Over the Easter weekend we spent a day gently mooching around the area between Carlisle and the Solway Firth. We were away from the holiday crowds, seeing hardly any people at all. It was absolutely blissful.
Edward I of England was king from 1274 to 1307 and spent most of his reign campaigning on England’s western and northern borders as he battled the Scots.
He was known as Longshanks, for his height, and the Hammer of the Scots for his hard and efficient pursuit of supremacy in Scotland.
In the winter of 1306, while attempting to quell another uprising, he became ill and rested at Lanercost Priory near Carlisle for several months. He died of dysentery on Burgh Marsh within sight of the shores of Scotland which had plagued him for so long. He had camped on the marsh in a place where his army could cross to Scotland at low tide.
His corpse lay in Burgh by Sands 12th century church before eventually being removed to Westminster Abbey.
In addition to the monument there is a statue of Edward I outside the Greyhound Inn in Burgh by Sands. This statue was erected in 2007 to mark 700 years since the King's death in what is today a quiet backwater on the English/Scottish border.
I find it difficult to think of such a momentous occurrence as the death of a monarch taking place in sleepy Burgh by Sands. Especially as the consequence was the accession to the throne of Edward II, one of the most disastrous kings England has ever seen. In the immortal words of Sellar and Yeatman from 1066 and All That. "Edward II was so weak that he kept banishing his favourites and then unbanishing them again. The Barons therefore became so impatient that they deposed Edward without even waiting to arrange for any false claimants to the throne. Thus Edward III became King."