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Ultima Thule
'Concerning Thule, our historical information is still more uncertain, on account of its outside position; for Thule, of all the countries that are named, is set farthest north. 'Strabo, Geography, 1st...
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Field research
One of the attractions of researching landscape history is the opportunity to combine a range of sources of evidence: direct investigation in the field, archival documents, maps, aerial photography and...
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Llanthony Priory - landscape perception survey
As part of my PhD research I am carrying out a survey into present day perceptions of the impact of Llanthony Priory on the surrounding historic landscape of the Vale of Ewyas/ Llanthony Valley in the...
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Tales of cartographic landscapes
Having spent most of the last month in my study/ spare room garret, I am now emerging for fresh air having completed the drafts of two PhD chapters on the subject of my first case study landscape: the...
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In search of monastic granges
The sandstone of Tintern's abbey church: 'purple through mauve and buff to grey’ under a glowering November sky. Over the last couple of days I have been out and about in the exceptional Autumnal...
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Tintern Abbey: A ghost of the shape it once had
'A ghost of the shape it once had', a misquote from Ronald Johnson's long-form poem, The Book of the Green Man; reflections on travels around Britain in 1962, passing by Tintern on the way: ‘We have...
View ArticleNew Paths to Helicon Part 1
New Paths to Helicon Part 1, sublime dread from Mogwai juxtaposed with footage from US atom bomb testing in Nevada (via zootelevizor/ YouTube). And if you survive this, then try the My Bloody Valentine...
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PhD Research Paper #4: A diversity of words and images - topographers and...
From time to time I will post 'bite size' chunks of the material I am preparing for my PhD thesis: works in progress, but content which I feel may be of interest to a wider audience. All will be very...
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This Machine Kills Fascists
Fuck TrumpAll You Fascists - Woody Guthrie (a real American hero)I’m gonna tell you fascistsYou may be surprisedThe people in this worldAre getting organizedYou’re bound to loseYou fascists bound to...
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Deep topography practice – landscape walks as PhD fieldwork
Composite map of the landscape walk routes in the Llanthony Priory case study (Source: map drawn in ArcGIS using ArcGIS World Imagery basemap).A note here on the experiential landscape walks that I am...
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Hatterall - Hill towards the sun
The Hatterall ridge looking north from its southern-most point at Trewyn 'hill fort'.The Hatterall, or versions of it, is a long-standing name used in times past for the eastern uplands of the Black...
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Tintern Abbey - landscape perception survey
As part of my PhD research I am carrying out a survey into present day perceptions of the impact of Tintern Abbey on the surrounding historic landscape of the Wye Valley. If you know the area and would...
View ArticleChuck Berry - Promised Land: rock and roll topography
Chuck Berry at his topographical best, using tight wit and pathos to describe an epic journey by bus, train and aeroplane from Virginia to California in 'Promised Land':I left my home in Norfolk...
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Take the long road and walk it
Mapped above is the route of a week long walk I will be undertaking in June, linking up the estate landscapes and medieval route-ways of the three case studies of my PhD research: Llanthony Priory,...
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Ben Myers - The Gallows Pole: Once upon a time in the West Riding
The arresting cover of Ben Myers' sixth novel is a statement of intent for the work inside: historical fiction with danger and harshness and radicalism foregrounded; a bit punk rock, a bit psychedelic,...
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PhD landscape walk - walking the ghost topography of Cwmbran new town
This is a description of one of a series of landscape walks through my PhD case study areas. Here the walk navigates a route around the post-war planned new town of Cwmbran in south-east Wales,...
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Pathways through long winter days until bright Phoebus shines down again
A quick ramble here through an assemblage of mid-winter cultural highlights. If record shops are a species indicator of a civilised polis (which they surely are), then it was good to have affirmation...
View ArticlePagan sampler interlude
New substantive post on the way soon, an archaeology of walking; in the meantime here's a musical interlude, some post-Easter pagan and animist sounds.Trembling Bells - Christ's Entry Into GovanGoat -...
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On Arcadia
Hotfoot from viewing new documentary film Arcadia, some initial thoughts on what seems quite a zeitgeist-y piece of work for those in the landscape/ place bubble.Directed by Paul Wright, the film is...
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The topographical legacy of the medieval monastery: evolving perceptions and...
This post is an abridged version of the discussion chapter framed around the core research questions of my recently submitted PhD thesis, examining a hypothesis that the medieval monastery, over...
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The path to the monastery: monastic communication networks in the southern...
The Version of Record of this Author's Manuscript has been published and is available in Landscape History 2019 (40.1, pp 59-70) http://www.tandfonline.com DOI: 10.1080/01433768.2019.1600944...
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Brief thoughts on a PhD journey completed
Well its done. I've been awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy in Archaeology.My research has ranged over landscape archaeology, landscape history, monasticism, cultural geography, psychogeography,...
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Gardens where we feel secure
Glass half-full, the Covid-19 restrictions on movement coinciding with the first burst of spring present an opportunity to inhabit the topography of your own garden more profoundly than in normal...
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Walking back through time: a landscape history of pathways
For a while now I have been contemplating researching a comprehensive landscape history of paths, or at least the pathways of Britain. Paths, such an intrinsic topographical element, both a symbolic...
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Alternative political cartography: a more rational union
Most of this piece was written in 2017 (probably after another soul-destroying election result) but left in draft and I just came across it again. Depressingly, it still resonates; only more so. Some...
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