While today the English Lake District along with the Yorkshire Dales and Yorkshire Moors are coveted destinations and celebrated for their stunning natural beauty and evocative landscapes, that certainly hasn’t always been the case. In fact, for the greater part of Britain’s history, these remote and untamed areas provided shelter for those who wished to live beyond the reach of overlords, the control they imposed, and the taxes they demanded. The vexing task of subduing these regions therefore became a requirement for those who wished to rule Britain.

The Romans were the first to take up the task. During their occupation from the first to fifth centuries AD, they constructed the now famous barrier—Hadrian’s Wall—right across northern England and reinforced it with numerous forts evenly spaced along its epic span. The fascinating remains of these structures tell us a great deal not only about the Romans and their abilities, but also about the environment, challenges, and obstacles they encountered during this epoch.

In the early Middle Ages, England’s north remained a sparsely-populated untamed region of rugged mountains, lakes, and moorland that easily provided cover to another threat: marauding Picts, Irish, and Vikings. The Anglo-Saxons, who ruled Britain following the Roman retreat, therefore constructed strongholds, often building on top of ruins that the Romans left behind. Following the Norman Conquest, scores of mighty castles were constructed to further secure the region and subdue the vanquished.

Today, ruins of these remarkable structures—Roman, Saxon, and Norman—are scattered across the historic landscape of Northern England and they reveal the fascinating story of this region and its tumultuous history. Join us on this panoramic journey across the breathtaking Lakes, Moors, and Dales—areas that once served as boundaries between civilization and barbarism—and together we will experience the reverberations of this scenic, battle-scared frontier and discover why it still stirs the imagination to our present day.