My Amateur Radio station G0ISW is located in Penrith in the County of Cumbria. This area was invaded and settled by the armies of the Roman Empire nearly 2000 years ago. 

The Romans built a fort, Voreda, four miles north of the town, as one of their staging posts to the site of Hadrian's Wall, which is about 30 miles to the North of me and runs from the West to the East coast across England, it was ordered to be built in 122 AD by the Roman Emperor Hadrian. The site of another Roman fort, Brocavum, lies two miles southeast of Penrith. Life was very tough at this time, judging by the deaths at very young ages of the children of the soldiers of the 20^th (XX) Legion stationed here.

In 407AD the Roman Legions withdrew from Britain.

In the period around 500-537 AD the Legendary King Arthur is believed to have lived and died and recent theories suggest a strong Cumbria connection. Pendragon Castle is nearby as is King Arthur's Round Table and Mayburgh henge, which is referred to locally as King Arthur's Castle.      

In 793 AD the Vikings invaded this area and liked it so much that they settled here with many place names being Norse in origin, as well as spoken words. Many residents of Penrith have been found recently to have Viking DNA, from Southern Scandinavia, other tests on the population elsewhere in England settled by the Vikings, such as the City of York (Jorvik), have found no Viking DNA in the population.

In 945AD the last Norse King of Cumbria King Dunmail lost the battle, at what is called now Dunmail Raise, near Grasmere to the Anglo Saxon King Edmund ‘The Magnificent’ of Northumbria.

During the 9^th and 10^th centuries Penrith was allied with Scotland as part of Strathclyde and served as the capital of the kingdom of Cumbria until 1070 AD. Sited on the main north-south road between England and Scotland, it saw plenty of action during the Scottish-English border raiding times. The Scots, attracted by its prosperity, attacked and burned the town in 1314, 1345, and 1382 AD. 

In 1597/8 AD the plague (Black Death) devastated Penrith, killing several hundreds of people.

In 1745 AD Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobite Army marched South from Scotland and invaded England, capturing Penrith on his way South. 

In the 1867 ordnance survey map of Penrith there is a feature called 'The Arches', a subterranean passage, close to my home now. I can find no other reference to it apart from in being shown on the map below. If anyone has any further knowledge I would like to hear from you, as no trace exists today on the surface and the underground passages appear to be beneath a garden now in Macadam Way, Penrith!

Between 1942-1944, at the nearby Brougham Hall and Lowther Castle, the then 'Top Secret' Canal Defence Light (CDL) Tank project was conducted. I have also found the original much older secret underground escape tunnel that exists from Brougham Hall to the nearby woods.

In 1973 on the 3rd June there was an earthquake here in Penrith that measured 3.9 on the Richter scale and on the 15th July another earthquake here that measured 4.9 on the Richter scale.

Shown below are pictures of my Town - Penrith and the 'Lake District National Park' with many mountains and lakes here.

Very few radio amateurs here, but there are lots of lakes and mountains which are very popular with tourists. Below are some links for the National Park and the area in which I live, also shown are links to sites within easy travelling distance of here.

Tourist links for Cumbria and the North of England

The Lake District

Penrith

Lake District links

Solway Aviation Museum

Lake District Photos

The Forbidden Corner

 Jorvik Viking City

Rheged underground visitor centre

Cumbria Steam gathering

Scafell Pike webcam 24/7

 King Arthur's Round Table

The Old Smokehouse

Hayes Garden World

The George Hotel, Penrith

Derwent Bay Bears

Ullswater steamers

Sharrow Bay Hotel

South Lakes Wild Animal Park

 The Skiddaw Hotel

King Arthur

Laurel & Hardy Museum

Levens Hall & Topiary Gardens

Brougham Hall

Bridge House Ambleside

Ambleside Sports Day

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Mountain Biking Cumbria

Arragons Cycles Penrith

 Settle-Carlisle Railway

Lakeland Gateway

National Trust

English Heritage

 Theatre by the Lake

Tullie House Museum

Kendal Torchlight Carnival

Lowther country show

Brockhole Lake District Visitor Centre

Cumbria's Mysterious sites

Keswick Amateur Operatic Society (KAOS)

Long Meg stone circle

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Lowther Castle CDL tank

The Croglin Vampire

Lakeside & Haverthwaite steam railway

Ravenglass & Eskdale miniature steam railway

Penrith-Keswick railway restoration project

Penrith Golf Centre

 Zeffirellis Cinema & Restaurant

Alnwick Castle

The Alnwick Garden

Brockhole Lake District visitor centre

Cars of the Stars

Submarine Heritage Centre

Windermere steamboats & museum

Grizedale Forest Park

I was born towards the end of 1962, one of my very earliest memories (aged 4) is of visiting the legendary Donald Campbell (The only person ever to hold simultaneously the World Land and Water Speed Records) and his Bluebird K7 jet powered boat (shown above) at Coniston Water, just before his fateful crash in January 1967 where he attained a speed of 300 MPH.

Across the Lake - Bluebird K7 - Donald Campbell 

The final jetboat attempt AVI movie (3mb)