Northumberland Notes

 

Northumberland

Heatherland and bent-land --
Black land and white,
God bring me to Northumberland,
The land of my delight.

Land of singing waters,
And winds from off the sea,
God bring me to Northumberland,
The land where I would be.

Heatherland and bent-land,
And valleys rich with corn,
God bring me to Northumberland,
The land where I was born.

by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (1878 - 1962)

This week I have been visiting the beautiful Northumberland coast with its wide, sweeping, deserted beaches, ancient castles, abundance of wildflowers and seabirds and awe-inspiring geology.

The hard, dark rocks (visible along the coast and beneath castles at Lindisfarne, Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh) are dolerite, formed 295 million years ago when stretching of the Earth’s crust caused molten rock, or magma, at over 1000°C to rise up from deep within the Earth. It didn’t reach the surface but was injected between layers of limestone, shale and sandstone. The magma cooled and solidified underground to form the Whin Sill – a vast sheet of rock up to 80m thick, which lies beneath much of north-east England. 

I find it hard to grasp the enormity of such an event, and the fact that I can still walk upon these aged rocks, marvelling at the fossils captured in the neighbouring sandstone and limestone. It reinforces the fact that my life is fleeting, and makes me wonder what, if anything, will be left of me when I die that is lasting.

Writing Prompts:

• The poet Gibson loved his home county. Write for six minutes about 'the land where I was born'. 
• Write about a time when you visited a beach. Use all your senses to describe your memory of it. 
• If life is fleeting, how can we make the most of it? Explore the answer to this question in your writing for six minutes. 
  
• What do you think your legacy will be? How would you like people to remember you in years to come?

Click here for a taste of traditional folk music from Northumberland.