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Whilst John Norris works as a tour guide for one of the leading specialist tours operators this does not prevent him from developing his own ideas for tours to historic sites. This is something which he is pursuing with an emphasis on four specialist periods. Now resident in Wales, John Norris is building itineraries to look at military campaigns in the Principality of Wales. The first tour is being built to look at the Medieval period and the castle-building programme. This will include the arrival of the French Norman troops, the raising of castles such as Chepstow and Cardiff, and the methods employed to subdue the Welsh. The itinerary will also examine the methods used by the Welsh in battle and how castles were besieged. The second itinerary being developed will look at the campaigns of the great Welsh leader Owain Glyn Dwr, who waged a war rebellion against the English from 1400 to 1409. The attacks he made against many castles will be discussed and the sites visited, including Machynlleth where he raised one of his Parliaments. The tour will also visit several sites of battles such as Bryn Glas ( Blue Hill), fought on 22 June 1402, where the Welsh scored a great victory over the English. The third itinerary being developed will visit the sites of military campaigns and discuss the impact which the English Civil War had on Wales between 1642 and 1652. It will examine the sites of great artillery sieges, such as Pembroke and Laugharne Castles, and look at how other castles and manor houses were deliberately damaged through an action called 'slighting'. This rendered the castle useless to the armies of the opposing forces. The last itinerary will concern the role of Wales during the Second World War. This will look at the Home Front, coastal defences, training grounds for troops, bunkers, air fields, prisoner of war camps, the air raids and of course the output of material to support the whole war effort from coal mines to factories. John Norris
is also developing an overseas tour titled 'Combined Operations Raids
on Bruneval and Dieppe: 1942.' This tour will examine the formation and
role of British Commando units in the Second World War. Should anyone
be interested in knowing more about any of these tours they should contact
John Norris via Email at: john.norris3@btinternet.com |
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