The new issue of Northern Earth is out! In this issue: Rosemary Pardoe on St Edmund and the wolf • #Megaliths in Portugal and Cornwall • Bewitching tape in Britain's hedges… • Sycamore Gap • and lots more. northernearth.co.uk/subscribe

A solid take on the traditional publishing landscape here: www.metropolitanreview.org/p/to-go-big-...

I'd always recommend the indie journal Undefined Boundary (a great mix of hauntological/psychogeographical/countercultural themes), and of course especially so the latest one as it has my article about Charles Dickens and Richard Dadd in it 😀 temporalboundary.bigcartel.com/product/unde...

Just get in touch.

The always-inspiring YouTuber Beau Miles has a new project: for every 1000 views this video gets, he'll plant four trees (i.e. the value of the ad revenue). Watch and share! www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5YF...

Finally finished Offa’s Dyke Path yesterday (a third in 2021 and 2023, a third last week) – the first national trail I’ve actually completed! And with my 16yo son – happy times.

A little hint of folk horror thanks to a raven on today’s walk.

My short piece about Oliver Cromwell and his wife Elizabeth seems to have struck a chord with people, including someone related to them. www.gethistories.com/p/mrs-protec...

In Scotland they have tossing the caber. Here in the Cotswolds we have ‘spurning the bar’ - one of many entertaining spectacles at yesterday’s Cotswold Olimpicks. 1/3

Loved being part of this last year.

Well, issue 180 is back from the printers and now winging its way to subscribers and retailers! If you're not in the gang yet, join us here… northernearth.co.uk/product/nort... What's inside? Well, we've got holy wells, H.G. Wells and, er, Oliver Cromwell.

Before going to events I like to walk in the hills. This is the wood where I unexpectedly bumped into Clive Anderson today, and helped him navigate. All part of the #hayfestival experience!

Off for my 2nd crazy annual day trip to the Hay Festival (and for a walk in the hills) on Thursday, this time for @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social's talk on rivers.

Broken Veil is great. Do listen!

Fame at last? I was interviewed by The Times seeking a response to Bill Bryson snarking about self-publishing. In today's paper (and I've also now been interviewed by Hugo Rifkind on Times Radio): archive.is/eXJik – I should maybe add that I'm rather more pro self-pub than the extract suggests!

The Hare is running! Read the first issue of our free newsletter here (appropriately enough for March): thehare.substack.com/p/the-hare-1...

The challenge with a quarterly print magazine is keeping up with news and events in the interim. So that's why we've set up The Hare, a free monthly newsletter to share useful and interesting stuff! First one goes out next week. thehare.substack.com

Hello Bluesky - it's good to be here! Do follow us if you're interested in vernacular architecture and buildings archaeology.

So I was watching @paulwhitewick.bsky.social's latest video, about the Neolithic chalk drums - www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXvC... - while cooking, and I had to pause it for a moment. Which happened to be when he was doing his best jazz hands.

There's a rich line-up now for this year's Terminalia psychogeography festival, focused around 23 February: terminaliafestival.org

Walking bringing a new generation together… the 'post-pandemic flâneurs': www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I don't watch The Traitors but nonetheless this was a great read on storytelling with a diverse range of reference from Kierkegaard to Scooby Doo… joelmorris.substack.com/p/the-traito...

Ashamed to say I've only just come across terminaliafestival.org – now pondering whether to run or perform a dedicated walk. The theme is Hope.

I do have to gush about Tom Rosenthal's charming Strangers on a Bench podcast, linktr.ee/strangersona... (and the beautiful song by Caroline Chan about the melancholy figure of 'Monsieur Flaneur', www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2jO...).

📆Deadline for proposals 31 January 2025📆 Call for papers: 'Folklore and the Senses'. Our annual conference, in collaboration with the Department of Folklore & Ethnology @ucc.bsky.social. Fri 20 Jun - Sun 22 Jun 2025, online & at University College Cork. folklore-society.com/blog-post/fo...

Steady progress.

Ghost cathedral.

Want something different for Christmas? How about a poltergeist! www.gethistories.com/p/a-christma...

I'm afraid it's shameless self-promotion time! If you've been enjoying The Mirror and the Light (if 'enjoy' is the right word for its sad denouement), you can get 20% off my book on Thomas Cromwell by using the code MIRRORLIGHT in the shopping cart here… heritagehunter.co.uk/product/thom...

Another great @stoneclub.bsky.social event last night (though sadly trains meant I had to leave early). Thanks again to @megalithic.bsky.social too, and lovely to meet the legendary @ladyliminal.bsky.social at last.

Autumn gold. #dailywalk

Something from the NE archives (issue 143, Dec 2015) for #TombTuesday – Le Déhus passage tomb on Guernsey (pic: Mick Overy).

[AI in book production] This blog post by Josh Bernoff (sadly not here on Bluesky?) identifies two problems with AI being used for writing/editing I have come up against myself in my editorial work. (1/3) bernoff.com/blog/how-ais...

Our Small Grants Programme is now live! If you have a project that supports the study, enjoyment and dissemination of local history we'd love to hear from you. Find out more: ow.ly/cVKf50TUhP2 #WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll

Decaying memories of Halloween. #dailywalk

⚠️ Pontypridd has been hit by devastating floods and our wonderful independent bookshop, Storyville Books, has seen much of its stock destroyed. If you’re able to buy a book from them, this would go such a long way to help support them rebuild in the aftermath. 👉 uk.bookshop.org/shop/Storyvi...

If you've not seen *that* story in The Bookseller yet, this thread is all you really need to read… 👇🏻

Useful summary by @paulwhitewick.bsky.social of the complexities around those 'Stonehenge altar stone from Scotland' headlines, www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYTl...

Bert woz ere. #dailywalk #notalake

Spot the heffalump. One of the Duddo stones in Northumberland. #StandingStoneSunday

Shouldn’t this building just have only a couple of bricks? #sorry

The strange iconography of London – today’s #dailywalk

Hello All. Just thought I'd share a link for blog I wrote for Royal Commission Wales about the Launching of the Historical Boundaries of Wales website. This outlines the need / challenges of mapping historical boundaries from the 19th Century. Please do have a read. rcahmw.gov.uk/launch-of-th...

My latest fortnightly article on Substack is a short piece on the munitionettes of WW1: www.gethistories.com/p/blown-to-a... (though the pic here is of a nurse, of course)

A longer #dailywalk today. A modern stone circle; a mysterious memorial; a lost burial ground; a millennial #megalith.

Lion and unicorn pose for selfie.

Something from the #dailywalk for #fingerpostfriday

Baby maple. #dailywalk

A #lidar look-around of Welshbury hillfort in the Forest of Dean. Normally hidden under dense tree growth its complex set of defences is revealed. It overlies an earlier late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age field system. The small circular pit-like features are charcoal burning sites #HillfortsWednesday

How amazing to see that our celebration of the fifth anniversary of #OnePlaceWednesday has coincided with a BlueSky landmark: 2,000 followers! Thank you all for following us and showing interest in the fascinating field of study where #FamilyHistory and #LocalHistory (and so much more) unite.