The winner of the battle for the #fluffyFort is...

#1000TudorPeople P is for Edward Powell. Horrified by Luther’s doctrines, he wrote Propugnaculum summi Sacerdotii Evangelici in 1523, music to Henry VIII’s anti-Lutheran ears. Powell lost favour with the king when he refused the oath of supremacy & he was executed at Smithfield, 1540 bit.ly/3PjugG6

Early #Caturday because every day is Caturday in my house.

Another Marginal Way (Ogunquit Maine) sea scape on a glorious February day. Sony a6700. Sigma 16-300 at 24mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Photomator.

Little Beauties #flowers #nature #naturephotography #photography #floralphotography

Spring has sprung lads

#FontsOnFriday at the Church of the Holy Cross, Ashton Keynes, Wiltshire. "Norman cylinder, ornamented all over" says Pevsner. I felt it a glorious affair, with layers of zig-zagging reaching down to lavish up-side-down palmettes. @thehistorymouse.bsky.social

Hngover bull. Luttrell Psalter, England ca. 1325-1340. British Library, Add 42130, fol. 159v. #medieval #medievalart

'an excellent novel, pyschologically astute and well-researched, and I can’t wait to read the next in the series.' - Review http://mybook.to/amoc http://mybook.to/amofaith http://mybook.to/amot ##HistoricalFiction ##Tudors ##HenryVIII ##sixwives

Loved this at Pompeii: either side of the fountainhead are indentations worn into the stone rim by the hands of people drawing water 2,000 years ago #Roman

Did Alfred the Great send an embassy from England to India? Great research by @caitlinrgreen.bsky.social www.medievalists.net/2026/02/alfr... #EnglishHistory #Medieval #History

Casual Reading #oilpainting #art

Two paintings of mine from the 1970s showing coastal plants growing on Eastney beach (still have these). I think they show the influence of Graham Sutherland who was a favourite artist of mine. #Portsmouth #Eastney #gouache #sepia

#OTD 1547, 9-year-old Edward VI bit.ly/2sCS3bo crowned @westminsterabbey.bsky.social by Cranmer, Abp of Canterbury. The previous day Edward had processed through London, greeted by pageants and tableaux. He being so young, the ceremony was reduced from c. 12 to 7 hours. ©Oxburgh Hall.

Won't be too long now before these beech buds unfurl.

#1000TudorPeople S is for Mary Shelton, Lady Scudamore, whose grandparents had supervised the household of the infant Elizabeth I. She was appointed to the royal household in 1571. Furious when Mary married without her permission, Elizabeth threw something, breaking Mary’s finger. bit.ly/3PjugG6

#OTD 1563 François, Duke of Guise, shot by Jean de Poltrot, Sieur de Merne. François was brother of Marie of Guise bit.ly/1brC5CW & uncle of Mary, Queen of Scots. During the reign of Mary’s husband François II, Guise & his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, were the most influential men in France.

Window depicting the scenes from the history of the Benedictine Order in the Bauchun Chapel, Norwich Cathedral. This window was designed by Moira Forsyth and made in 1964 by Dennis King of G King & Son #cathedrals #stainedglass #benedictine #norwich #windows #history #heritage #architecture

Glorious and sprawling Fountains Abbey, North Yorkshire 😍

A walk by the sea near Manly, Sydney.

‘Most of the tropes that came to define the vampire – neck-biting, blood-drinking or invisibility in mirrors – are recent inventions, though some, such as the protective virtue of garlic, do have a historical basis.’ @mikejay.bsky.social on the dangerous dead. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

#MosaicMonday at the British Museum. Here we have a detail from a larger Marine Life Mosaic. Two sea nymphs riding on tritons accompanied by dolphins. Mid-2nd Century AD, Carthage. #AncientBlueSky🏺

You won't regret reading this 😄 • Kenneth Steven •

A Daughter of Warwick: the story of Anne Neville is Available now in audio narrated by Alex Lee. http://mybook.to/dow ##HistoricalFiction ##WOTR ##RichardIII

We've been on the Northern Line. The idea that it's 2000 years old seems completely reasonable.

Crocuses valiantly trying to stay upright in the chilly wind.

A wombat at @austreptilepark.bsky.social A fantastic day spent there. Impressive conservation projects going on.

Mr. Cat loves his box.

Ending Sunday with... • Siegfried Sassoon •

looking after my sister’s cat while she’s out of town and this is the posture of dissent “Thank you, no, I’ll be facing the wall until mother returns.”

Felt like someone was staring at me

An evening walk through a 5000 year old lava tunnel in Iceland #lavatunnel #lava #volcano #iceland

According to legend, if you want to see a fairy, you must eat a primrose. Leaving primroses on your doorstep will ensure fairies will bless your house, and putting primroses in a cowshed will convince them not to steal the milk. Celtic Druids believed the flower helped ward off evil spirits

#1000TudorPeople M is for Sir John Morgan, a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, an order devoted to promoting Christian pilgrimage. Back in Wales, he was fêted by the bard Gwilym Tew as Y Marchog Tew (the fat knight). A Lancastrian, he fought with Henry, Earl of Richmond, at Bosworth. bit.ly/3PjugG6

Out on the Solheimajokull Glacier in southern Iceland. The glacier sits between two volcanoes. It’s shrinking at a rate of around 50 metres per year #glacier #solheimajokull #iceland

East window at Shipdham, All Saints, Norfolk #norfolk #churches #stainedglass #heritage #history #19thcentury #nativity #tracery

Tiny, delicate oak-pin #fungus (Cudoniella acicularis). Not true mushroom despite shape! Produces spores in asci or 'sacs' within 'pinhead', not from gills under 'umbrella'. Widespread in Britain but not common (or maybe just underrecorded). This one on rotting oak stump in Old Wood LWS, Shropshire.

Reminder that I have a starter pack of cat accounts run by real people who post original content with meaningful ALT text! go.bsky.app/J8yqxnN

Animals lining up to get into Noah's ark, 1565. With extra sheep, as allowed or possibly commanded by God. Also appreciate attention to Noah family pets by Jacopo Bassano, whose day is today.

#OTD 1539 Nicholas Carew, a long time friend of Henry VIII, convicted of treason related to the Exeter Conspiracy bit.ly/1GHJlp7 Although he was Anne Boleyn's cousin, Carew, had supported Katharine of Aragon. When Henry tired of Anne, Carew promoted another cousin, Jane Seymour’s, interests.

#RememberingJaneGrey #Tudors #History #QueenForThirteen

Exquisite.

I'm glad to say the reprint of #1000TudorPeople has now arrived and the book is available bit.ly/3PjugG6 again.

C17th cherub on pulpit within Necton, All Saints, west Norfolk #churches #norfolk #17thcentury #earlymodern #heritage #history #cherub #woodcarving #materialculture #photography

Sometimes you make the painting for the song. (Apex Twin #3) . Good Morning 10”x10” Oil on cradled wood panel . Available on my website

I feel this way about pretty much all vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. You shouldn't be allowed to dump cyanide into municipal drinking water and you shouldn't be allowed to recreationally spread viruses around shared public spaces.

On her birthday: Mary of Burgundy, painted (posthumously) by Michael Pacher in around 1490. Wonderful pure profile, beauty of the line.

It was believed in medieval times that hedgehogs had spikes so they could roll over fruit to carry home to their children, which is not true but is a really cute idea

Last thing I shot on film!

#FontsOnFriday & what must be one of the most remarkable Romanesque fonts in England - this gorgeous Hereford School example from Castle Frome For more #ChurchCrawling in the Welsh Marches & Shropshire, watch the episode here >>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNjB...