Good morning! Are we all present and correct? On a stormy weekend like this we think about the past residents of the almshouse who lived in the Undercroft. For centuries these windows only had shutters and no glazing to keep the weather out. ☹️

“Peering from some high window at the gold of November sunset and feeling that if day has to become night, this is a beautiful way” E.E Cummings

Clouds

Evening walk…

Evening on Our Staircase ~ Jan Lauschmann (1929)

Weekend away in Norfolk next weekend now could have a Cambridgeshire lean. flagfen.org.uk/bronze-age-b...

This is happening next Tuesday! It promises to be a really interesting talk but do you know what will sweeten the deal (apart from it being free) if you attend? We are making pom poms from 5.30pm which will go on our Christmas tree at York Minster!

👁️Merchhhh! Here's a design I boshed together for @shaunaitcheson.bsky.social's much lauded Folk Horror adventure game The Excavation of Hob's Barrow! Available now as a print and on haunted apparel and whatnot... 🔥 adventuregamemerch.com

Am really looking forward to this, & getting to meet Daryl in person. Hopefully will see other folk there too 🙂

So, the witches in Macbeth may be a later reworking by playwright Thomas Middleton. Someone who attended the play in 1611 described 3 'beautiful' "feiries or Nimiphes," not “filthy hags”. Holinshed's Chronicles, Shakespeare's source, also describes 3 "creatures of the elderwood.. nymphs or fairies"

"Given that the UK needs more graduates with languages qualifications, the task of universities is not to accelerate the decline of language learning but to find ways to bolster their student intakes."

👇✊

My personal views only, but I'd suggest the following: (1) a blanket ban on detecting on land that's in any form of environmental stewardship or landscape recovery scheme - because heritage is part of the environment those measures are meant to be protecting 🧵

Looks like the Beadles at Westminster Abbey are getting a bit of a ‘Panning’ this morning 🤭 If you like what you read in the article, I reckon you’ll love reading @helleborezine.bsky.social helmed by my dear friend, @mjpcuervo.bsky.social U may find me lurking within too… apple.news/ABG-dmjcoSWm...

@helleborezine.bsky.social merch stirring up trouble! www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

I think space junk anxiety is a thing.

Some reflections on the 'Stone Age', from an Australian perspective. 🧪 🏺

Listen to the crows, the crows know…

‘I have no fear of time…’

We’ll face what comes together

Lost

Audience

Meet Pete the cat, my studio assistant. According to him, he’s in charge of picking and packing, stocktaking, order wrapping and logistics management. Pete says I’d be nothing without him. He might be right.

Reposting this just in case right now is the best time to get the attention of people living in the Derby area who like folklore and want to come wear a costume. 👀

A little snippet from our minute books shines a light on a bit of global history: 20th Jan 1687: "French protestants have asked for the use of the chapel so they can have a Minister preaching in French to them..." There must have been a small but significant number of Huguenots living in York!

My review of the Treasure exhibition at Liverpool Museum is now in Past (Prehistoric Society). Sad to think that a number of the artefacts were effectively saved from the recent devastating theft of Bronze Age gold from Amgueddfa Cymru by being on loan. www.prehistoricsociety.org/publications...

What's from Chicago, hates Illinois Nazis, and is holy as fuck? It's the Pope in 1982.

There's still time to join us for the third Tudor Times summit on November 15. The first two summits were very well received and the feedback has been great.

All along the watchtower. A 360 view from the site of the Roman signal station & watchtower on Eildon Hill North, Melrose. The combined slog up here from Trimontium below, & the strength of the wind at the top, probably accounted for a lot of bribery in writing the duty rosters. #RomanFortThursday

Mr Croc, the famous explorer, recalls his early years: "From the very beginning, it was my very good fortune to be raised to appreciate the joys of Nature..." (To help you on your way, your cheery sandwich wrapper of the day.👍🏼😃)

'People assume that my position is that we can't go to space or explore the Moon. Far from it. I just think the Moon is too important to approach with a narrow western patriarchal, capitalist eye'. 🧪 🔭 #PlanetSci #WomenInSTEM

To err is human, and people in the past made mistakes just as often as we do today. Why, then, are archaeologists often reluctant to consider failure as a driving factor when investigating unexpected findings? #WorldQualityDay 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology

FACT

Absolutely cracking research session at the Royal Academy today, followed by a fantastic talk by Professor Richard Bradley for @royalarchinst.bsky.social at @antiquaries.bsky.social Am now completely jiggered, but absolutely fizzing with thoughts. Now, homeward bound… 😊 🎨 Knowlton, John Piper

Dream

📰 'New datings in the Orkney Islands dismantle the myth of the Picts extermination by the Vikings' 🏺 #AntiquityResearch #ArchaeologyNews via @labrujulaverde.bsky.social www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2025/11/n...

🎟️ Last chance to get livestream tickets! Travel back in time in this Thursday's Heritage Lecture, where Professor Tim O'Brien, Director of Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement, will share the fascinating – and unlikely – story of how the observatory came to be: https://ow.ly/Fgu350Xq3iv

The world’s biggest, and almost inaudibly high pitched, bravo to Trimontium Museum in Melrose for their dedication to the #PlaymobilInfestation both in the displays AND in the shop. Bravo! Bravo!!👏 1 of 2

12/11/25 - nocturn

Don’t suppose any of my friends have a spare copy of this that they no longer need?…🤞🙂

attn heritage and contemporary arch folks

In Birmingham for tonight’s concert of Schumann & Stravinsky by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Simon Rattle and picked up this flyer about UoN’s dreadful Music Dept plans. Spread the word.

Memory 🌀🪀🪞📍🧿⭕ Thank you for following my tinkerings with Art 🧚🏼‍♂️ Bateman's in Burwash, East Sussex, home of Rudyard Kipling

Has this wet and windy Tuesday been a struggle? How about some red door energy to see you through to Wednesday. You are welcome. 😉 ♥️

11/11/25 - nocturn

Yesterday we welcomed a team from NHK (Japan's biggest broadcaster) interviewing @public-history.bsky.social about the amazing story of the Wiltshire Thatcher and the cover of Led Zeppelin IV (with Stairway to Heaven!). Broadcast in the New Year. More at www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/news-article...