Just a field, a farm and a lot of grass . . .

. . . on a gloomy, overcast day. But that is not quite the whole story.


Think yourself back nearly 2,000 years. Sweep away the farm and poles and walls and imagine a place full of houses, workshops, people, soldiers, horses. For this was the site of a Roman Fort and civic settlement or Vicus and hidden under those lumps and bumps are the foundations of lots of buildings. I hope that looking at it now brings to you a sense of wonder, as it does me – history beneath our feet quite literally.
 
This was Braboniacum, an important Roman Fort in what is now the village of Kirkby Thore, just off the A66 a short distance from Appleby. The fort and vicus covered a huge area here and across the village main road and it is all officially a Historic Monument. Much in the way of stones, artefacts, pottery, coins, has been found here over the years and these things are now in various museums around the country. The fort was located here because it was on one of the main roads to the Hadrianic frontier to the north – the A66 at this point follows the course of the Roman road.
 
Not you might think a very celebratory blip for our First Blip Anniversary, but then where else could I post a picture of a field on a gloomy day and find there were people actually interested.
 
There are many aspects to Blip that I love and I am sure they will be said over and again, as others celebrate this day. To me it is, in the end, the finding, recording, celebrating and sharing with friends, things that are good, beautiful, interesting, in our lives and in the world around us. Not just a message place; not just a photo place. A very special place that we all respect and appreciate.
 
   
Thanks to the team who made this possible and thanks to everyone who stayed with it through the dark times and then paid up to make sure it was sustainable. (If you haven’t done so, look at the Annual Report linked on the Blip Central blip – really interesting.) Happy Anniversary.