Up above

This is St James' Church, Ormside, not far from Appleby. We were walking round here with friends this afternoon - and it wasn't raining! The river and beck were both very full and fields were flooded, so we decided not to try the stepping stones!!
 
Ormside is an old village, where it is thought there was once a Viking settlement. In fact the name is supposed to be derived from 'the seat of Orm', Orm being a Viking. A Viking burial ground was found where the church now stands and it was also here that the famous 'Ormside Bowl', dating from the 7th or 8th centuries, was found - a beautiful and rare Anglo-Saxon artefact, now in York Museum.
 
The church itself, one of the oldest in Cumbria, was built on an early medieval  'ringwork', or defensive mound, one has to climb up to it from the road. The tower on the left is obviously defensive; it has no door and only narrow windows, none at ground level, and overlooks a bend in the River Eden, way down below. The tower was probably used as a place of safety for the villagers in troubled times. Parts of the church date from the 11th century, for example the doorway, but the building has obviously been modified on many occasions since then.