[Leica] Walls that work - or not

[Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com (Frank Dernie)]

My mother's side of the family is Viking, traced back by my Great Uncle many 
years ago. We are related :-) I also learned from him that it is likely that 
all British people have slaves in their family tree, since both Romans and 
Vikings took slaves.
cheers,
Frank

On 4 Jan, 2010, at 23:39, Douglas Sharp wrote:

> Walls only really work in the minds of the people who build them, and it 
> almost always depends which side of the wall you are on and whether you 
> are being kept in or out.
> 
> A bit of wall history:
> 
> A significant part of the Maginot line failed completely in WWII because 
> the commander who had the keys to a strategic fort section went on holiday 
> and took them with him. The German army just marched around it.
> 
> (Source: Military Blunders - book and BBC 2 documentary series by Geoffrey 
> Regan)
> 
> The "Great Wall" of Britain and the Vikings:
> 
> Hadrian's Wall (117 km / 73.5 miles long)  was built to defend the 
> northernmost border of the Roman Empire in Britain against marauding 
> tribes from what is now Scotland. Work began around 122 AD and took 
> approximately six years to complete (they obviously didn't need to get 
> planning permission from the local government ;-) ). The wall was finally 
> abandoned around 140 AD.
> 
> The settlers who followed found it a wonderful source of ready-made 
> building stone.
> 
> Viking raiders first started to attack the English coast in the 8th 
> century, centuries after the Romans had left, the most famous attack being 
> on Lindisfarne Priory in Northumberland.
> 
> The raids soon gained a more geopolitical aspect as the Vikings (Norsemen) 
> began to settle in the areas north and a little to the south of the river 
> Humber and as far north as Northumberland and Durham.
> 
> There were actually two different groups of Vikings - the Danes (invaded 
> as settlers) and the Norwegians (looting warriors) - and their spheres of 
> influence were more or less geographically separated by the Pennine hills 
> down the backbone of northern England - Norwegians in the West and Danes 
> in the East.
> 
> Larger cities and trading communities were built at strategic locations on 
> navigable rivers like the Ouse that flows through York - first a Roman 
> settlement (Eboracum, where Emperor Constantine was crowned) ) then, 
> later, a Viking settlement (Jorvik).
> 
> King Alfred won a decisive battle against the Vikings at Edington and made 
> a treaty with the settlers that limited their sphere of influence to 
> Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and the northernmost counties of 
> England (Danelaw).
> 
> The last great battle between Britons and Vikings took place at Stamford 
> Bridge (near York) in 1066 (a bad year for Britain, the army was still 
> exhausted from the battle and King Harald lost against the Normans at 
> Hastings after, according to the Bayeux Tapestry, he got an arrow in his 
> eye.
> 
> Apparently, one side of my family is descended from early Norse christian 
> settlers - my mother's side has the name Barraclough, originally the 
> locational name "beara cloh", describing the village they originated from 
> - roughly meaning wooded slope or wooded ravine.
> 
> Many of the words in the Yorkshire dialect I grew up with are of Viking 
> (Norse) origin, e.g. laik = to play, skep = basket, ginnel = narrow street 
> or snicket (all of which I used as a child) as in "Is yower Martin laikin 
> aht - wirrof darnt ginnel un off ovver to't mill to laik abaht in't skeps."
> 
> The enormous baskets piled up outside the textile mills were great for 
> playing hide and seek.
> 
> There are hundreds more here: 
> http://www.viking.no/e/england/e-yorkshire_norse.htm
> 
> Cheers
> Douglas
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 04.01.2010 23:20, Mark Rabiner wrote:
>>> Spencer wrote:
>>> "Walls never work. The Great Wall didn't work. The Maginot Line didn't
>>> either. We are dealing with a global clash of cultures and religions. My
>>> opinions only of course. :)"
>>> 
>>> Actually some walls work very well. The Great Wall worked to keep Mongols
>>> out of China for several hundred years. Hadrian's wall kept what is now
>>> England from speaking Norwegian or Celtic. The Israeli wall is given 
>>> credit
>>> for significantly reducing raids on Israel. The Maginot Line would have
>>> worked if the guns could have been pointed towards Belgium. The only wall
>>> that didn't work in recent years is Wall Street. ;-)
>>> Larry Z
>>> 
>>>     
>> 
>> Forgot the Walls of Jericho and the Berlin wall!
>> Which was so nice when it was no longer there.
>> 
>> Mark William Rabiner
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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