My youngest is getting ready to be confirmed and our priest gave him an article on St Patrick.
It would appear that a number of scholars believe St Patrick came from near Haltwhistle. In Charles Thomas's book Celtic Britain (Thames and Hudson 1986) quotes from St Patrick's own writing giving the words VICUS BANNA VENTA BERNIAE Banna is the Anglo Saxon place for Birdoswald and Professor Thomas speculates that Berniae is Greenhead pass.
You read more here. Apparently the landscape fits. Certainly, Birdoswald is evocative. One can imagine raiders crossing the Solway plain to capture him.
So was St Patrick from Northumberland/Cumberland? There is definitely signs of post Roman occupation at the sight and some have claimed that King Arthur was there as well.
Does it really matter as St Patrick did end up in Ireland?
But it is something to think about. Happy St Patrick's day
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