Major Highways of Britain: The A6, Part 2 Quiz

Answer: The village went into quarantine for 14 months

The plague arrived in Eyam when a tailor's assistant opened a bundle of flea-infested clothes - the plague was caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium, which is usually transmitted to a human by the bite of a flea or louse. The disease spread through the village, so the villagers decided upon various courses of action to slow its spread; these were put into effect in May 1666.

They agreed, for example, that families would have to bury their own dead and that church services should take place in the open air. However the most significant measure was that the entire village should be quarantined, with nobody being allowed into the village or to leave it. Furthermore, when merchants from neighbouring villages sent supplies they had to leave them on marked rocks around the perimeter of the village; the villagers would then leave the money for payment in holes they had dug that they had filled with vinegar to disinfect the money.

By late 1667 the plague had run its course. Figures on the death rates in Eyam vary considerably; one authority gives 260 dead and 83 survivors, while another gives 370 dad and 30 survivors. The church records give 273 fatalities. There are some interesting modern-day scientific findings from the data: one study in 2016 suggested that the village's isolation actually did help to stop the spread of the disease.

Answer: Blue John

Blue John is a rare and beautiful mineral, easily worked and very colourful. It's thought that it was formed during the late Carboniferous and Early Permian periods in beds of limestone a couple of miles underground. The cause of the blue colour is still unknown - it's not due to impurities in the rock, but it could be due to a physical phenomenon called crystal lattice dislocation. Interestingly, if Blue John is heated in an oven for a couple of hours it loses its colour, but this can be restored if the sample is then irradiated in a nuclear reactor.

Contrary to popular legend, the mineral is thought to have been discovered in the early 18th century rather than in Roman times. Decorative vases and goblets were produced, but now after years of constant mining there is little of the mineral remaining. Items produced using it thus tend to be small, such as key rings, brooches and rings.

Answer: The Pendle Witches

In the early 17th century there was what would now be called a moral panic about witches, some of it fuelled by a book written by James I entitled "Daemonologie". In 1612 a group of 12 people living in the Pendle area were arrested and charged with causing the deaths of ten people by witchcraft.

The trials were held in Lancaster and they were a farce, with a nine-year old girl providing most of the evidence against her own family. She spoke of satanic rituals, familiars, cannibalism and murderous spells being cast. Of the 12 accused, one died in custody, one was acquitted and the remaining ten were hanged.

In those times condemned people were hanged at the highest point of the city of Lancaster, colloquially known as Golgotha. Prisoners were allowed to stop for one last drink at a pub called the Golden Lion on their walk up the hill; this is commemorated by a plaque on the wall of the pub (which is actually my "local").

A contemporaneous account of the trial, "The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster" was written by Thomas Potts, the clerk to the Lancaster Assizes. Pendle Witch expert Marion Gibson said in 2002 that the report "seems to give a generally trustworthy, although not comprehensive, account of [the] trial".

Answer: The Religious Society of Friends ("Quakers")

Living during the period of the Civil War and the Restoration, George Fox advocated a simple approach to religion with no churches, clergy and religious rituals. He fell into conflict with the civil authority when advocating pacifism and refusing to take oaths, and was imprisoned for blasphemy in 1650. After his release he started preaching, and after his vision on Pendle Hill he preached to over 1,000 people near Sedbergh. Soon the loose, informal groups of his followers became known as Quakers, after Fox told a judge to quake "before the authority of God".

He was arrested for his beliefs on many occasions and spent time in prison in Lancaster Castle among other locations. He was, however, attracting followers, both in the UK and in the American colonies. Eventually the 1689 Act of Toleration put an end to the Uniformity Laws under which Quakers had been persecuted, and they were henceforth allowed to assemble freely. Fox died in 1690.

The Quaker movement is now world-wide, and to many Friends (as Quakers are officially termed) south Cumbria and the north-west of Lancashire is a special area.

Looking at the three incorrect answer options, Wesleyan Methodism was founded on the teachings of John Wesley in the 18th century, Free Presbyterianism arose from a schism in the Presbyterian Church in Scotland in 1893, and Anabaptism dates back to 1527 in Germany.

Answer: Oliver Cromwell

The Battle of Preston in August 1648 was one of Cromwell's most complete victories, in that the opposing army was completely destroyed. After the conclusion of the First Civil War in 1642 war broke out again in 1648, and a Scottish army commanded by the Duke of Hamilton invaded England in support of the Royalist cause. Hamilton was not a great general but he marched his men down through Cumbria and Lancaster to near Preston. Cromwell marched down the Ribble valley from Skipton; this advance was reported to Hamilton but he took no notice.

On 17 August Hamilton's army was strung out on the road to Wigan when Cromwell attacked his rear guard on moorland to the north-east of Preston. The Scots fled down to the River Ribble where another Scottish detachment was guarding the crossings, but the vigour of Cromwell's attack was so great that the English took the bridges and put the Scots to flight. Over the next few days Cromwell's men harried the Scots as far as Ashbourne in Derbyshire, by which time Hamilton had no choice but to surrender what was left of his army.

Army strengths: English 8,500, Scottish 11,00 (not all engaged). The English suffered "under 100 killed", the Scottish 2,000 killed and 9,000 captured (many of these were sent to slavery in America).

Answer: Hen harrier

The AONB's emblem is the hen harrier (Circus cyaneus), a handsome bird of prey with a wingspan of three to four feet. The male is grey above and white below while the female is mainly brown. Small numbers live on Bowland and in recent years breeding success rates have increased.

Bowland is a beautiful area; it was first designated as a feudal entity by William Rufus (William II), and by the 14th century it was considered a Royal Forest. The major landowners are the King, the Duke of Westminster and the water company United Utilities. Much of the land is used as grouse moor - it's documented that on 12 August 1915 2,929 birds were shot by a group of just eight hunters. Many of the gamekeepers say that the hen harriers prey on the grouse, and there is some evidence that harriers may have been killed by them.

The Ordnance Survey say that, depending how you define it, Bowland contains, the geographic centre of Great Britain; this is thought to be around four miles north of Dunsop Bridge. A telephone box in Dunsop Bridge contains a commemorative plaque recording this.

The three incorrect answer options are all large birds of prey, none of which would normally ever come near to Bowland. A few years ago, however, an escaped eagle owl took up residence near Dunsop Bridge and for a time terrorised people out walking their dogs.

Answer: The reigning sovereign

The Duchy of Lancaster is a private estate belonging to the British sovereign. Originally it was the area controlled by the medieval Dukes of Lancaster, but when Henry Bolingbroke, the then Duke of Lancaster, usurped the throne from Richard II in 1399 he took the title with him. Eventually in 1461 King Edward IV confirmed that the Duchy would be inherited by the monarch.

In March 2022 the estate was valued at over £650 million, with the net income of about £25 million per year being paid to the sovereign. The Duchy is administered on behalf of the sovereign by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, who is always a government minister.

The sovereign is always the Duke of Lancaster, be they male or female. The title "Duchess of Lancaster" is not used, because the word "Duchess" is only ever used to mean the wife of a Duke. Just as the sovereign inherits the title of Duke of Lancaster upon their accession, so the Prince of Wales when so entitled inherits the title of Duke of Cornwall. The Prince of Wales is always a male heir to the throne, but the title is not granted automatically.

Answer: Kendal Mint Cake

Kendal Mint Cake is basically a chunk of peppermint-flavoured sugar produced by three companies in Kendal. The recipe itself dates back to 1869, when a batch of glacier mint sweets being made by one Joseph Wiper at the Thompson family confectioners went wrong. Wiper began manufacturing the sweet and other companies followed. Wiper's great-nephew, however, stole a march on his competitors when he secured an endorsement of the product from Sir Ernest Shackleton, leader of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1914.

Of the manufacturers surviving to the present day, Quiggin's is the oldest (dating back to 1880), with Wilsons (1913) and Romney's (1918) still operating.
Sir Edmund Hillary and his team carried Romney's Kendal Mint Cake with them on the ascent of Mount Everest in 1953, while Chris Bonington took Quiggin's Kendal Mint Cake on his Everest expedition in 1975.

Answer: All of these

Cross Fell is a bleak place, with about 110 inches of precipitation per year and snow that lies as late as July. Fresh snow in June is common.

The Fell is subject to a strong, persistent north-easterly wind which blows down the south-west slope of the Fell; it's so fierce that it makes a shrieking noise. It's commonly called the Helm Wind, and is thus the only named wind in the British Isles.

The Helm Bar is a stable flat cap of cloud that forms over the Fell, often as a precursor to or accompanying the Helm Wind.

Answer: 282 miles

From Luton to Carlisle is a 282 mile trip by road on the A6 - a drive of about five hours, but allow for delays going through the city centres on the route. The fastest train takes about four hours and 20 minutes including changes. A friend of mine once cycled the length of the road from Carlisle down to Luton!