Resting Place

Best viewed LARGE

It finally struck me today that this time next year, I won't be living in this area.

I know I am only moving 35 minutes away, but having lived here since I got married (22 years ago next Wednesday!!) and before that in my childhood home only 5 miles away, moving 35 minutes away almost seems like emigrating!

I realised that all the local scenery that I love but take totally for granted because it?s on my doorstep, won?t be when I move, so I have decided to start photographing it so I can feast my eyes whenever the need arises.

So, where to start I asked myself. Easy peasy....my favourite place in the whole wide world. Castlehill / Barr Hill Fort.

I grew up in the little ex-coalmining village that nestles just to the right, at the foot of this hill. Castlehill is the green mound to the left hand side of the picture (with the Ordinance Survey white trig point on the top) and is the site of an ancient iron-age settlement. Barr Hill Fort - a Roman Fort no less - sits in the little wood with the lush green grass to the centre right of the pic, with the course of the Antonine Wall running just in front.

More info HERE

The views from the top of Castlehill of the Kilsyth Hills, the Campsie Fells and the Kelvin Valley, are just breathtaking. As a young child, my school holidays were spent climbing Castlehill with my Uncle Jim (my gran?s brother, so really my Great Uncle Jim) and his little dog Jet. My friends used to tag along too and he would show us the paths to take, tell us the names of the flowers in the hedgerows and thrill us with exciting stories of the ancient Romans who had managed to bring the Roman Empire to the edge of our little village! We were so proud that our village took on the might of the Roman Army and won! Of course our little village didn’t exist back then but we never let a small detail like that get in the way of a good story!

As I got a little older, me and my pals would climb Castlehill on an almost daily basis during the summer holidays, bread & jam and some custard creams for a picnic, settle ourselves at the top and spend the afternoon watching the world float by.....and then as a teenager it was a great place to go... ahem....courting!

So as you can see, it is a place I hold very dear to my heart. It is also the place I want my ashes to be scattered when the time comes for me to shuffle off this mortal coil. It is also the place I take my Blipfoto name of Damnonii from.

A couple of years ago I wrote a poem about this very special place and share it with you below. I appreciate it won?t make a lot of sense to you but it is loaded with meaning for me. :))

Resting Place

My sanctuary exists
Up a hill
Across a field
Through forbidding woods
Where birds don?t sing
And Roman souls stand guard for all eternity.

My childhood plays there
My secrets stay there
Whispered to Jana.
One day I?ll rest there
A forgiving Damnonii
And be safe in her care, for all eternity.

(Oh and thank you for all your lovely comments on yesterdays blip. Another Spotlight! You are spoiling me!!! xxxx And for those who couldn?t work out what it was, it was a paperweight!)