Warton and Warton Crag, Nr. Carnforth, Lancashire

We spent the weekend with the Lakeland District Association of the Camping and Caravan Club, on the car park of Warton Cricket Club. The DA was having a “Valentines Meet” with social activities held in the clubhouse. Our thanks go to Andrew and Karen, the stewards for the meet, who made us feel very welcome indeed, with a social gatherings held in the clubhouse on both the Friday and Saturday evenings.

Warton

Warton is an old, sleepy village to the north of Carnforth, which is itself north of the City of Lancaster. It boasts some surprising connections, a clue to which is the name of one of the two pubs in the village, The George Washington.

Apparently George Washington’s ancestors lived in Warton before moving to America. George Washington’s family tree shows his lineage back to Robert Kitson of Warton Hall, who also happens to be an ancestor of Sir Winston Churchill.

The parish church of Saint Oswald’s apparently flies the star spangled banner from the tower every 4th July. It also has Sir Winston Churhill’s family tree framed on the wall.

Much of the church itself, dates from the 15th century, but there has been a church on this site for over 1000 years.

Warton also boasts the ruin of an old rectory which is an English Heritage property. It was the official residence of the rector of Warton, one of the wealthiest rectories in the diocese of York. Manorial court hearings were also held here, but it bacame a ruin in the 18th century.

Close to the entrance is a stone pillar with unusual carvings. They must have some meaning.

Warton Crag

The weather on the following day was a complete contrast with driving rain showers. Despite this, we decided to explore Warton Crag which lies to the west of the village.

As might be expected in an area with several nature reserves, there was a variety of bird life to be seen including a nuthatch which was very close. On the way to the crag, we also came across a slow worm by the path. I had never seen one before, it is actually a legless reptile, not a worm.

In places steep and very slippery, the path took us around the back of the crag and onto the summit. There was also much evidence of tree felling, possibly as a result of recent storms.

There are several erratic boulders on the crag:

Adjacent to this, on a finer day, was a viewpoint, but unfortunately we could not see much on this day.

Whilst we at the summit, the weather turned very severe with strong winds and horizontal rain. The descent back towards the village was very difficult in places and the storm made it much worse. We were definitley glad to get back down to the village and out of the worst of the weather.

GB Antiques Centre, Lancaster.

On Sunday morning, after a leisurely brew in the clubhouse to say farewell, we visited the GB Antiques Centre in Lancaster. It is housed in what used to be the Hornsea Pottery factory, which I visited many years ago. When there, I saw the manufacture of a range of pottery called “Contrast”, which was black and white on brown. It was interesting to see there was a fair amount of Contrast stoneware on sale, made in the same building many years earlier.

The centre is huge, and the range of items for sale is staggering.

We managed to avoid making any purchases on this occasion.