Julian's Bower

Julian's Bower or Julian Bower is a name given to turf mazes in several different parts of England. Only one of this name still exists, at Alkborough in North Lincolnshire. It has also been known by corrupted forms of the name, such as "Gillian's Bore" and "Gilling Bore". The 18th-century antiquary William Stukeley mentions a "Julian Bower" turf maze at Horncastle, Lincolnshire, and in nearby Louth there was a "Gelyan Bower", mentioned in accounts of 1554. At Goathland, North Yorkshire, there was a "July Park" or "St Julian's" maze. At Whinfell Forest there is a farm called Julian Bower, originally built to support the Keeper. It now lies outside the forest boundary. Some English turf mazes are very similar in their layout to Scandinavian labyrinths, which usually have their paths marked with stones. At Grothornet, near Vartdal in the Sunnmore district of Norway, there is a stone-lined labyrinth called "Den Julianske Borg" ("Julian's Castle"). The name is believed to be derived from Julus, son of Aeneas of Troy, and the word place-name element burgh, meaning "a fortified place", "fort" or "castle". The reasoning behind this etymology is based on the fact that many mazes and labyrinths in Britain were called "Troy", "Troy Town" or "The Walls of Troy"; similar names, such as "Trojaburg", "Trojburg" or "Trelleborg", were used in Scandinavia. In popular legend, the walls of the city of Troy were constructed in such a complex and confusing way that any enemy who entered them would be unable to find his way out.

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Alkborough

Alkborough is a parish of 471 people in 192 households (2021 census) in North Lincolnshire, England, located near the northern end of The Cliff range of hills overlooking Trent Falls, the confluence of the River Trent and the River Ouse. Alkborough, with the hamlet of Walcot about 1 mile (1.6 km) south, forms a civil parish which covers about 2,875 acres (12 km2). The village was once thought to be the location that the Romans called Aquis, but that name is now usually associated with the town of Buxton in Derbyshire (Aquis Arnemetiae).

Historic Site Landmark

Trent Falls

Trent Falls is the confluence of the River Ouse and the River Trent which forms the Humber between Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire in England.

Landmark

River Ouse, Yorkshire

The River Ouse ( OOZ) is a river in North Yorkshire, England. Hydrologically, the river is a continuation of the River Ure, and the combined length of the River Ure and River Ouse makes it, at 129 miles (208 km), the sixth-longest river of the United Kingdom and (including the Ure) the longest to flow entirely in one county. The length of the Ouse alone is about 52 miles (84 km) but the total length of the river is disputed. It is a matter of opinion as to whether the River Ouse is formed at the confluence of the River Ure and the much-smaller Ouse Gill Beck at Cuddy Shaw Reach near Linton-on-Ouse, about six miles downstream of the confluence of the River Swale with the River Ure. An alternative opinion is recorded in a publication published in The Yorkshire Post in a series dated 1891, written and illustrated by Tom Bradley. His description and bird's-eye-view maps—specifically in his account of the River Swale—suggests that the River Ouse starts at the confluence of the Swale and the Ure. His narrative states that the Ouse has no specific source, simply flowing from the stated confluence until it runs into the Humber at the confluence of the Ouse and Trent. Continuing the path of the Ouse downstream from Linton-on-Ouse, it then flows through the city of York and the nearby towns of Selby and Goole before joining with the River Trent at Trent Falls, near the village of Faxfleet, then entering the Humber estuary. The Ouse's system of tributaries includes the Derwent, Aire, Don, Hipper, Wharfe, Rother, Nidd, Swale, Ure and Foss. Together they drain a large part of the Pennines, and much of the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors. The Ouse valley is a wide, flat plain; heavy rainfall higher in the river's drainage basin can bring severe flooding to settlements. In recent years York, Selby and villages in between have been flooded.

Fishing Kayaking

River Trent

The Trent, the third-longest river in the United Kingdom, has its source in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands into the Humber Estuary. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and spring snowmelt, which in the past have often caused the river to change course. The river passes through Stoke-on-Trent, Stone, Staffordshire, Rugeley, Burton-upon-Trent and Nottingham before joining the Yorkshire Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea between Kingston upon Hull in Yorkshire and Immingham in Lincolnshire. The wide Humber estuary has often been characterised as the boundary between the Midlands and Northern England ("The North").

Fishing Kayaking