Mayburgh

Henge

I was pretty snowbound this morning so after sorting paperwork I needed air and walked to Mayburgh across the fields. I was keen to experiment with Marcus's latest minimalist challenge and thought there might opportunities before the snow goes. 

It was pretty tiring with the snow turning to rain. The fields were heavy going but it was lovely with the drama of the snow and I was curious to see if I could peer into Thomas Wilkinson's Grotto at Yanwath. He was a local Quaker and active campaigner against slavery and Wordsworth helped him landscape his grounds and ended up writing a poem to his spade, as you do. It was difficult to get much sense of the area and I stood out too conspicuously against the snow to go wandering but there was a magnificent avenue of lime trees (extra) which undoubtedly go back to those days.

I made it to the Henge - the challenge is minimalism with the theme of civilisation. I thought the henge would fit the civilisation bit and throws up questions about what it means, but what I can't include is sound and the constant drone of the nearby more recent 'civilisation' in the form of the M6 and the fly past of the west coast mainline train heading up to Scotland past the ancient fortified farm of Yanwath Hall.