Putting together an Anglophile’s three week vacation

At least for Scotland (and Wales) I could offer a very inexpensive accommodation, actually completely for free: bothies.

"No tap, no sink, no beds, no lights, and, even if there is a fireplace, perhaps nothing to burn." might be just a minor disadvantage

LOL. Some things are worth the expenditure. I’m just imagining this rather large troupe.

Izzy, your comments about ancient Kent being the gateway to Brittania / Cantii had me watching some History of England videos yesterday.

Kent is set aside as the area of Britain with the oldest historical records, likely most ancient inhabitants. Some events depicted in Brittania very likely did happen in the land now called Kent due to Kent’s proximity to Europe. Such a very rich history. The Remark about the family I’m researching ‘ancient family of Snodland parish’ is even more interesting.

I’ve been getting great enjoyment fleshing out my sparse knowledge about the basic history of England.

Looks like my family threw in heavily with Charles II and had to flee to the states when his fortunes turned. Checking out that period, too.

I think the records are down to the Romans, the Celts weren't known for writing stuff down. The really old stone circles like Henge and Dunharrow were ancient when the Romans invaded.

Re Charles II, lots of pubs are called the Royal Oak due to the story of him hiding up an oak tree to escape Cromwell's men. I've been to this one. They have a skittle alley, bit like bowling.

I’d seen that story as well.

Effing Cromwell!

Do you guys generally revere or scoff at the Venerable Bede? (Noticed the crew on Detectorists had various opinions.)

The Republic of Ireland does not form part of GB. Just sayin'.

Point taken.

Nor does Northern Ireland (Ulster).

Many really don't realise that Ireland is the third-largest island in Europe, and that the British Isles are formed by Ireland, Great Britain and 1,000 smaller islands.

I think that 'Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum' is his most known work, especially as being a key source for the understanding the early British history and the arrival of Christianity on the British Isles.

[The writings of the Middle Ages always had to do with power and influence. (I made my exam in 'Ancient History' under the 'headline' "the written word in ancient and medieval times" but focused more on the Germany related
Prüm Urbar. But the written exam was about the Bayeux Tapestry .)]

I know it doesn't but Dunharrow and Henge share a lot it terms of age and the people who built them. Sorry.

Now, we’re all nutty budding genealogists. My daughter received her 23&Me DNA breakdown and we’re all scratching our heads. I’d have thought my sister would have had a stronger British connection and my kids would have had a larger Germanic thread because of their strongly suspected paternal Germanic heritage...

My daughter’s breakdown is 43% Ireland/Wales/Scotland
30% Scandinavian. 19% Britain with odd minor countries.

We appear to be some Vikings who took likings to Druids. 😃✌🏻

Now, my son and I are taking the test. He had to remind me that siblings don’t always receive the same DNA combinations.

We are all manning an assault on the British Isles next summer. I’m having a blast talking with the bairns about this.

Have a look at this report: How DNA Testing Botched My Family's Heritage, and Probably Yours, Too

Thanks, Walter. I'll send this to my kids.

If you want to find "old places" (like castles and mansions ) of the past, this is a great website: Old maps online [NB: as it says: online!]

Wales and Scotland are both part of Britain. The Welsh and Scottish bits of your daughter's DNA are also British. If you mean England/English then say that. Britain and England are not interchangeable terms.

23&me gave those locations as I shared them

Generally, DNA-tests just show your DNA as of today, not that of any ancestor.

I'm quite sure that most Europeans have some or even a lot of "Scandinavian" DNA.
By about 500 BC the Germanic tribes were occupying the southern shores of the Baltic, middle and southern Scandinavia. Some of these Germanic tribes migrated and established control of new territories. Tribes from Scandinavia, known as the Goths, migrated southeast to the area north of the Black Sea. Later they divided into the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths and conquered areas in the north shore of the Mediterranean Sea as far west as the Iberian peninsula. The Franks from what is now Germany moved west and conquered the Low Lands and Roman Gaul, giving it their name as France. The Angles and Saxons, along with Justes (all three originally from Scandinavia) invaded Britain. Another Germanic tribe, the Lombards , invaded and conquered what is now northern Italy. The Burgundians from the region which included the Baltic Island of Bornholm moved southward and ended up establishing the Kingdom of Burgundy in what is now southeast France. Still later Germanic tribe invaded the territory of the Prussians, a Slavic people, ... ... ...

Well now you can be right.



This is a map of Britain, you can see it's made up of three countries, England Scotland and Wales. All three nationalities are British, none exclusively so. When you include Northern Ireland it becomes a map of the United Kingdom.