Brilliant couple of days and one very colourful night in Bradford at @heritagenetwork.bsky.social conference. Wonderful to catch up with colleagues and friends, and meet new ones; mix of inspiration, practical advice sharing, and fun - always set within the most spectacular heritage buildings!

All aboard as we celebrate #Railway200! 🚂 On the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway – an event widely recognised as the birth of the modern railway – we’re sharing a selection of #AHFsupported historic railway buildings. Take a look: 👉 bit.ly/46Yel8L

We are inviting tenders for an evaluation consultant for the #HeritageRevivalFund, delivered in partnership with @dcmsgovuk.bsky.social and Historic England. 🗓 Deadline: 10th October 2025 Find out more and read the full brief: ➡️ bit.ly/48wEg8K #Tender #Heritage

Fabulous blustery morning for a run along the coastal path from Ramsgate out to Broadstairs. Dramatic skies, white cliffs, and maybe the best house ever.

Like many seaside towns, Ramsgate has fabulous buildings but also suffers from significant deprivation. Has been great today to visit projects led by Heritage Lab (an @archhfund.org.uk Heritage Development Trust) & Town Council that are putting the town's heritage into use for community benefit.

We welcomed #HeritageDevelopmentTrusts from across the UK to Portsoy today for a chance to compare notes, share updates & hear from host North East Scotland Preservation Trust celebrating 40 years regenerating historic buildings - including Sail Loft & current projects at the Cat. A-listed harbour.

Alongside grants and loans, we provide advice and support to help communities across the UK find enterprising ways to revitalise the old buildings they love. Looking to breathe new life into a treasured historic building? Take a look at our website to see how we can help you: 👉 ahfund.org.uk

Lovely day in Wymondham last week visiting #AHFsupported Becket’s Chapel with one of our wonderful supporters. Interested in helping us support more heritage and community-led regeneration projects like this across the UK? Find out how you can become a Friend of the AHF. ⬇️ ahfund.org.uk/support-us/

I've seen worse views than the end of summer early evening light bouncing off clouds and water, sparkling from gilded towers and silhouetted against an ancient obelisk. Evenings like this, where better than London?

Join me this autumn for a course that I should have titled 'Reading Mantel Like You're a Historian'. We'll read Bring Up the Bodies (Wolf Hall Book 2) together & explore the rich context & historical background to all the action. More info & how to book here: share.google/mNJUnz23yEM5...

Fundraisers: looking for a new challenge? We at the AHF are hiring our first-ever dedicated fundraiser, a post promising beautiful buildings, incredible community impact & fabulous colleagues. Could this be the perfect role for you? More info below & drop me a line if you'd like an informal chat!

✂️ On The Cutting Edge! Modernist Textile Studio Gets Funding Boost. We have awarded an #HESsupported grant to enable @shbt-charity.bsky.social to carry out specialist surveys at the Cat. A listed Bernat Klein Studio - starting a journey to bring this unique place back to life. Read: bit.ly/3VjKv85

Back during my doctoral research 20 years ago, churches I visited seemed closed as a norm baring services; had to phone ahead. One of the best recent heritage stories has been that they now normally are open. Was surprised to find 2 closed yesterday. Guard them too well & people will forget to care.

Early medieval people thought the god Grim (Odin) was buried under a hill here, so they called it Grimshoe. Under its modern name, Grimes Graves, has been of antiquarian interest since at least the 17thC. Today, you can climb down into a flint mine thanks to @englishheritage.bsky.social 1/2

Dolwyddelan Castle at golden hour. Built c1220 by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth on a hill in a pass to control movement through. The castle has a keep (heightened by Edward I & later by 19thC owner) & another stone building w a grand fireplace upstairs, w/in a curtain walls. Yesterday we had it to ourselves.

Job alert: Calling archivists, manuscript & rare book specialists, @sidneysussex.bsky.social is looking for a new caretaker of their historic collection. Check out the link below and please spread the word! www.sid.cam.ac.uk/node/33528

Wonderful to hear directly from some of the brilliant architects involved with heritage-regeneration projects the @archhfund.org.uk has supported about why they got involved, how we helped & what the projects mean to communities 👇 www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/heritag... @memckeague.bsky.social

Harlech Castle is one of Edward I's great coastal fortresses, but the land here has grown since 1280s, so now there's about a mile from castle to a glorious sandy beach. Across the bay toward the Llyn Peninsula you can just spot Criccieth Castle, built by Llywelyn ap Iorwerth 50 years earlier.

Some views on the way up and down from Carnedd Dafydd (Dafydd's Seat - for Dafydd ap Gruffydd, last of the Welsh princes) yesterday. We saw three other groups at the summit along the Cambrian Way, but the route up from Bethesda was just us, some sheep, and ponies.

Ruins of Wroxeter bath complex & its tantalising 'old work'. One of Roman Britain's largest cities & the capital of the Cornovii after they were compelled to move from earlier settlement atop the Wrekin, an imposing nearby hill. A reconstructed villa sits on site of forum, behind vast column bases.

Victorian technology extravaganza in Fairford today at the steam rally. Engines galore: tractors, pumps, and sawmills, all powered by coal-fired steam. Inspiringly powerful but oh-so smoky!

Excellent scorching day in Great Yarmouth with @archhfund.org.uk & @dcmsgovuk.bsky.social touring projects including Grade II former ice house now a venue/vibrant community space thanks to Out There Arts & tour of GY Preservation Trust projects: housing, social infrastructure & training. Brilliant!

Lunch yesterday in Whittlesford gave me a chance to visit the church, a place of wonderful accretions over time. Nave-tower-chancel in shape, with south aisle and transept added from 13thC - tower boasts a sheela na gig w a male companion. Also a 14thC timber porch with surviving donor inscription.

Did you know the Monumental Brass Society offers grants up to £1,000 towards the conservation of brasses? Does your church have a monument suffering from damp, bats, or simply becoming unfixed over time? We can help! Get in touch below via link below: www.mbs-brasses.co.uk/conservation

When I first came to Cambridge, I took friends on the longest ever walk looking for the 'abbey' signposted everywhere. We eventually ended up on front of a small, locked, crumbling church. I've always wanted to get inside St Andrew the Less & today I did. Another small vestige of Barnwell Priory.

Congratulations to all 37 projects that have secured grants from Historic England's Heritage at Risk Capital Fund. We’re particularly pleased to see 14 #AHFsupported projects among the awardees, many of which we supported through @dcmsgovuk.bsky.social -funded #TransformingPlaces. 👉 bit.ly/47kTkWu

I really enjoyed reading the latest post on 'All Old Strange Things' from @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social As an archaeologist I wish I knew more about folklore (I hope to do better in the future), but working on the Anglo-Welsh border I came to appreciate the importance of its folkloric scholarship

Spent some time thinking about the Roman Empire yesterday at @colmuseums.bsky.social. Some very nice pieces in the castle!

Denny Abbey is a fascinating site: a 12thC church, Benedictine then Templar, converted in 14thC into high status lodgings for a new foundation of Franciscan nuns. An upper floor was built right into the old nave & transepts, which can be read fairly easily as all has been pulled back to the stone.

Restorative mini pilgrimage run this morning - a steeplechase on foot from home to Fen Ditton church to the Leper Chapel and back. Accompanied by river, woods, tall grasses, and birdsong. Not accompanied by any cares in the world.

Congrats to Huntly Development Trust. The transformation of Number 30,The Square, has won the top award at this year's Scottish Civic Trust My Place Awards.🏆 We're pleased to have supported this project with a #HESsupported grant. See more about its win: ⬇️ scottishcivictrust.org.uk/news/huntly-...

In a world worried about job security, worth restating it will be a very long time before traditional building conservation skills can be done by a robot. Meanwhile, brilliant schemes happening across UK are bringing life back to unique buildings & creating new opportunities for young people. 👇

The #AHFsupported Old House Project is complete! Led by SPAB, the extended repair project has brought the once forgotten and forlorn St Andrew's Chapel back to life as a comfortable three-bedroom home for modern lives. It now seeks a new owner to share its next chapter with. Read: ➡️ bit.ly/3H6y8sC

Orford Castle, built 1165-73 by Henry II on plan of a circle inscribed w a triangle, w a round keep & towers at the points. Probably French inspiration attesting the rich connections of Angevin English court w continental culture. Surviving details hint at grandeur. @englishheritage.bsky.social

Yesterday, I had time to see the degree show for the King's Foundation School of Traditional Arts - incredible skills & technique on display but was blown away by how the artists were using these innovate, borrowing from different traditions to create new forms, exploring new ideas in old media. 1/2

Including through projects like the revival of Cardigan Market Hall, one @archhfund.org.uk has long supported and invested in www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/2490257.... Really important to learn the lessons of these towns bucking the trends. #highstreets #towncentres

Today @histenvforum.bsky.social publishes the Historic Environment Overview 2024-25, celebrating the impact of England’s heritage sector in the last financial year. Produced with support from Historic England. Read the new report: historicengland.org.uk/research/her... #Heritage #Resilience

Rounding off three (different! new!) talks in as many weeks, I had a wonderful time today speaking to the MBS about a fascinating family of #London grocers. A great programme of speakers in a beautiful setting #Skystorians #MedievalSky

Today the Monumental Brass Society gathered at North Mymms with loads of friends to explore some exceptional tombs. Pictured here are the enigmatic & beautiful Kesteven brass - a Flemish-English hybrid from 1360s - and the Elizabethan incised alabaster slab to one of Beresford sisters who died 1584.

I mean, an Arts degree has always been the Swiss Army knife of learning. Teaching people how to read, how to assess what they hear and read, how to communicate their thoughts. Literally the most valuable set of skills in a media saturated society and attention economy.

Roman throughfare in the twinkling LED lights of now: gosh, what this river has seen!

The Shrewsbury Chapel at @sheffieldcathedral.bsky.social and the tomb of its builder, George Talbot, 4th Earl Shrewsbury (d1538), in alabaster, stone and brass. Talbot was a distinguished commander under Henry VII & VIII, Knight of the Garter, & played a key role during the Pilgrimage of Grace. 1/2

The @archhfund.org.uk team gathered in Sheffield this week, where we toured Portland Works, among the last vestiges of Sheffield's ancient steel industry. Built in 1877, this is where stainless steel was first made. Today home to 30+ artisans making violins, gin, steel tools & everything in between!

'There’s something incredible about the fact that most bothies are unlocked, but people really look after them. There’s this collective care...' > lovely piece on the humble bothy in a little visited part of Wales. www.ft.com/content/4bd5...

London this evening & the best views around to celebrate 10 years of Historic England & all it does for heritage - from archaeological discoveries to building conservation to blue plaques to protecting skylines, landscapes & skills, advocating, enabling & connecting us to the past. Three cheers!

Our latest Impact Report is full of data demonstrating how our work supports heritage & - most importantly - the huge potential of Heritage to support communities: creating jobs; providing social & cultural infrastructure; & converting problem buildings into thriving community assets. Read more 👇

Haven't watched Netflix's My Oxford Year but the trailer did remind me of my own time there (minus the affair with the tutor), 22 years ago this autumn, fresh from undergrad at NYU. It was half my life ago & the beginning of both my adult life & my life in the UK. Quite a thing to think back about!

In case you're indoors today to avoid the heat and looking for something to read and ponder - sharing a short LinkedIn article I wrote on heritage and beauty: tinyurl.com/4a4694np

Yesterday I was early collecting son from activity, so popped into St Andrew's, Cherry Hinton, which I'd driven by for years on the way somewhere. What a church! Elegant early 13thC. I struggled to read chancel at first bc 16thC window & heavy restoration but those 16 giant lancets are original!

Colleagues have given me a birthday present, and I've rarely felt so seen...