Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. The Battle of Kilsyth
Q2. A.G. Barr (aka Andrew Greig Barr)
The initial clues seem to place us in the town of Kilsyth, north west of Cumbernauld, in the Scottish central region. "N'oubliez', is the motto of the Marquess of Montrose, who was victorious in a battle against a team called 'The Covenanters', just outside of Kilsyth, c 15th August 1645. Travelling east out of Kilsyth would take us past the renaissance style mansion of Colzium house, which appears to have been built c 1783 for the Edmonstone family. Prior to this it had belonged to a good old Jacobite (at this point a glass of red wine should be raised in a toast to the king, over a bowl of water) called William Livingstone, 3rd Viscount of Kilsyth, who was like many Scottish families, declared attainted and had his estates forfeited, after keeping it real on a hunting expedition, went a bit too far (they were probably hunting the dragoons of the upstart Hanoverian pretender to the throne, c 1715).
The former mining town of Kilsyth, lies close to the Antonine wall and the Forth & Clyde canal. Tracking eastward along the navigation, would bring us to the site of Rough Castle Roman fort. The 'Lilia' which are situated next to the fort, are the Roman version of Punji sticks ie they are pits, which at one time were filled with sharpened stakes and covered with brushwood or plant material to conceal them from any unwary attackers. A local historian once told the Eastender, that Falkirk churchyard, has twenty five thousand bodies buried in it, due to all of the fighting that happened in that neck of the woods. The forces of William Wallace (died c 1305) were defeated here in a clash with the nasty old fascist, Edward I, c 1298, while another good old Jacobite general called Lord George Murray (born c 1694), defeated an amateurish royalist general (Henry Hawley), at the battle of Falkirk Muir c 1746.
Falkirk is the birthplace of Andrew Greig Barr, born c 1872 and his most famous drink, Irn Bru, is widely drunk as a restorative in these parts, (mostly after a night out on the beer and whisky, in the Eastender's opinion).The only thing which comes close to being as good at curing what ails you, is coconut water......
Rough Castle, is situated very close the Falkirk Wheel, which by means of an ingenious rotating boat lift, held together with 15,000 bolts, connects the Forth & Clyde Canal, with the Union Canal. Prior to this, eleven locks were required to do the same job and these were demolished c 1933.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.
Saturday, 11 July 2015
Saturday, 4 July 2015
Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:
Q1. Rudston
Q2. Danes Dyke
The initial clues seem to place us in one of the Eastender's favourite parts of the big British island, ie the East Riding of Yorkshire, somewhere on the outskirts of the resort town of Bridlington. There appear to be at least four medieval village sites in the vicinity, Hilderthorpe, Wilsthorpe, Auburn and Low Caythorpe. From the directions given in the text, that the resort is three miles or so north north east from the abandoned village's western flank, the author is probably at the site of Auburn village.
Travelling five miles to the west of Bridlington, would bring us to the village of Rudston and this is where a novelist called Winifred Holtby was born c 1898. Ms Holtby wrote a novel called 'South Riding', which has a character in it called 'Sarah Burton. According to some of her bios, after a short but prolific career as a novelist, the poor woman died of Bright's disease at the relatively young age of 37. She was buried in Rudston churchyard, which also appears to be where the twenty five foot monolith is located.
Bridlington claims to be one of Britains busiest shellfish ports and a band leader who joined the municiple orchestra there c 1903, was one Wallace Hartley, who died c 1912, while playing for the last time, on board the RMS Titanic as it sunk beneath the waves.The painter-cum-architect-cum furniture designer is probably William Kent, some of his biographies claim that he was baptised c 1668, in St Mary's church, Bridlington.
Driving east,north east out of Bridlington would take us across a ditch and earthworks called 'Danes Dyke', which crosses Flamborough Head, from north to south. Some of the references I checked claim that this defensive structure was not in fact constructed by Danes at all and is in fact Iron age in origin.There do appear to be remains of a chalk castle (built c 12th century) in the village of Flamborough. Flamborough Head lighthouse, is around eighty seven feet high, with a range of twenty four nautical miles and was designed by an architect called Samuel Wyatt (born c 1737). The Eastender initially thought (and he'd glugged a few ales by this point) that North west of the lighthouse, lies the Flamborough Cliffs Nature Reserve, which the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust website, claims is one of the most important seabird colonies in Europe but if you read the comments, you will see that it is actually Bempton Cliffs Nature Reserve, which lies north west of the lighthouse.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.
Q1. Rudston
Q2. Danes Dyke
The initial clues seem to place us in one of the Eastender's favourite parts of the big British island, ie the East Riding of Yorkshire, somewhere on the outskirts of the resort town of Bridlington. There appear to be at least four medieval village sites in the vicinity, Hilderthorpe, Wilsthorpe, Auburn and Low Caythorpe. From the directions given in the text, that the resort is three miles or so north north east from the abandoned village's western flank, the author is probably at the site of Auburn village.
Travelling five miles to the west of Bridlington, would bring us to the village of Rudston and this is where a novelist called Winifred Holtby was born c 1898. Ms Holtby wrote a novel called 'South Riding', which has a character in it called 'Sarah Burton. According to some of her bios, after a short but prolific career as a novelist, the poor woman died of Bright's disease at the relatively young age of 37. She was buried in Rudston churchyard, which also appears to be where the twenty five foot monolith is located.
Bridlington claims to be one of Britains busiest shellfish ports and a band leader who joined the municiple orchestra there c 1903, was one Wallace Hartley, who died c 1912, while playing for the last time, on board the RMS Titanic as it sunk beneath the waves.The painter-cum-architect-cum furniture designer is probably William Kent, some of his biographies claim that he was baptised c 1668, in St Mary's church, Bridlington.
Driving east,north east out of Bridlington would take us across a ditch and earthworks called 'Danes Dyke', which crosses Flamborough Head, from north to south. Some of the references I checked claim that this defensive structure was not in fact constructed by Danes at all and is in fact Iron age in origin.There do appear to be remains of a chalk castle (built c 12th century) in the village of Flamborough. Flamborough Head lighthouse, is around eighty seven feet high, with a range of twenty four nautical miles and was designed by an architect called Samuel Wyatt (born c 1737). The Eastender initially thought (and he'd glugged a few ales by this point) that North west of the lighthouse, lies the Flamborough Cliffs Nature Reserve, which the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust website, claims is one of the most important seabird colonies in Europe but if you read the comments, you will see that it is actually Bempton Cliffs Nature Reserve, which lies north west of the lighthouse.
N.B. The Eastender has moved to moderated comments due to the number of people who normally write poison pen letters in green ink, posting on his page. Rest assured though, if you have a non abusive comment relating to solving the puzzle and possible solutions, he will publish it.
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