morrismummer

In my TBR pile. Think I'm going to have to dig it out. His 'The Bombing War' was superb.

Men's heads are something like omnibuses. The empty ones make the most noise.

Was just at the British Library on my lunchbreak filming a thing about a murder and got distracted, as usual, this time by The Flintshire Observer having some brilliant end-of-column jokes and puns under all the 1885 cholera and massacre and political chat.

For example:

YouTube video by Oysterband - Topic One Green Hill

and memory's a winding path
shining in the rain
to places where we parted
and we shall not meet again

- Oysterband, One Green Hill

It saddens me beyond measure that I shall never hear them live again.

Oysterband 1978 - 2025

youtu.be/riwZkKBRNoc?...

Today in the lane. Pink sky, green field, multicoloured cows.

That looks very interesting! Thank you.

The flowers were totally unexpected. I went in to pay my respects, and was surprised and delighted that others had also paid their respects. It was very moving. I went out and picked some flowers to place in the tomb myself.

Experiencing long barrows in the present and in the past.

My introduction to long barrows was visiting West Kennet one Midsummer Solstice, where the passage and chambers were full of flowers. This was some 45 years ago now, but the experience has shaped how I think about long barrows ever since.

A medieval joke

There aren't many jokes that translate well into the modern day, but there is one ...

King Louis IX set out on campaign and en-route he stopped at a tavern where he ordered some chicken.

He enjoyed his meal and his steward went to pay the landlord...

Behind this sign was a paddock with chickens, guinea fowl and peacocks, but it's probably a good metaphor for life.

I have been trying to find this book for such a long time... Published in 1923, it once belonged to Percy William Pegge, whose library label is inside the front cover. Thanks to the internet I bought this copy from a bookshop in San Francisco, so it's crossed the Atlantic at least twice in its life.

Did anyone have 'start a nuclear war as a distraction from the Epstein Files' on their bingo card?

Belsay, Northumberland.

But if you give them, for instance, a shirt, they stop helping you...

At least he wasn't blasted with lightning, like at Blythburgh!

But it would look so good on that lapis lazuli background... (Says the person with no involvement in any work required whatsoever 😀)

What lovely creatures! Brooch maybe? Badges?

St Andrews, Bolam, Northumberland for #SteepleSaturday

Would have bought this but it was two deer.

(Sorry.)

Today I start my research trip sailing down the River Seine from Paris to Honfleur (via a few stops) in a reconstruction of the Klåstad cargo ship built in 998. It’s the penultimate stage in the ship’s journey from Rome to London throughout the summer. I’ll post updates as we go #Saga25 #MedievalSky

Belsay Castle has been owned almost continuously by the Middleton family since it was built in the mid fourteenth century. Their emblem is a Wild Man, and it is he who stars in the introductory display projected onto the kitchen wall. It's very well done.

I Am The Wild Man.

I love the details on the 13th-century oak door to St Peter's Church, Cound. You can't help but wonder who has crossed the threshold over the centuries. What did this place mean to them? It is so special to be able to follow in their footsteps ☀️

#churchcrawling #history #shropshire

Today in the lane. Slowly exploring the routes out of Wivey. These lanes are part holloway, part built (but who by, and when?) The top of Maundown Hill is a bit far for my regular walk so I'll have a go when I've got a bit more time.

Architect: We're renaming the project. It's now called Albert Mansions.

Builder: Bugger.

#AdoorableThursday

Ever since 1986 when I started work on the railway - where incidentally, there was never a time of 0000. You could have 2359 or 0001, but midnight didn't exist!

It was said it helped to prevent fraud, because most people would have written eg DEC or FEB.

Same, but likewise I can't remember when I started. I also have strange abbreviations for the months (eg DMR for December or FBY for February) because this is how they were written on the rubber stamps used to date season tickets when I first worked in a booking office.

Wars of the Roses Battle May Not Have Been a Battle at All, Historians Find - Medievalists.net New research challenges the traditional story of the Battle of Wakefield, suggesting it may not have been a battle at all—but an ambush and murder of Yorkist leaders during the Wars of the Roses.

Was the Battle of Wakefield a battle at all, or was it a targeted ambush followed by an assassination?

www.medievalists.net/2025/07/wars...

He certainly did a fantastic job with it. They still looks modern, nearly fifty years since they entered service. Much more attractive than the prototype.

HST at Exeter St Davids this morning. Privileged to have worked these as a Guard (2+8 version) and a Driver (2+4 version). They've been called the train that saved Britain's railways, and I'd agree with that.

Today in the lane. Although I walked a different route today, climbed Jews Lane out of Wivey then walked along Greenway Lane. The cows were bothered by flies, so many of them!