At last some good news about Bletchley Park, where Allied codebreakers worked in World War II. Its a fantastic site, but has been badly in need of investment to keep it standing. Whilst the house itself is in good nick, the huts are in pretty poor shape (somewhat inevitable as they are mostly pre-fabs which …
Author Archives: David Petts
Rotherwas encore
More news about the Rotherwas Ribbon
A Land
I’ve just finished reading Jaquetta Hawkes’ wonderful book ‘A Land’. Written in the late 1940s, it is a meditation on geology, archaeology and the development of Britain. Hawkes was that rare thing, an archaeologist who could write wonderful prose, in places coming close to poetry. It is this immense antiquity that gives our land its …
York lightshow
Some pictures of the lightshow at St Mary’s Abbey this week. Its difficult to do the event justice with these photos. It was spectacular.
Heartbreak Hill
Made a visit to the site of Heartbreak Hill, an allotment scheme created for unemployed ironstone miners just outside the village of Boosbeck. It was set up in the 1930s by Rolf Gardiner (see postings below) At this time, unemployment in this area was even higher than in other areas of the norht-east such as …
Chagos reversal
Shockingly the Law Lords reversed an earlier judgement that the deported population of the Chagos Islands could return to their homeland. Between 1967 and 1971 they were illegally removed by the British government so that the island of Diego Garcia could be handed over to the US as a major airbase. Most islanders went to …
Hackney Library Ban
A rather depressing little story about the writer Iain Sinclair being banned from launching his new book at Hackney Library
Watkins and Crawford: Photographic perspectives
More ley lines….quite literally. Kitty Hauser’s book on O.G.S. Crawford touches on his tetchy interactions with Alfred Watkins, the promoter of the notion of ‘ley lines’. As founder and editor of Antiquity, Crawford gave such ‘crankeries’ pretty short shrift. However, they both shared an interest in the importance of photography in the study of the …
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Rotherwas Resurgat
I’m pleased to write that reports of the redating of the Rotherwas ribbon are much exaggerated. I’ve been contacted by Keith Ray, County Archaeologist for Herefordshire who has let me know that contrary to my earlier post the C14 dates and finds information are all pointing to a Late Neolithic/Early BA date for this highly …
Pater Noster
I was at a wedding this Saturday. During the service, the Our Father was said. It was rather disconcerting to notice that looking round the church barely anyone under 40 was joining in with it. If I was charitable I’d say it was because they were shy, but I think it was more likely to …
Outlandish Knight 