I love solitude. Robinson Crusoe was and is fiction. And Defoe did not have the last word on the recorded human longing for and love of solitude in history. www.historyworkshop.org.uk/fiction/soli...

Open access.

It's Burns night. Here is the late Des Hannigan's evocation of Burns at the Morrab Library www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Q_...

For William Bottrell's life story including working in Canada and joining the Australian gold rush see my book Cornish Legends (2022) which is paperback or ebook online booksellers and also @kresenkernow.bsky.social

Hi, new followers! Penlee House here – museum, gallery, and occasional rain enthusiast 🌦️ Home to Newlyn School art & our famous moody weather masterpiece. Come for the brushstrokes, stay for the emotional weather.

Costs 77p for 80 page 'book' published 2 Jan 2026. And it's not listed on the author's page with same name and some similar covers. For those wanting academically reputable history the Uni here has community access to library so buying this is not the only option www.amazon.co.uk/History-Beth...

These boys would be aged in their 80s now. Wonder whether they are in Cornwall?

I was reminded of the original purpose of the C14th Barker Tower in York when sunlight cast a chain like shadow across its facade. It's original purpose was defensive and it held a chain that stretched across the Ouse. There is a reference in 1380 of a 'Keeper of the Chain'.

It's Penguin Appreciation day today, here's one of the earliest we can find on a map, from John Senex's 'South America corrected from the observations comunicated to the Royal Society’s of London & Paris', 1710. More on the map here blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/maps/2019/02... @bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Reminded of this yesterday when I listened to Keith Wallis' chat with Mark Stoyle www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEO-...

If I go to Wikipedia for info I check it. What I like is that in my experience if you find something you can evidence is not historically accurate and say so it is changed. Most academic reference sources also accept new evidence. Though in my experience their schedules to amend are much slower.

St Michael's Mount is a deep harbour with ancient history forest loss. Often hit hard by much later storms. Seeing views now that trees obscured may be historically revealing. I hope National Trust and St Aubyn discuss approach to new planting with the community www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

For Cornwall history going forward this is the place to find me. For now I will be keeping @penwithwriter on the other place for the people I like, and things I want to read or know about. Only some of these are on bsky.social Though its a moveable feast and I will be looking to find more to follow.

Just completed diary transcript with lots of info about Penzance, new theatre, and women's experience in the 1780s.

Re-lacing my walking boots 🥾 is oddly satisfying.

Would be so lovely of this could be a forum for positive politics. In US what do the Democrats need to do to win - including in midterms - and who could lead them and be elected 2028? #justsaying @cookiespencer.bsky.social @grumpygirdle.bsky.social

I only occasionally read fiction and almost always as historical evidence. I've never read Anne Enright @thewrengirl.bsky.social but I get some of her observations in this conversation observer.co.uk/culture/book...

Blast. There's been a landfall at Cligga Head. cornishstory.com/2021/11/04/a...

If you love trees and you've found yourself with a bit of extra time this morning - you might like my recent digest on the forest at first light. 👉 www.digest.andymarshall.co/andy-marshal...

#ICYMI: Have your say in the Community Hub training needs survey! This UK-wide programme supports community history and heritage, and wants to know what training and guidance you'd like to see in 2026. Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/news-spaces-... #WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll

Good the UK is participating in ERASMUS again. Agreed and worked on a programme previously that students enjoyed and learned from.

On #ThoughtfulTuesday, we're inviting you to look at the built environment of your local area. Buildings, monuments and cemeteries all tell stories so make sure to include them in your studies. #WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll

The sky this evening. A week until the solstice - then the light starts to return #sky #wintersolstice

a lease signed on the thirteenth, morning before a storm: small house on a farm below a lochan, ragged evergreen horizon & scrappy oak in the yard - hope, & a january flitting

Last week I went on a 'research walk', a new thing for me. I was attempting to 'beat the bounds' of the parish of Portishead, which is the central case study in my current book project about everyday life in 17th century villages. A good start; it was a dry day... 🧵

After three years and five moves - one cross-country - we finally have a permanent family home of our own. Phew. Let’s have another go at English village life 📚

In case you didn't know - I'm an architectural photographer, artist and writer. I travel in my camper van and use that as a base to get right into the heart of places. Here's me in the camper at Ripon.

Breezy walk this morning after two days of rain intermittently stopping play.

Home for the next 24 hrs 🌧️ 🚐 🌊 #vanlife #cornwall

This is a useful summary www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZLe... Always glad when Cornwall is included - and especially people I've written about. Here that is Joseph Emidy and James Townsend MP - though poll book or freehold evidence to confirm whether Emidy was eligible to vote is lacking.

academic.oup.com/library/arti... open access @annalujz.bsky.social on second hand book sales in Devon 1688-1725

The @bsecs.bsky.social 2026 conference is almost upon us. The Royal Institution of Cornwall 2025 journal just published with my article / paper from this year's BSECS conference. Please let me know if you would like an offprint.

Penzance | expired 35mm

Really pleased to see that Helen Esfandiary's excellent talk last week to @long18thsem.bsky.social is now available on the @ihrlibrary.bsky.social website: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

If you like finding out more about Cornwall's history - or are looking for a present for someone who does - there are paperbacks and ebooks here www.amazon.co.uk/stores/autho... - also available from other online booksellers.

Kingsand-Cawsand | Kernow 35mm 2025

Last week, our project director, Prof. Dr Dagmar @dagmarfreist.bsky.social and Dr Marc Vermeulen (National Archives, UK) presented one of the most intriguing objects in our material collection at the Annual Reception of the @akademienunion.bsky.social #earlymodern #maritimehistory

An amazing sky over our house early this morning.

Long tails and important outcomes. Finally, it's live - the website for the report, "Conversion Therapy' and the University of Birmingham c.1966-1983'! There's material about the history, the project, its organisation, and there are resources there too. #HistPsych #HistSTEM #QueerHist #HistSex

Oops. It seems that the Rosevale deep Adit team dug into a backfilled stope in shit ground, which collapsed spectacularly. We now need to do some ground reinforcement before we can clear this mess and progress onwards. Still better down now than were we are metres beyond it, or were squashed by it.

& the notice to quit arrives finally, the postie quiet (he has delivered several before yours), sheets whip in a cold wind as you sign for it, & corvids rasp, go as-the-crow-flies south over the site of a small clearance

Would you ask a judge to declare a house haunted? What about suing a fortune-teller for mispredicting your future? Should the law even allow these claims? If you write about law, believer or sceptic, you can contribute to our book on Supernatural Law: Regulating the Paranormal. tinyurl.com/46jwmcnh

French artist Raymond Wintz specialised in marine and coastal views in Brittany. Here, almost 100 years ago, he looks through an open doorway to the harbour beyond (The Blue Door, 1927)

coast path day, i am alive again

Tonight’s moon over north Cornwall - taken from our garden gate