Well done the Canterbury Society and Ptolemy Dean! Following public and heritage sector concerns, national media coverage and the petition signed by thousands, Canterbury City Council has confirmed that no further historic cast-iron lampposts will be removed while options are reviewed bit.ly/4sD3ieg

One of two 15th century fonts from St. Mary’s Church in Whitby. Originally from Newbiggin Hall, the font was found on a nearby farm where it was being used as trough before it was thankfully relocated to St. Mary’s. 📸 My own. #FontsOnFriday #Whitby

My sort of stuff!

One of the prettiest and most interestingly-detailed church doors I have seen…the 17th century north door (set in 14th century doorway) at St. James’ Church, Croxton, Cambridgeshire 😍 Detail in comment below…

A close look at Castle Hill, Newton-le-Willows. Excavations in the 80s were inconclusive, partly thanks to the construction of the nearby M6 having disturbed the surrounding topsoil. Maybe a Motte, perhaps on an earlier burial mound. Inconclusive, sadly. #MotteMonday #Castles #Lancashire 📷 my own

The magnificent 9th century #Sandbach Crosses, dominating the market-place. Originally erected somewhere else (but presumably nearby), they were moved there in the C16, broken up in the C17 & reassembled in the C19. #Cheshire #StandingStoneSunday #StoneworkSunday #SaxonSunday 📷 my own

Pipe Aston, Herefordshire. Unusual font fashioned, in 1943, from a C12 cone (cross base?) found buried in a nearby field. Lovely (now upside down) carving. #FontsonFriday

We're often asked 'how did Roman potters create the moulds that they used to make lamps & deity figurines?' The answer is that there were numerous methods used. In these 4 videos Sarah & I show one technique that we have identified.🏺#Archaeology #Pottery #Ceramics #Classics youtu.be/nJD9tCfv-7I?...

Abraham Darby III's magnificent bridge at Ironbridge, #Shropshire Happy New Year one and all. #IronworkThursday

A lord of the manor after my own heart. According to A History of the County of York, North Riding (1914), the moors around Hutton Conyers, Baldersby, Rainton, Dishforth and Hewick still clung to some wonderfully old-fashioned customs well into the 18th century. Local villagers had the 1/3

This burial ground at Farfield was granted to the fledgling local Quaker community in 1666 by Anthony Myers. After the Act of Toleration, this simple yet beautiful Quaker Meeting House was constructed in 1689. 📷 Exterior of the meeting house

**Top Ten Images of the Year · #8 of 10** Owl lovers unite! 🦉 Completely struck by this lovely depiction of an owl in the choir stalls at Wakefield Cathedral.

Church of St Martin, Burton Agnes, Driffield. Carved angel on choir stall bench end and C19 hammer-beam roof with angel stops. #Woodensday #AngelsinChurches

Sometimes simple is best.. A lovely, tiny arch in the tower at St Luke's, Gaddesby. #windowsonWednesday

Barker Lane in York (below) takes its name from the tanners who worked in the area. Nearby Tanner Row (bottom image), was once known as Barker Rawe and by the later medieval period the street was firmly associated with tanners and their workshops. Tanning relied on extracting 1/3

Vaccary Walling Norland. A vaccary was a medieval cattle farm, dating mainly from the 12th and 13th centuries, usually linked to monastic granges or estates held by lay lords. Cattle were raised commercially within enclosed pastures, either as oxen for sale as draught animals or

🥁✨🎉 **My Top Image of the Year · #1 of 10** The jaw-dropping early C16th angel roof at St. Wendreda's in March, Cambridgeshire. Sir John Betjeman said it was “worth cycling forty miles into a headwind to see.” 🤔 He was right.

A labyrinth with many echoes of the past. A row of piers from the 1160s-80s undercroft of the York Minster of Archbishop Roger of Pont L'Eveque left in place to support the arcades the later choir of 1394-1420. #YorkMinster #ArchitecturalIllustration #drawing #ArtShare

Absolutely! And not a few maiden aunts who were usually good for 2/6d (half a crown). Quiet, civilised, restrained but had done amazing work in two World Wars and were not going to make a thing of it - or indeed make a fuss about anything. Women who quietly ’got on with it and coped reliably’.

The 12th-century Romanesque nave at Ely Cathedral rarely steals the spotlight (thanks to that lantern tower), but it’s absolutely jaw-dropping

Watermill House, Benenden, Kent. A large Wealden hall house in the Weald of Kent, built between 1470 and 1510. A rare watercolour of my time in Kent studying medieval houses. #ArchitecturalIllustration #drawing #ArtYear

Murder in the Cathedral. The four knights, driven by demons, approach the kneeling Thomas Becket as he celebrates Mass in Canterbury Cathedral, one of a sequence of 14th Century bosses in Norwich Cathedral depicting the last days of the Archbishop. Today's the feast of St Thomas of Canterbury.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if an owner (and the authorities) had the courage to restore the lime finishes (render and/or wash) to a building like this just to show what’s possible and what was originally intended!

Princelet Street, Spitalfields, London - December 2025

How delicately a Romanesque angel uses the lightest touch of a finger to wake one of the magi, snuggled with the other 2 under their embroidered circular blanket at St Lazare, Autun, c1130 (& how beautifully the textures of pillow & blanket are represented). Season's greetings to you all!

Our chequerboard church. Over the past two centuries, St John the Baptist’s, Papworth St Agnes in Cambridgeshire has been on a journey of restoration, dereliction, and repair. 📷 St John the Baptist’s in the snow in 2013

It’s hard to escape being drawn in by the compelling gaze of this woman, depicted with extraordinary realism by early 18th century German portraitist Balthasar Denner (Oil on copperplate, Hermitage Museum) www.hermitagemuseum.org/digital-coll...

Bluesky had told me that today is St Stephen’s Day and that there are two St Stephen’s churches near Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire. We visited this one in August. The interior of the church contains its original Georgian fittings. This church is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

St Bartholomew, Benthall. #adoorablethursday #ironworkthursdsay

Good, but appallingly muddy, 7 mile circular walk from Hanbury to Tutbury and back today. Lots to see on the route- old medieval alabaster and later gypsum mines, WWII explosives storage, Tutbury Castle (still closed) & the superb 12th century decorated doorways of St Mary’s Chuch, Tutbury

Is that a solid cob wall I see there…?

The oldest living thing in Wales: the yew in the churchyard of Llangernyw, #Conwy, which is believed to be somewhere in the region of 3,000 years old. #ThickTrunkTuesday #Wales

Founded in 1147, Kirkstall Abbey began when twelve monks from Fountains Abbey, led by Prior Alexander, settled first at Barnoldswick before moving to the present site in 1152. The community remained here until the Dissolution in 1539. Unlike many monasteries, Kirkstall escaped large-scale

Was this illustration derived from a photograph? I suppose so because the verticals and perspective are surely those of a photographic lens, not the human eye.

This 1974 photo shows, with startling immediacy, a group of freshly-excavated 2,000 year-old Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an, China, with their original vibrant colours. Once exposed to air & sunlight during excavation, the colours started to disappear almost immediately www.snopes.com/fact-check/t...

Our interactive map showing all buildings recorded by the YVBSG has just been updated! The latest version includes this intriguing little outbuilding at Woodsome Hall. If you're a member, the map also gives you access to the full online reports. Browse at www.yvbsg.org.uk/reports.html.

Vane Court, Biddenden, Kent. A 'Wealden' hall house built in two main phases. The upper end, left, & 2-bay hall erected in the late 14th century. The right hand end added in the early 16th century. I did some of my 1st exploded timber joint drawings when RCHME recorded it.

Shilton, Oxfordshire, Holy Rood. Fantastic seventeenth century chest.

Stunning!

To all those who kindly follow me and to all those I follow and who enrich my life, I wish a very Happy Christmas, a fruitful New Year – and above all Peace. Christopher

To all those who kindly follow me and to all those I follow and who enrich my life, I wish a very Happy Christmas, a fruitful New Year – and above all Peace. Christopher

#FindsFriday: A 'dragonesque' brooch from the British Museum. Its belly is inlaid with coloured enamel, and the pin (missing) would have fitted on the back between the two necks. These wonderfully sinuous brooches were popular in the decades after the Roman invasion. #RomanBritain 📸 me

Lovely!

#FontsOnFriday Mid C12th Norman font made from Caen stone from St Peter and St Paul, Coleshill, North Warwickshire.

Quick #lidar scan of one of the Holyhead Mountain Iron Age roundhouses using the iPhone 15 Pro lidar scanner

Fascinating!

A change of scenery was called for today, so I decided to take a trip to Canterbury. I’ve never visited the Cathedral before, and was very moved by the history (some of which I knew, but other elements I learned).

#Woodensday #ReliefWednesday Quite breath taking. St Peter's Chapel: originally c.1200 great hall for Durham's powerful Prince Bishops @ Auckland Castle. Amazing ceiling has arms of Bishop Cosin who converted to chapel after monarchy restored. #AdventAngels as a bonus Restored by aucklandproject.org