Caroline G.

An aerial view of Newgrange with the branding for Amplify Archaeology Podcast, and text that reads: 'Kinship, Culture & Death in Neolithic Ireland'

New episode of Amplify Archaeology Podcast!

In this episode I chatted with Dr Jessica Smith, Dr Neil Carlin, and @suegreaney.bsky.social about the important recent paper that discusses Neolithic society, kinship, death, ancient DNA, and how we understand and interpret the story of the past.

Ariundle Hush The hush in Ariundle is not silence but a held breath….. a pause braided through birch and oak, where light drips like honey onto moss. Water moves in sentences too soft for speech, threading silver clauses between stones. Ferns lean inward as if listening, and the air carries a grammar of green: vowels of leaf, consonants of bark. Here, time loosens its grip. The forest does not hurry; it folds you into its syntax, teaches you to read the margins of shadow. Every step is a syllable, every glance a line break. And when the wind turns the page, you understand: the hush is not absence, but presence written in the oldest ink. ____________________________________________________ Some Gaelic woodland lore: Birch – Beith (Gaelic for birch) • Symbolic of purification and rebirth; birch twigs were used at Samhain to cleanse and ward off spirits. • Guardian of the home: its protection extended to threshold and spirit of place. Oak – Cù-na-dair (“oak-guardian”) • Home to Oak-men; protective, sometimes mischievous beings who could appear human or offer enchanted food. • Guardians of wildlife and forest; deeply connected to wisdom and rooted strength. Scots Pine – Giùlan-na-coille (“wood-spine” or pine spirit) • Everlasting and wise; aged “Granny Pines” were named as landmarks and symbols of continuity. Woodland Fairies – Na daoine sìthe (“the fairy folk”) • Gaelic fairies are human-size, powerful beings; part of a vast Otherworld ecosystem, including tree sprites and guardians. • Among them: Lesidhe; woodland tricksters who might lead you astray if you disrespect their realm. References: Ritchie, J. (1920) The Influence of Trees in Scottish Folklore. Scottish Natural Heritage Papers. Green, Miranda (1992) Symbol and Image in Celtic Religious Art. McNeill, F. Marian (1959) The Silver Bough: Scottish Folklore and Folk-Belief. Glasgow: William MacLellan. Henderson, Lizanne (2016) Scottish Fairy Belief: A History.

A single image post from a woodland that holds a special hush; Ariundle ancient oak woods, Strontian, Sunart. #ThickTrunkTuesday

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#Photography #Woodland #Trees #Nature #Ancient #Hush #TreeLife #Ariundle #Ent #GhillieDhu #Mood #Forest #Uruisg #AosSidh #Tuesday

www.cultureanddemocracypress.co.uk Order from this site 'STAR: poems for the Christmas Season' My collection of 32 poems with 15 beautiful linocuts by Martin Erspamer OSB. £10 plus p&p

'Tulip Staircase'

An image made back in September, whilst shooting in London.

Trinity College, Dublin, 2012, photo by German photographer Candida Höfer from her Beautiful Libraries series.

Registry of Deeds is a very underused resource. Wills, marriage settlements, leases for named lives. Yes, it reflects primarily the landed population but there’s still fascinating information within.
@virtualtreasury.bsky.social and Registry of Deeds Index Project www.irishdeedsindex.net/index.php

✨Inside the medieval roof timbers at Beverley Minster, Yorkshire, one of the rafters has been dated (c. 921) and was a sapling during the reign of King Æthelstan, before England was an entity.
Touch it and you feel a kind of altitude and sense that the past is cheek by jowl.

Remembrance of Things Past Recently going through the ever-expanding collection of photographs, the Irish Aesthete came across a cache, taken some years ago and showing Drummin, County Kildare. Until his death five years ago…

theirishaesthete.com/2025/12/01/r...

Brent geese taking flight from the waters of the lough.

Mount Stewart, County Down

#MosaicMonday

The soaring splendour of Kings College Chapel, Cambridge 🤩

Gwyneth Lewis, National Poet of Wales, wrote of this collection: “It takes a real poet to make those of us jaded by Christmas reimagine the season.” My dearest friend has created something magical, poignant, compassionate & fun (I see you Melchior’s Queen!). A gift of words to be treasured for years

Now where are those knitting needles from 40 years ago? 🤔

I’ve just ordered the pattern - I’m a complete novice but the grandchildren might enjoy laughing at me 😆

Yum!!

I captured the light shift over a day at Wells Cathedral and put it on my wall - a full day of light jam packed into my room. My image of Wells Cathedral in a day is now available as a digital print. 📍More info here🔗: andymarshallphotos.co.uk/products/wel...

Phenomenal photography!

Pencil drawing of an almost deserted street. The street has three storey buildings built on a hill.

A view of Micklegate, York. Recently published in the book "Micklegate; York's Great Street" by the Clement Hall History Group.

#MicklegateYork
#ArchitecturalIllustration
#pencil #drawing
#ArtShare

As an amateur researcher I have touched into the VRTI. I’ve been delighted with what I’ve found, and awed at the advances in technology that have enabled those discoveries. The finding aids are key as exemplified here. The VRTI is a true gift to Irish research. Its potential continues to grow.

A look at the shrines on the edge of the Vicus (settlement) outside Vindolanda fort close to Hadrian’s Wall #archaeology #RomanBritain

What a lovely store. Read the thread through

YouTube video by Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Digital Approaches to the History of Ireland in the Age of Revolutions

A @virtualtreasury.bsky.social panel, 'Digital Approaches to the History of Ireland in the Age of Revolutions'.

The speakers introduce the VRTI, discuss the technology behind the Treasury, and demonstrate how it can be used to study Ireland in the Age of Revolutions.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po3T...

Gorgeous!

One of the Prettiest and Most Striking Objects to be seen on the River Lee ‘About half-past two o’clock on Tuesday morning, Blackrock Castle was observed to be on fire, and in a few minutes presented a very imposing sight. The waters were illuminated, and the surrou…

theirishaesthete.com/2025/11/24/b...

The ‘Shell Mosaic’ from Verulamium - the third largest town in Roman Britain which is situated close to modern St. Albans. The mosaic is one of 49 discovered during excavations of the site and dates to around 150 AD. The mosaic is on display at Verulamium Museum. #MosaicMonday

A spiral staircase, cantilevered from surrounding circular walls, all in white. Bannister railings in elegant blue wrought iron with designs featuring spiral stems and tulip like flowers. These were probably meant to be lillies, connected to French royal symbolism of Henrietta Maria.

#StaircaseSaturday
Breathtakingly lovely.
The Palladian 'Tulip Staircase' in Inigo Jones' Queen's House in Greenwich - the first unsupported spiral stair in Britain.
Commissioned c.1616 by Anne of Denmark, Queen to James I.
Completed c.1635 for Henrietta Maria, Queen to Charles I.

Spéir stoirmiúil, Maighros, #IorrasAithneach

Clare to Connecticut: One Family’s Escape from the Great Hunger Podcast Episode · Transatlantic: An Irish American History Podcast · 17/11/2025 · 52m

For any family historian this is an interesting story of one family’s move from Clare to Connecticut. Detailed PhD research and a great example of how successful migration of one generation led to subsequent generations emigrating to the same area.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Mini baked apples with a flapjack stuffing, in a bowl of custard.

Baked 'Norfolk Biffins' - slow-dried apples - in a large bowl, on a wooden table.

A large plastic tub of damson ripple ice-cream.

A large glass bowl of 'Essex Pudding'.

If you're stuck for ideas as to how to do something a bit different with this year's massive fruit harvests, I have a growing collection - 125 and counting - of historical and modern orchard and soft fruit recipes, wherein you might find a bit of inspiration:

orchardnotes.com/fruit-recipes/

Andy Marshall's Genius Loci Digest Andy Marshall is documenting his travels in his time-travelling camper van 🚐📸🏛

For a few moments of serenity in this turbulent world I please give Andy your support from as little as £2 per month. His architectural photography is sublime, his words thought provoking. His eye for the small detail that frames the whole, unmatched.
www.digest.andymarshall.co