Christopher Hilton

That's a shame; driving past it I've often thought it's a nice little interwar structure. Must stop and photograph it while there's time!

Ah yes, of course, there's the control tower. Thank you!

I must go and check it out, next time I'm down at John Lewis!

PS good to see Croydon airport making a cameo appearance!

Obviously there are real difficulties preserving or reusing bits of airport, but it's interesting how there are certain genres of building that are seen *purely* in functional terms, and have bits knocked down, added on, etc., completely willy-nilly. (Hospitals are similar.)

A telegram to James Joyce in Paris on his 49th birthday, sent from Dublin by Samuel Beckett. Beckett wishes James Joyce a happy birthday using a quote from ‘Work in Progress’  (later known as Finnegans Wake). [SSJ A/1/2/1]

A fountain pen with a gold charm given to Joyce on his 57th birthday in 1939 by his family to celebrate the forthcoming publication of his book ‘Finnegans Wake’. [SSJ-OBJ/002]

A fountain pen with a gold charm given to Joyce on his 57th birthday in 1939 by his family to celebrate the forthcoming publication of his book ‘Finnegans Wake’. [SSJ-OBJ/002]

The first edition of the groundbreaking novel ‘Ulysses’ was published on Joyce’s 40th birthday, in France in 1922.

Happy Birthday to James Joyce!🎉 🎂

Joyce was born on 2nd February 1882 in Rathgar, Dublin. Joyce loved having a big celebration for his birthday.

Come and catch the exhibition of James Joyce’s personal archive at University of Reading Special Collections @themerl.bsky.social !

Capturing Carrington A speculative search in the right place at the right time turned up what is thought to be the only image of the eponymous solar observer.

Fun astronomy/archives story - Kate Bond @royalastrosoc.bsky.social has tracked down the only photograph of 19th century astronomer Richard Carrington, who spotted the first recorded solar flare. academic.oup.com/astrogeo/art...

Worth listening to the music of this film: it's by Doreen Carwithen who later repurposed it in her Suffolk Suite (1964).

Visible on the map as part of the C ring motorway, what was called ELRiC (East London River Crossing): part of the Greater London Development Plan in the 70s, revived when London-wide government returned.... every generation or so ELRiC gets mooted again, though I doubt I'll see it in my lifetime.

A crude, childlike painting of the British royal arms, framed and mounted on a white plastered wall.

Inside the church, a royal coat of arms painted on rough sacking: the church guide points out, tongue in cheek, that it exemplifies "the worst of British workmanship", though I thought it was rather sweet.

A close-up view of snowdrops, glistening with raindrops.

Snowdrops clustering around the foot of an ivy-covered gravestone and a tree; a path and churchyard visible beyond them.

A path lined with pollarded trees leading up to a round-towered church, on a grey wet winter day. Snowdrops cluster around the bases of the trees.

A miserable wet afternoon here but out at Bruisyard church the snowdrops are out in force.

Yes, and devised a perpetual-motion machine: a sure sign of someone going off the rails!

His brother John is the professional artist in the family, producing vast apocalyptic visions, but clearly Jonathan had some of his brother's talent too.

A pencil drawing of clouds with a sword and wrathful face in front of them. A handwritten note signs the drawing as by Jonathan Martin, York.

#OTD in 1829, Jonathan Martin set fire to York Minster as a religious protest. Back in my Wellcome Library days I catalogued a drawing he had made of the vision that commanded this, God's face and sword in the clouds.
wayback.archive-it.org/16107/202103...

If I had to summarize interwar British modernity in one image…

Thank you! Definitely some hints of tension when it's describing how the author-turned-librettist had to learn that they weren't in charge of the story any more...

A bit of a gathering of Red House adjacent personnel here: Arthur Benjamin taught Britten piano at the RCM (and is the dedicatee of the early "Holiday Diary" pieces), Heather Harper famously premiered the War Requiem and her papers are in the archive, even Julian Bream's there as "guitar player".

A red-brick 19th century former farmhouse, seen across a snow-covered garden. Snow lies on the roof of the house. Only a solitary line of footprints disturbs the snow on the lawn.

Here’s the February picture from my 2026 calendar of @geograph-gbi.bsky.social
images: The Red House, Aldeburgh, in snow, in 2018.
www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5693250

A stone wall, with a collecting box set into it. The box has a vertical coin slot in it, with a handle and lock to one side and the word "Donations" below. Above the box is a metal plaque carrying the following wording: "Lady Haig's Poppy Factory All employees are disabled ex-servicemen making poppies & wreaths for remembrance. Visits to the factory at 9 Warmiston Road, Edinburgh can be arranged by contacting the manager." The box and plaque are painted a pale grey-green, with the text on them in white.

Sifting last year's photos I came across this little curiosity, redolent of the years after WW1: a collecting box for Lady Haig's Poppy Factory, at Dryburgh Abbey in the Borders. Earl and Lady Haig are buried in the abbey ruins.

Job klaxon!

Our next talk!

Francesca Galligan on 'Sir Christopher Hatton and his books: reconstructing an Elizabethan library.'

How and why do we reconstruct historic libraries?

Thurs 12th February, 5:15 pm T.S. Eliot Theatre, Merton College, Oxford (+ online via Zoom - register secretary@oxbibsoc.org.uk)

UK readers looking for a baseball team to follow: just pick your favourite name from this list.

Using BBIH online: a help pack for students and lecturers For the academic year, we've a help pack offering guides to BBIH in undergraduate and graduate teaching and research. With embeddable content for VLEs.

Are you studying, researching or teaching in the histories of Britain or Ireland? Try using the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH), it contains 670,000+ resources from 55 BCE to today! Find out how to use BBIH buff.ly/yD11954 @brepols.net

'We're Hiring! Archives and Local Studies Senior Officer' over an image of leatherbound Records of Buckinghamshire on a shelf.

Want to help preserve the county's history? We're recruiting an Archives and Local Studies Senior Officer to our team!

Head to the link below for more information.

jobs.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/job_detail/3...

A useful thread of online design archives from around the world. (Taken from our 2020 Tweet of the same name)

1. Bulgaria socmus.com

Save the date! Join us for an online archival workshop with @gpadmoreinstitute.bsky.social and @irrnews.bsky.social to explore the materials and histories of Black activist publishing in the UK from the 1970s: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/archival-w...

A close-up view of yellow crocuses emerging through grass and last year's dead leaves.

A close-up view of yellow crocuses emerging through grass and last year's dead leaves, taken near ground level: beyond, out of focus, is an angular modern brick building.

Cold clear day after yesterday's rain and as if the sun has fired a starting pistol, suddenly the crocuses are coming out around the archive building at the Red House.

Collections Officer (Archaeology) - BAJR - British Archaeology Jobs and Resources Salary: £28,895.78 - £35,598.34Closing Date: 09/02/26Location: Cardiff

Collections Officer (Archaeology)
National Museum of Wales
Salary: £28,895.78 - £35,598.34
Closing Date: February 9, 2026
Location: Cardiff
www.bajr.org/job-ad/colle...

Blimey, this is going to be a cracking resource.

Bronze mother and child on circular stone plinth, the mother carrying her little boy on her back. Town Sqaure and clock tower to rear.

'Joyride', Franta Belsky, 1959. Belsky was commissioned by Stevenage Development Corporation to produce something symbolic for a recently created New Town (the Corporation took inspiration from the use of symbolic sculpture in the rebuilding of bombed Rotterdam).