Ste Lingard

An old church on a grey spring day. It of stone and a modest size: a narrow chancel to the right, a broader nave to the left, and a rough stone tower to the left. The nave and chancel have mainly pointed arch windows. The tower's stonework and two small windows are less regular, seeming older. The church is set in a small graveyard, bounded by a stone wall.

The Church of St. Mary Bishophill Junior, #York. It was constructed partly from re-used Roman stones, starting before the Conquest - and some of the earliest work survives. Tucked away among terraced houses south of Micklegate, it is a gem. #TowerTuesday #ChurchCrawling #Yorkshire
📷 my own, 2022.

#MedievalMonday & a chance again yesterday to see the #floods lapping against the saxon ramparts of Wareham transforming the Dorset town into a near island

I need a paracetamol. 😄

An excerpt from an Ordnance Survey map, via National Library for Scotland. It depicts a large, wooded hill with a plateau on top. The slopes are labelled 'Dudley Castle Hill' in an italicised serif font. The top is labelled 'Dudley Castle' in a gothic script, above (In Ruins). There is a modern urban area at the bottom of the map.

Dudley Castle, as depicted by the Ordnance Survey around the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. It began as a motte & bailey, circa 1070. I find it interesting that the site perimeter was an admin boundary to that point. (& note the 'Downing Street' at the bottom. #MotteMonday #MapMonday #Castles

Historians: this is the archaeological equivalent (morally if not legally) of cutting pictures out of medieval manuscripts in a library and selling them on eBay.

You romantic fool, you.

A green plastic fingerpost depicting a human figure walking towards a chevron pointing left. It stands against a background of rapeseed field, with houses in the distance.

Ah, yes - a classic of the genre:

✅ Tilting erratically
✅ Attached on the wrong side
✅ Used for target practice
✅ Topped with an errant glove

From Billinge, #Lancashire.
📷 My own, from 2019

#FingerpostFriday

An old fashioned cinema double door, with the right hand one wedged open towards the camera. A sign above reads 'WELCOME TO THE WORLD FAMOUS LAUREL AND HARDY MUSEUM ENTRANCE', framed with an image of the wonderful pair in the top right corner. Film posters are visible in the foyer.

The door to hours of innocent fun is wedged open.
(10-5, seven days, Feb-Dec).

#AdoorableThursday #LaurelAndHardy #Ulverston #Lancashire
📷 My own, 2024

Come to think of it, my second memory of Central Station / GMEX is being party to pinching a life-sized cardboard cut out of David Dickinson from a trade show and taking it for a pint in the Britons Protection. They were the days. #Manchester

I'd be perfectly fine with 'The Three Fishes Pub Local History Gallery', but I'm less comfortable with the idea of naming rights for...The Mere at Ellesmere. Sheesh!

My first memory of Central Station is a Metallica gig. GMEX-tastic. #Manchester

For a split second I thought the plan view was a Scalextric track!

An interpretation panel in a field. To the left is a relief depicting the contours of a hillfort. To the right there is a section headed 'Welcome to Bury Ditches Iron Age Hill Fort', above a map, some very small text about the history of the site, and drawings of a child from the time it was occupied and a torc.

A close up of a relief depiction of Bury Ditches hillfort, roughly oval in shape and with an entrance running through a series of three banks and ditches in the bottom right corner.

#HillfortsWednesday & #ReliefWednesday, rolled into one, with this neat interpretation panel at Bury Ditches. Though parts of the site are plain to the eye, it can be difficult to picture the whole, given the scrub and surrounding plantation. This really helps. #Shropshire
📷 My own, from 2020

You're welcome John. Yes, it really must. This extract from Bluesky's own @drtobydriver.bsky.social is illuminating on the 'conspicuous consumption' point. intarch.ac.uk/journal/issu...

...rather than one phase of construction to a single design. We also have to consider the labour involved in what we can't see: large quantities of timber for ramparts and buildings, rubble and other materials, plus food and water for the workforce. It would have been drawn in from miles around.

There have been various attempts over the years to calculate the labour required - all of them running to very large numbers! It is complicated by the fact that most sites evolved over generations: what we see at the most famous, Maiden Castle, is the result of 300 years of development and change...

A large, square stone tower atop a crag. An England flag flies from the top. It is a sunny day, with a bright blue sky.

A wide view from a height, showing the rooftops or a medium sized market town, with a very large hill in the distance. It is a sunny day, with a bright blue sky.

The keep at #Clitheroe, & the view east from the top across the town to #PendleHIll. The tower was first built in the late C11/early C12, & was in a very poor state by the C18: much of what we see today is the result of Victorian restoration. #TowerTuesday #Castles #Lancashire
📷 my own, from 2019

There will be many more climate refugees as the effects of climate change worsen. This is our future.

A mosaic depicting Rocket viewed from the side, pointing to the right. Her body is red, with a brown chimney. A figure wearing a brimmed hat and holding a red shovel is stood on the footplate. The background is yellow, set into a black metal (not the Scandi style ones that burn churches down) frame. Photo from 2019, but the mosaic is still there.

A mosaic depiction of Stephenson's Rocket, by the #SankeyCanal in #StHelens. Made by schoolchildren & artist Bernadette Hughes, seeing it reminds me that planning for events to commemorate the Liverpool-Manchester line's 200th birthday is underway. #MosaicMonday #Railway200 #Rocket2030
📷 my own

The view from under a large bridge, along a path into woodland. The bridge is formed from two stone retaining walls spanned by an iron deck. The impression is of looking down a tunnel, with bright, greenwood light beyond.

An unheralded #StHelens spot, though remarkable enough: here the 1930s East #Lancashire Road (a proto motorway) crosses the Black Brook, scene of early, flickering, industrial activity & water supply for the #SankeyCanal. Now a part of a popular walking route. #IndustrialHeritage
📷 my own, from 2019

😄

A Michael Knighton shrine! 😀

I lived and worked there for a few months in 2001 (on the foot & mouth disease response) and have had a soft spot for it ever since. I always enjoy going back.

A portrait aspect colour photograph taken in a narrow street, peering up at a very large church, up close: there is a steeple on the right, and four gables to left of that, of varying sizes and designs.

St. Helen's Church, #Abingdon, viewed from its east frontage onto the street. Gables galore, due to its double N & S aisles - it is said to be the widest church in England. #SteepleSaturday #Berkshire #ChurchCrawling
📷 my own, from 2017.

In the background 'The Dragons Meeting Place', main view the 'Motte and Bailey', behind the camera is the ruins of the 'Norman Castle'. With all this in your back garden who needs 'Disney'. #Whittington #Oswestry #Shropshire

As well as sadness, the day brings pride - both as a United fan & as @sthelenstownafc.bsky.social fan: Bill Foulkes (4th player from the right, next to goalkeeper Harry Gregg) played for Town first, signed for United and became a Red legend, & later returned as our club President. ❤️💙 #StHelens

Yours has better front garden ornaments.

The Nest has to be one of the most characterful grounds anywhere, ever.

The stones that just keep giving! 😄