Ewelme & Alice Chaucer Beautiful deciduous ‘ancient’ woodlands Stonor Park Grey’s Court, an Elizabethan Manor The Maharajah’s Well. Odd enough to get into Atlas Obscura! I confess...

This is an introduction to my 'Deep Past' series. You have found it either on my bike routes website (pootler.co.uk) or my gallimaufry (oildrumlane.co.uk) My aim is to produce a brief, phone-friendly, jargon-free and high-level summary of the origin and nature of the general features of the landscape of this area, leaving finer detail to other posts.  This involves many compromises, so it  will be thin gruel. I  cannot pose as any sort of expert but  have done some homework and stuck to mainstream interpretations and explanations for  a lot of this stuff even when these are disputed. I f you can tell me how to improve it without lengthening it, please do.   Note that the series is not a single linear narrative. I have diverted or disappeared down a rabbit hole, where I think it adds to the understanding of our area. Posts 1 - 5 take you from the creation (!) through to the arrival of humans. Posts 6 - 9 stretches to feudal times with more about the inh...

GPX file of the route  Goring Gap GPX This ‘figure of eight’ tour takes you from the wide, flat Thames Valley at the East end of the Vale of the White Horse, into much narrower and steep sides valley where the river cuts a course between the Chilterns meets the North Wessex Downs. This is the Goring Gap. It starts from Didcot station and heads north on NCR 5, a good(ish) cycle path towards the Thames, which it follows to Dorchester and Wallingford. Both were important cities in the Iron age and the Saxon period respectively and both can prove it!. It then continues along the bottom of the Goring Gap to Goring itself before returning to Wallingford, enjoying longer views from the upper side of the valley. From there it skirts the foot of the Downs back to Didcot. Apart from NCR 5 out of Didcot, It is mostly flat, minor roads with the odd busier stretch near the river. Much of it is flat, but there is a long but gentle climb out of Goring and an unmade section around South...