I visited bath YEARS ago when I was about 9 years old, on a family holiday down to Somerset. I don't remember every detail of that holiday, but what I do remember is the Roman Baths. I had decided by that point that I wanted to be an archaeologist, and was amazed by everything I saw. Now - 14 years later - I'm still dreaming of Bath, and the history that encompasses the place. My love for archaeology, and the Romans, has only deepened and I feel I have a totally new interest and perspective in the site which has been the subject of many essays and classes. The city of Bath is covered in beautiful Georgian architecture and, of course, the Roman bath complex, built on naturally heated pools, are calling my name. 

York is another city that has roots dating back to the Romans, but also has a good dose of Viking remains to explore too. York has always been a city I'd love to visit, not least to explore its 30 museums. Whether its exploring the underground Roman city and bath house, or discovering the Jorvik Centre to learn about York's Viking past, there's so much history to see. 

Hadrian's Wall

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Near Inverness, Scotland, are the Clava Cairns - also known as the Burial Carins of Bulnuran of Clava. These cairns date back to the Bronze Age, and consist of passage graves, ring cairns, kerb cairns and standing stones. These cairns are hugely signifiant in Scotland's history, and have examples of cup and ring marks etched into some of the stones. After studying burial rites and customs in one of my fourth year classes, I've always been interested in cairns and would love to visit these places to gain a better appreciation and understanding of them.

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After visiting the Ring of Brodgar and Stones of Stenness in Orkney, I've set my sights on more of Scotland's standing stones. The Callanish Stones stand proud on the Isle of Lewis, in a cruciform pattern. This Neolithic Stone arrangement lies amongst other ritual sites on Lewis, and has a  later chambered tomb between some of the monoliths, demonstrating the sacred nature of this landscape. Standing amongst the stones in Orkney, I could feel and appreciate the magnitude of this landscape, and I'd love to see what I felt standing amongst the Callanish Stones. As tradition goes, these stones were giants who refused to accept Christianity and were turned to stone by St. Kieran.

These five sites are just a taste of the many beautiful and historically rich sites that cover the UK. While the some of the places I'd love to visit - such as York and Bath - are host to many sites and could easily fill a weekend away exploring them all; other sites would be amazing for a day trip, or could lead onto more local historic sites - Culloden Battlefield is nearby the Clava Cairns, so it would only be right to pay a visit there too!

The sites I've picked to share today have all jumped out at me throughout my different classes and essays, but there are still SO many more sites to discover. The UK has 31 World Heritage Sites (6 of which are in Bonnie Scotland) as well as a bucketful of other historic sites.

If you haven't already seen some of my posts exploring some of the beautiful sites that Scotland has to offer, then what's stopping you? Explore Edinburgh's Royal Mile with me and discover some of the gems that are hidden down the closes. Or why not tick off one of Scotland's World Heritage Sites and find out more about New Lanark!

I'd love to know where your favourite sites are and which historic places you'd like to see up on my list!


As I haven't visited these sites myself, all images are from Creative Commons, and sources are linked below each image.