Category Archives: Uncategorized

Who on earth photographs a pile of shale, me. Shale mining and quarrying shaped the North Yorkshire coast. Not for gas, but for alum. In the 16th-century alum was essential in the textile industry as a fixative for dyes. Initially … Continue reading →

Depending on what part of the country you’re in, these ancient rights of way have names that vary by region. They are defined as…. …a narrow place to walk along, leading from somewhere to somewhere else, usually in a town … Continue reading →

We all know and love acorns or as some say the oaknut. They seem to capture the imagination and run with it.  In fact, tiny acorns have been capturing the human imagination for so long, appearing in artwork, woodcarving, and … Continue reading →

A visit to Warstone Cemetery today I came across these to set of interesting grave markers. The first is a highly symbolic marker of possibly a middle-class professional individual The urn was used by Pagans and Romans to store cremated … Continue reading →

Winged skull gravestone symbols were common in 18th-century cemeteries. While they may look strange to us today – even morbid or creepy – they held important meaning for our ancestors. Death became frequent in the 1700s, in a world of … Continue reading →

Introduction Symbols are a language that can help us understand our past. As the saying goes, “a picture paints a thousand words”. But which words? Understanding our past determines actively, our ability to understand the present. So how do we … Continue reading →

Why am I so excited with this old stone gatepost? Our landscape is packed with relics from our industrial past. These objects of heritage are given from the past in the same way we inherit a family heirloom. If history … Continue reading →

Peacock Butterflies are unmistakeable and best-known species. They say the eyespot pattern evolved to scare or confuse predators. They tend to lay their eggs in baches of up to 500 on nettles or hops, so a rewilded garden is a … Continue reading →

Ludlow has timber framed building that date back to the 15th century. Its an ideal spot to explore the myths and misconceptions of the timber framed building. The earliest timber frame building is the cruck frame. Constructed of two curved … Continue reading →

There are around 500 species of oak that are surprisingly related to the beech family. Of all the trees in Britain and Ireland the oak is considered king. The oak is known as a keystone species that play a critical … Continue reading →