Last Friday I shared some photos from our visit to Ad Gefrin and on that same day, we also visited another site about 4 miles away, Maelmin in Millfield. This is another area that was home to a Royal Township dating to the Anglo-Saxon times, although, unlike Gefrin, Maelmin has some reconstructions of a henge and a dark-age house! Maelmin has a full heritage trail complete with many information boards along the way and some really cool views and perspectives.
These photos were taken on Saturday the 3rd of July and just like Gefrin (which seems to be a little less known) Maelmin was just as quiet when we arrived. Here there is a proper car park and thankfully we had it to ourselves. We enjoyed a good 40-minute wander, reading and photographing while getting some fresh air.
I have no idea if we did the trail in the correct order, it's doubtful, but we first headed toward the Henge reconstruction. There were many Henges throughout the Till Valley, however, this one was based on the 4000-year-old Milfield North Henge whose original location was in the nearby field. Just like stone circles and the like, henges like these were ceremonial monuments. People would come here to worship and even bury their dead. There is a lot more information that can be read from the photos of the signs below if you are interested.
These photos were taken on Saturday the 3rd of July and just like Gefrin (which seems to be a little less known) Maelmin was just as quiet when we arrived. Here there is a proper car park and thankfully we had it to ourselves. We enjoyed a good 40-minute wander, reading and photographing while getting some fresh air.
I have no idea if we did the trail in the correct order, it's doubtful, but we first headed toward the Henge reconstruction. There were many Henges throughout the Till Valley, however, this one was based on the 4000-year-old Milfield North Henge whose original location was in the nearby field. Just like stone circles and the like, henges like these were ceremonial monuments. People would come here to worship and even bury their dead. There is a lot more information that can be read from the photos of the signs below if you are interested.
From there we moved toward the Dark Ages Hut reconstruction. Sadly, some absolute imbeciles had stopped by to cause a nice amount of damage which sucks, but it is still a beautiful reconstruction.
This is a reconstruction of similar houses that were found a couple miles down the road at Tarmac Cheviot Quarry during archaeological excavations. The small rectangular dwellings were found in small groups and are thought to have housed a small community of farming families between AD 410 and 570! To see dates like those is insane and again, like Gefrin, it's wonderful to explore the trails and wonder about those who did so thousands of years before.
On top of the rich historic roots, you can see that this place is just stunning in general. After the hut, there is a magical little path through a wooded area leading back around to the car park with many more information boards - make sure to give them a quick read in the photos above - it's such an interesting place which still blows my mind that I had no idea it existed considering I grew up less than 15 miles away.
As we got back to the car park and took our last photos more people were just arriving which was great timing. If you'd like to learn more about Maelmin Heritage Trail you can visit https://www.maelmin.org.uk/!
Until next time...
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