Mythical Britain

Section of poetry from The Romance of William and the Werewolf describing William waking from a dream to find himself holding a pillow, also showing an illustration of William holding a pillow and a picture of the book jacket.

Well, let me tell you 'bout the way she looked
The way she acts and the colour of her hair
Her voice was soft and cool, her eyes were clear and bright
But she's not there…

William knows the feeling - this multilayered medieval masterpiece tells a familiar story! From @wiltonsquare.bsky.social

Sample translation passage from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with picture of the Green Knight and book jacket

He’s big, he’s green, he’s like no one you’ve ever seen. If hear him knocking on your door this Christmas you’d better have a care! Translation and linocuts come together in a wonderful Yuletide package from @wiltonsquare.bsky.social

Barge on river in winter with barge in foreground

Into the blue, where once the Danes slipped by eleven centuries past. River Lea looking north on a cold wintry day. #Hertfordshire

Quotation from The Romance of William and the Werewolf with picture of the book and a lord and lady smiling at each other

The Romance of William and the Werewolf. A fine medieval romance to enjoy this Christmas: knights and ladies, exile and return, a love story - and a werewolf! A story first told in English in 1350 comes alive once more! Published by @wiltonsquare.bsky.social and available through all good bookshops!

Quotation from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with picture of book and dancing knights.

As we approach Christmas, enjoy some snapshots from the alliterative romances - all my books are published by @wiltonsquare.bsky.social and available through bookshops and online if you fancy a treat. Linocut illustrations add to the flavour!

Oak door frame with oak door stained by tannins from iron nails

Oak in its beauty objects to old nails yet somehow they add to its lustre. Delightful doorway at Clare, Suffolk, for #AdoorableThursday

Castles in the landscape

Stained glass window showing a blue shield on which are two flutes and some crosses

New York, London, Paris, Munich
Everybody talk about pipe muzik!

Delightful shield with two pipes at Haddon Hall, Derbyshire for #WindowsOnWednesday

I’d love to have been the knight wearing this at the joust!

Years ago I was taken to study some of Constable’s sketches at the V&A. I was stunned by their control and technique - so free and so masterful and powerful.

Castles in the landscape

Beautiful form and aesthetic!

Round font in a church with Norman pattern decoration

Norman font at St.Peter’s, Bromyard in the county of Hereford. Love the contrast between the fluid forms and the geometric shapes below. The church has many fine early features although the Victorians have been at it. #FontsOnFriday.

Hula-Kula by Roxy Music perhaps?

Castles in the landscape

Four more Red nightmares? Or dreams!

Stained glass window showing Saint Catherine holding her wheel.

St Catherine at St Stephen’s for St Catherine’s Day. Wonderful fifteenth century stained glass at Old Radnor.

Curly wooden rails in a barely twisted fashion.

Barley twist because it’s possible; delightful turned railings at Denston in Suffolk, dazzling in swirling complexity.

Castles in the landscape

Painting of girl and boy playing the pipes in a rural setting.

Detail of delight. Entranced yesterday by this exquisite painting, Music, by David Gauld (1899) on display at The Hunterian in Glasgow. You can almost hear the notes of pipes drifting through old golden fields so many years ago.

Oak wooden screen with entrance showing passageway and old door beyond.

Wooden walls at Haddon Hall shield wealth from different worlds. Wonderful screen and resultant screens passage preserve an older way of living in one of Derbyshire’s finest historic homes. #AdoorableThursday

Linocut print of knight on horseback in a raging snow storm.

Þe snawe snitered ful snart þat snayped þe wylde…

(The snow fell sharp as sleet that nipped at the wild beasts) SGGK, l.2003

It’s that time of year again when the Gawain-poet’s alliterative mastery of the North-west midlands dialect really comes alive. (Linocut my own - appears in b/w in my book)

Castles in the landscape

Life by the Lethe which leads to the sea and on to the great German Ocean; forgotten lost days of travellers by boat who ventured this way once before.

My mum’s neighbour’s brother was an officer on the Dorsetshire. I wish I’d talked to him more about the experience. Despite the avenging of the Hood, I imagine everyone seeing the Bismarck go down would have had conflicted feelings. It must have been a terrible sight knowing of those trapped inside.

Trapped within a tomb of stone as millennia passed by, the spirit of those former days stares out upon today.

Travelling trees tell their tales of life beyond the seas.

Not one I play often but, seeing this, I’m going to have to dust down my copy and give it a spin!

Norman arch leading from a street into a park with arch and windows looking like someone screaming.

The look of fear when a doorway spies a mouse coming down the road. The wonderful Romanesque Norman Tower at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. #AdoorableThursday

Ghostly aspirations in skies ink black and glorious.

Pump-less in the sluggish fen, no more the sails go turning. Gone too those creaking wooden groans blown soft among the reeds.