Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA

#Nature in the #Wild #Garden

One of two stones discovered on the moors around Whitby and given to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society by antiquarian Canon Raines in 1895.

One disappeared, but this fantastic bit of #rockart can still be seen at York Museum Gardens. 📸 my own, yesterday.

A short, wide staircase in some slightly overgrown parkland, relict from a former country house, now demolished.

An aerial view (black and white) of Marbury Hall. From: https://foam.merseyforest.uk/?cat=20

One of the staircases leading from the front lawns up to Marbury Hall, #Cheshire (pic my own), & an aerial image from before the hall was demolished in 1969 (pic via the Friends of Anderton & Marbury). The site has been a country park since the late 1970s - a local treasure. #StaircaseSaturday

Some very lovely people very kindly made my #dream come true a year ago today!

Another Big One off my Big #Birthday #BucketList!

Just loved it! 😊

#tractor

Alltwen Moon.

Glastonbury Tor this evening.

The Childers Professorship of Irish History at University of Cambridge Searching for an academic job? Explore this The Childers Professorship of Irish History opening on jobs.ac.uk! Click to view more details and browse other academic jobs.

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Many congratulations!

New book just arrived for review! Exciting #medievalsky

Artwork of swallows and dandelions. light blue and green background colours.

'O luminous late day!
The air's enchanted.
The white stork flying by
is half asleep
and the swallows
cross one another—wings
sharp-stretched
to the gold air—
and away'
-Antonio Machado

@signemaene.com welcomes you to a Spanish #BookWormSat.

🎨Kerry Buck

Thanks for the reposts!

A square tower, made of stone, partly ruined and partly overgrown.

Rosamund's Tower, #Pickering Castle. Early C14 as part of a broader upgrade of the outer curtain, from timber palisade to stone wall. William I began the castle in the years after Hastings, as part of his 'harrying' of the North. #WallsOnWednesday #NorthYorkshire #Castles
📷 My own

Thank you for sharing, @suegreaney.bsky.social !

Today is publication day for the long-awaited PAPERBACK edition of ‘Magic in Merlin’s Realm’, my book about the political significance of magic in Britain from the Middle Ages to modern times 📚🧙‍♂️🔮 @universitypress.cambridge.org www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...

Worn holloways, whispering sunken lanes.
A #castle nestled in the folds of its landscape.
No sound but #nature.
Time and Peace hold their breath. 😊

#MedievalWales #Castles #LandscapeDreaming #SunkenLanes #medievalsky #queenoflostcastles #legendladylandscape

Anyone still unsure of the difference between a publisher and a vanity press? Here it is. Publishers make money from selling books to the public. Vanity presses make money from selling publishing services to authors. In one model, the author gets paid. In the other, the author gets charged. Simple.

Obligatory castle pic from medievalist on holiday - who will be the first to guess *which* castle?

Foss Mill and Sandsend Beck early 20th century.

Motte after tree felling in 1947

Arguing about Castles - 2 medieval Mulgrave Castles and a hypothesis, presented this morning in Leeds. Might make a good talk for the winter programme @whitbynats.bsky.social @whitbymuseum.bsky.social or a summer outing in 2026.

Title slide for 'Reframing Newhouse Castle: Lincolnshire and the "Anarchy", 1135-54' for the talk by Ryan Prescot.

Title slide for 'Castle Studies in three Private Sector: what heritage consultants do (and don't do)' a talk by Christian Clarkson

Title slide for 'Leisure, Literature and Legend: reconstructing Edward I's and Queen Eleanor of Castile's Castles and Boroughs through Innovative Landscape Context,' a talk by Rachel Swallow

Some excellent @castlestudies.bsky.social action @imc-leeds.bsky.social this afternoon! Organised by @willwyeth.bsky.social, 'Arguing About Castles' featured papers from @swallowtailarch.bsky.social, Christian Clarkson (Simpson & Brown), and Ryan Prescott (Leeds).

Another excellent session and found much food for thought in this paper @swallowtailarch.bsky.social and it's good to continue 'Arguing about Castles' afterwards!

Eleanor was far from the only Eleanor let alone queen who influenced or commissioned castle building as this blog from a few weeks ago by @swallowtailarch.bsky.social on Eleanor of Castile and her impact on Caernarfon: castlestudiestrust.org/blog/2025/05...

Thank you, @whitbyhistory.bsky.social - and likewise! 😊

Thoroughly enjoyed this paper at #IMC2025 @imc-leeds.bsky.social - and great to meet you, too, @whitbyhistory.bsky.social !

UK bosses to be banned from using NDAs to cover up misconduct at work Exclusive: Changes to workers’ rights bill will prohibit the silencing of staff who suffer harassment or discrimination * Labour has delivered where Tory ministers did not on NDA rules Bosses in the UK will be banned from using non-disclosure agreements to silence employees who have suffered harassment and discrimination in the workplace as part of the government’s overhaul of workers’ rights. Ministers will on Monday night table amendments to the government’s employment rights bill to prohibit the widespread practice of using legally enforceable NDAs to conceal unacceptable behaviour at work. Continue reading...

UK bosses to be banned from using NDAs to cover up misconduct at work

Screen grab of the page advertising two conference papers. The session abstract reads: “How do we know about castles? How do we build arguments about castles? 'Arguing about Castles' presents new work which examine the structure and development of ideas in castle studies as a field of enquiry at the intersection of (among others) medieval studies, architecture, archaeology, history and medievalism. It seeks to lay bare the worlds of learning - theoretical, methodological, epistemic - which underpin contemporary castle studies, in order to challenge received wisdoms and open new collaborations and areas of research. This session explores what it means to own, adhere to, construct and learn about castles and their knowledges. Papers discuss the place of castles in communities and across time, and how knowledge is negotiated in diverse circumstances.” The two presentations are: 134-a - Two Mulgrave Castles in Lythe Parish, North Yorkshire: A Hypothesis for their Setting in the Landscape By Christiane Kroebel, Independent Scholar 134-b - Digital Interludes: Methods of Teaching Castles By Leonie V. Hicks, Canterbury Christ Church University

Toot toot, it’s castles o’oclock!

Come to the first of two castles sessions this fine Monday @imc-leeds.bsky.social at Newlyn GR.07. #LeedsIMC #IMC2025 #LeedsIMC2025 #s134 #s234 #castles

Really enjoyed the Arguing About Castles II session at @imc-leeds.bsky.social today—expertly organised by @willwyeth.bsky.social of #EnglishHeritageTrust. It was great to present alongside Christian Clarkson (Simpson & Brown) and Ryan Prescott (Leeds). Some excellent research out there!

Picture of wood fishweirs on seabed From Hansson, Anton, et al. "A submerged Mesolithic lagoonal landscape in the Baltic Sea, south-eastern Sweden–Early Holocene environmental reconstruction and shore-level displacement based on a multiproxy approach." Quaternary International 463 (2018): 110-123.

Underwater images of a 9,000-year-old stationary fish weir off the coast of southern #Sweden from a well-preserved #StoneAge site. From fishing settlement was presented in a lagoon environment where Mesolithic humans lived during parts of the year. 1/5

YouTube video by DW Documentary How big AI companies exploit data workers in Kenya | DW Documentary

Writing an entirely new module on critical approaches to digital media & AI. I'll post a few links from my prep as I go. This is an excellent eye opening documentary from DW about the exploitation of Kenyan AI annotation workers, who are exposed to horrific material & bear the psychological scars

Yayyy! Thank you! 🙏🏻

Excellent session - and love the work you are doing!