The Kingdom of Rheged

The Rheged Discovery Centre near Penrith, Cumbria is an interesting mixture of very lovely, designer type shops, cafes serving fine and fancy food, spacious art gallery, indoor and outdoor entertainment  outlets for energetic children,  enormous cinema screen and numerous conference suites.  Being just off junction 40 of the M6 it is a very convenient stopping off place for people travelling to and from Scotland as well as a meeting place for families and friends.  Much more pleasant than your average service station!

I spent an interesting week at Rheged between Christmas and New Year with my very own little pop-up shop/art gallery.  I was beyond excited by this opportunity and I'm pleased to say it was a most excellent experience!  Although some days were very quiet, some were massively busy with lots of interesting people who seemed to genuinely like my work.  Sales weren't huge but I kind of expected that (although I did sell a bit of stuff - always a bonus)! - it was more for the chance to network and possible other opportunities that would present themselves - which indeed they did!  I took the teenagers with me one day for support and this turned out to be my most successful day - I decided they were good luck charms and they must come with me again...but this didn't work the next day!

I'm so glad I emerged from my comfort zone and took this chance - it would have been so easy just to stay at home and gorge myself on chocolates and watch films I've seen countless times before (as  is my usual function over the festive period)!!  If you came to visit me in my shop I must say a huge thank you - it was lovely to see you!  And I hope you enjoyed visiting and looking at my artwork. And of course, Thank You to Rheged!! 

Me in the Shop

Scary Helterskelter with shops below

Interior of Shop

My Little Helpers!

You may be thinking that Rheged is a strange name, which, indeed it is!  For those of you who are interested, here is a brief history lesson!

There seems to be little actual evidence of definite information, but the mysterious Kingdom of Rheged was believed to be a large ancient region covering the majority of north-west England and part of Southern Scotland possibly stretching  as far south as Chester with the capital being Caer Ligualid (Carlisle). 

The inhabitants were a mixture of Celtic tribes knows as Brigantes who spoke a Celtic dialect closely resembling Old Welsh.  It is thought that Brigant became Breged which eventually became Rheged, the language undergoing rapid changes during this time.  This old Cumbric language is now extinct but some farmers in modern day Cumbria still count sheep using terms that are derived from it.  This wild and desolate kingdom was sparsely populated with little land being of agricultural use either being moorland, rocky limestone outcrops or lowland with poor soil.  

Thought to be divided into North and South Rheged around AD535, the many northern kingdoms of Britain bickered and fought each other constantly.  The most notable ruler of the North Rheged was Urien in the late 6th century who won many victories over the Anglo-Saxon rulers of Bernica. Rheged had become a stronghold for the defence of Northern Britain and so when the kingdom eventually fell in the early 7th century, so did the North.

Ancient Sheep Counting System
YAN, TAN, TETHER, METHER, PIMP,
SETHER, HETHER, HOTHER, DOTHER, DICK,
YAN DICK, TAN TICK, TETHER DICK, METHER DICK, BUMFIT,
YAN BUMFIT, TAN BUMFIT, TETHER BUMFIT, METHER BUMFIT, GIGOT