England: Northumberland: Bamburgh

I love true life stories, especially the type which show the compassionate side of human nature. I am thoroughly interested in the history of the United Kingdom but not that of the Kings & Queens (although this is fascinating) and the likes, no, what interests me most about British history is those stories that are not suffiently grand as to be included in those huge dusty volume. The stories of the little man, the ordinary man who rises during extraordinary times to become more than his constituent parts. In this case I am actually about to discuss the heroism of a young lady rather than a young man, that of Grace Darling.

Grace Darling lived in the two lighthouses (Brownsman and Longstone) kept by her father William. The Longstone Lighthouse was on the Farne Islands, not far off the coast but in treacherous rocky waters. One blustery early morning in September 1838 Grace saw, from an upstairs window, the terrible sight of ship being wrecked (SS Forfarshire) and survivors clinging to the low rocky island of Big Harcar. She rushed to inform her father who decided the weather was far too dangerous for the lifeboat to be launched from nearby Seahouses and that they would have to attempt the rescue themselves. Grace was only 22 at the time but she and her father took a 21ft four man rowing boat over to Big Harcar and between them managed to rescue five folk and take them back to the lighthouse where Grace, and one of the four men rescued, remained to console one of the survivors other (Mrs. Dawson, the only female survivor) who had lost two young children in the distaster. Her father and three of the rescued men returned to the scene to rescue the remaining survivors. There is much more to this wonderful story but I shall hold back completing it so that you can enjoy the complete story when you visit the Grace Darling Museum in Bamburgh.

Things To See And Do In Bamburgh

Bamburgh Castle
You can not pass by Bamburgh without taking the time to visit this wonderful castle.

Grace Darling Museum
The incredible story of Grace Darling is touched upon above. It is well worth visiting this small museum if only to discover more facts about this fantastic tale.

Unless you are traveling in your own transport getting to Bamburgh can be something of a problem as it is only a village so transport links are not that great, it doesn't even have it's own train station! To get to Bamburgh using public transport you will need to catch a train to Berwick-Upon-Tweed and then catch a bus or hire a taxi cab to take you the thirty miles or so to the village. Thankfully the train station is on the main East Coast Line so trains leaving London Kings Cross, Edinburgh or Glasgow will stop there.

Road
The easiest way to get to the village is via the A1 and parking facilities are found at the castle.

Air
The nearest international airport to Bamburgh is Newcastle on Tyne (Over 30 miles away).