Castle Acre, #Norfolk, looks like it was created as a model for an illustration in a Ladybird Book. It is enough to make even the most well-appointed historic villages feel envious. #MotteMonday #Castles 📷 Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photography (CUCAP), 35kAK004.

The staircases of Marbury Hall, near #Northwich, just before demolition in 1969. The house had been a home, country club, base for the Army, a POW camp & temporary housing for ICI workers. No wonder it had its share of wear & tear. #StaircaseSaturday #Cheshire 📷 Historic England (see Alt text)

In the week that the @nationaltrust.org.uk formally took over from the #Ironbridge Gorge #Museums Trust, a topical entry for #FingerpostFriday: a functional two-fingered number directing the visitor to some of Coalbrookedale's many points of interest. 📷 My own, from 2020.

Good news in the British Museum polling re. the Bayeux Tapestry visit: 71% of parents want their children to learn more about the story of 1066 and 76% of responses agreed '1066 is an important part of British history and people should learn more about it'. Fund the Arts and Humanities! #Medievalsky

Not a tiny fragment, nor a single sherd of pottery, but a full, voluminous Anglo-Saxon space from the 9th century at St Wystan’s in Repton, Derbyshire. The spiral columns - perhaps a memory of St Peter’s shrine. Holy air encased in stone. Betjeman’s words describe it perfectly.

#Vindolanda pictured in May 1980, at a much earlier stage in the epic and ongoing excavations there. The reconstruction towers and sections of wall built in the 70s are plainly visible, bottom right. #RomanFortThursday #Northumberland Image: Cambridge Air Photos, CUCAP 35kCB022

A fascinating point! #HillfortsWednesday

More on the promontory fort at Helsby, #Cheshire - as mapped by the OS at the turn of the C19-20, and on a recent satellite view. The massive sandstone ridge is obvious even from above, & the earthworks visible to varying degrees, depending on land-use. #HillfortsWednesday

Lichfield Cathedral's twin spires. But they're not, quite.

Good morning from the #RiverWeaver, near #Northwich. #Cheshire

For #TowerTuesday, the wonderful 10th century example at the Church of St. Mary, Deerhurst, #Gloucestershire. Substantial parts of the building are pre-Conquest, and with another Saxon church 100-odd yards away (Odda's Chapel), the place is a time-machine. #ChurchCrawling 📷 My own, 2019.

The #Northwich triptych, celebrating its three major historic industries in mosaic form, on a wall in Leicester Street. I esp. like the depiction of the Anderton Boat Lift. Produced some years ago by artists Sarah Hill & Karen Smith, & community groups. #MosaicMonday #Cheshire 📷 My own, from 2024

Another Friday, another classic example of the genre: ✅ Misspelt ✅ Used for target practise Not as high scoring as last week's entry, but I think the prospect of visiting an 'ampitheatre' makes up for it. #FingerpostFriday #StHelens #Lancashire #CoalMining 📷 my own, 2019

Main entrance to the former National Westminster Bank, Hardshaw Street, #StHelens. Built circa 1860, remodelled 1878 & altered inside when converted into a bar in the 1980s. Closed since 2015 and not in the best of health. GII listed. #AdoorableThursday #Lancashire #GrimArt 📷 my own, from 2024.

Welsh listed building entries include accurate dates in about 80% of cases. This drops to just 40-50% in England. Join me tomorrow night at 7pm for an online talk, Reinterpreting Listed Buildings to find out why: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reinterpre... 📸 Plas Mawr, Conwy

A good introduction to HERs, a great resource for #OnePlaceWednesday and #LocalHistory for #OnePlaceStudies with a focus on old buildings and #archaeology.

The grave of Rt. Hon. Stephen Walsh MP, miner & first Labour Sec. of State for War, at Holy Trinity, Downall Green, #StHelens Borough (historically Ashton-in-Makerfield). Known as 'Little Ste', he was a legendary figure, as his NY Times obituary conveys: www.nytimes.com/1929/03/17/a... #Lancashire

Today is #Shropshire Day, so here's a pic from one of that marvelous county's most enigmatic spots. There are many wacky stories about how it got its name, involving improbable inventions - see Wiki. I'll go with the Cambs. Dictionary of English Place Names, posted in the alt text. 📷 my own, 2015.

A little NW of the castle, these stonking great defensive earthworks are even older, from Alfred's time. #Wallingford was one of his burhs - settlements planned or adapted for organised defense, as part of a network. The past lives. #SaxonSunday #OxfordShire 📷 My own, from 2017.

A staircase made of gravestones, at the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, #Ormskirk. The whole graveyard is quite the #gothic treat. #StaircaseSaturday #Lancashire 📷 My own, from 2025.

1959 aerial pic of Kirkby Thore fort (Bravoniacum), from the NW. Crop marks show the nearside wall & gate clearly, confirmed by geophysics in 2013 (see alt). The vicus extended into the field beyond the road - this was a substantial site. #RomanFortThursday #RomanBritain #Westmorland 📷 CUCAP AAK70

Archaeology often challenges assumptions about listed buildings. This Leicestershire house was thought to be 17th century until a survey revealed evidence that it was mediaeval. On 26 Feb I'll be speaking online about Reinterpreting Listed Buildings: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reinterpre...

Part of the ramparts at Dunmallard hillfort, overlooking the foot of #Ullswater near Pooley Bridge. It is unexcavated and undated...but easily accessible, just a short walk from the Ullswater Steamer pier. #HillfortsWednesday #LakeDistrict 📷 my own, from January 2020.

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

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.

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

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

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

#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

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 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

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

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

Doorway into the hot dry room at the bathhouse at Chesters Roman Fort, on Hadrian's Wall. The jambs demonstrate continuity of design from much earlier work, such as that in #TheFlintstones' house, at Bedrock. #RomanFortThursday #ADoorAbleThursday #Northumberland #RomanBritain 📷 my own, from 2024.

1914 PEACE & PLENTY This brick relief panel at the former Peasley Cross Conservative Club in my home town filled me w. sadness when I first noticed it. I imagine the members & locals were grimacing at the sight within a few months of completion. Ugh. #StHelens #Lancashire #ReliefWednesday #FWW

The next Triskele Heritage online talk is Reinterpreting Listed Buildings. It looks at why buildings were listed, what conditions were like for listing investigators, why many listings were short & inaccurate, plus how new research is pushing back dating. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reinterpre...

Many years back we were tasked with creating some interpretation, addressing how the tower might have been integrated into the early medieval town defences.

Reposted for good old #TowerTuesday.

The old #StHelens Borough crest in ceramic tiles, with the classic motto: #ExTerraLucem. It is on the lodge at the St. Mark's Gate entrance to Victoria Park. The building was derelict for a long time. Now restored, it is now the brew HQ for a local #ParkRun, among things. #TilesOnTuesday #Lancashire

The tower of the Church of St. Michael at the North Gate, #Oxford. Built circa 1040, it is the oldest standing building in the city, being decades older than the castle tower. I love the characteristic 'long and short' quoins. #MedievalMonday #ChurchCrawling #Oxfordshire 📷 my own, from 2015.

Memorial to Capt. Loraine (Grenadier Guards) S.Sgt. Wilson (Royal Engineers), killed in a crash near #Stonehenge in 1912. This memorial is outside the visitor centre, reminding us of the Army's role in pioneer military aviation & its place in that special landscape. #StandingStoneSunday #Aviation

No one forbids visitors to climb on the walls quite like the Ministry of Works. Brougham Castle, 2020. #CastleSaturday #Signage #Westmorland 📷 my own

Flooded fields at Upton upon Severn reveal ridge and furrow in the floodplain. Medieval open-field agriculture still shaping the land beneath modern pasture. Raking light has a way of making deeper histories visible.