Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026This is what’s left of the Lipman Building today at Northumbria University. The tangled mess of girders and concrete next to the yellow portacabin was my office for a decade. The building was definitely at the end of its life and had to go, but it’s still a sad moment. 150
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 12/09/2026I’ve been in Tywyn today, birthplace of Rev. Griffith Hughes, author of the 1750 Natural History of Barbados, He was baptised in St. Cadfan’s, home to the Cadfan Stone, the oldest piece of Welsh writing - ironic as Hughes was the last Welsh-speaking minister in North America. 073
Reposted by Brycchan CareyBSECS @bsecs.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Submissions for #BSECS2027 close on the 15 September this year. Yes, this is earlier than usual... This year's theme is 'Artifice and Authenticity' but (as always) we welcome proposals on any #18thC topic. GET WRITING #skystorians 🗃️ See our Website for details: www.bsecs.org.uk/conferences/...bsecs.org.ukBSECS Annual ConferenceBSECS Annual Conference: the annual meeting of the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies is Europe's largest and most prestigious annual conference 02421
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 08/09/2026For those who missed it, here’s the two pages of the @bsecs.bsky.social conference programme for 1988: no parallel sessions and a field trip to Kenwood House. This and four boxes of other documents I am transferring from my shed to a new BSECS archive at the @voltaire.ox.ac.uk Foundation in Oxford. 0165
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 23/08/2026There’s been a big fire in the old Dickinson’s furniture shop on Fenkle St in #Alnwick this evening. The smoke is still visible from our house in Clive Gardens. Pictures on Facebook show the upper floor blazing and fire crew at the scene. Hope nobody has been injured. 100
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 21/08/2026The car is in the garage for a week so we’ve been rediscovering walks around Alnwick we can do from the house. This evening, a walk along the River Aln where we saw grey wagtails, herons, dippers, and a kingfisher. 060
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 20/08/2026We’re having work done and the stone is from Hutton Stone in Berwickshire. This puts me in mind of the geologist James Hutton whose description of the age of the earth could also describe maintaining a listed building: “no vestige of a beginning - no prospect of an end”. 000
Reposted by Brycchan CareyAlnwick Area Friends of the Earth @alnwickfoe.bsky.social · 13/08/2026Good news! More than £20million has been raised to buy the Rothbury Estate and create one of England’s largest areas for nature and wildlife. Bad news - £9.3 million more is needed by the end of September. Please donate now at: www.wildlifetrusts.org/appeals/roth.... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...bbc.co.uk'Crunch time' as bid to buy Rothbury Estate hits £20mConservation groups attempting to buy the entire Rothbury Estate have two months to secure £9.3m. 0102
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 12/08/2026Well, there is definitely an #eclipse in #Northumberland 141
Reposted by Brycchan CareyMatthew McCormack @historymatt.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Rounding off the York Georgian Festival, @brycchancarey.bsky.social is talking about his book The Unnatural Trade. It's a @bsecs.bsky.social takeover today! 061
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 10/08/2026I’m in #York today, 10 August, where at 5.30pm I’ll be talking about my book The Unnatural Trade as part of the York Georgian Festival at the Mansion House. Tickets are available on the door. More information and the rest of today’s excellent programme at www.mansionhouseyork.com/york-georgia... 041
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Last night, the moon was bright over Mount’s Bay in Penzance. This morning, St Michael’s Mount is concealed by murky but welcome drizzle. 030
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 29/07/2026I spent the day tracking down the elusive Cornish chough along the coast between Cape Cornwall and Land’s End. There were none until suddenly there were many, bouncing around the coastguard lookout at Sennen Cove. 061
Reposted by Brycchan CareyDr Adam James Smith @elementaladam.bsky.social · 21/07/2026It's a @bsecs.bsky.social take over at the York Georgian Festival this year, with events featuring @historymatt.bsky.social & @brycchancarey.bsky.social 🎉 Book your tickets: www.mansionhouseyork.com/york-georgia... #18C #18thC #18thCentury #YorkGeorgianFest 0148
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 26/07/2026I’ve had a lazy day at Portscatho in Cornwall, wandering around cliffs and art galleries, enjoying the palm trees, and lingering over a stupendous Sunday roast. 020
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 25/07/2026I’m spending a few days in Cornwall, my childhood home. This is St. Mawes Castle in the foreground with Pendennis Castle behind, both constructed by Henry VIII to guard over the Carrick Roads and Falmouth Harbour. 040
Reposted by Brycchan CareyCount Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 19/07/2023Under a Binface government, anyone who doesn’t accept human-made climate change as fact will be sent back to school, from Year 1 right the way to A Levels, to see if anything goes in the second time round. #VoteBinface 11188453000
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 19/07/2026For the first time in 40 years, I walked out to Lihou Island, a tidal island on the west coast of Guernsey connected by a narrow causeway from L’Erée and its brutalist Nazi tower. Lihou used to be famous for its seaweed-eating sheep, now gone, but the ruined priory remains. 050
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 17/07/2026Some memorials in Guernsey for those who fled the Nazis in 1940 and for those who were deported and murdered by them. My grandmother and her children escaped by crossing the Channel on a small boat; neither the first nor the last to escape oppression by that route. 071
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 15/07/2026I’m in Guernsey seeing my dad and catching up with cousins. It’s lovely to be back. 020
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 13/07/2026Today I’ve been in Blandford Forum in Dorset. This “charming Georgian town” is so because it was entirely burnt to the ground in 1731 and rebuilt. This “dire disaster” is remembered in a monument raised in 1760 by John Bastard, “a considerable Sharer in the general Calamity”. 011
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 12/07/2026Day two of the road trip. The halfway point between Notts and Dorset turned out to be Stowe. The place inspired Pope, Swift, Gay, and Thompson, but I found it excessive and rather sterile, although superficially scenic. 040
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 11/07/2026First day of our summer holiday road trip and we’ve got as far south as Nottinghamshire. We had a fascinating guided tour of the private state rooms at Welbeck Abbey, but no photos were allowed so we ended the day over the road at photogenic Cresswell Crags. Cragtastic! 040
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 08/07/2026Very excited to see this new biography of William Sancho, son of Ignatius Sancho, which reveals the 'multifaceted career' of a bookseller and well-connected man about town who contributed to the early vaccination movement and the campaign against slavery. www.cambridge.org/core/element...cambridge.orgWilliam Sancho and the Possibilities of Black British Lives in Late Georgian BritainCambridge Core - English Literature: General Interest - William Sancho and the Possibilities of Black British Lives in Late Georgian Britain 1104
Reposted by Brycchan CareyAlnwick Area Friends of the Earth @alnwickfoe.bsky.social · 03/07/2026Rolling moorlands, woodlands and wide-open starry skies. The 3,800 hectare Rothbury Estate in Northumberland is a place of rare beauty, steeped in human history. The Wildlife Trusts still need to raise £12 million to save it for the nation. Please donate today! www.wildlifetrusts.org/appeals/roth...wildlifetrusts.orgDonate to Secure The Rothbury Estate | The Wildlife TrustsStretching over 3,800 hectares, the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland is abundant with opportunity. It’s the largest continuous area of land to appear on the market in 50 years. Its sale creates a uni... 1157
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 30/06/2026It's great to see that the call for papers for the 2027 ISECS International Congress on the Enlightenment is now open! It's hosted by Zaragoza in Spain on 12-16 July and I'll definitely be there! www.isecs-zaragoza2027.net/en/en-home/ 065
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 29/06/2026'Ten years on from the vote: Brexit has turned the UK grey not green. A new report commissioned by The Wildlife Trusts has uncovered the decade-long decline of the UK’s environment since the EU Referendum.' www.wildlifetrusts.org/news/ten-yea...wildlifetrusts.orgTen years on from the vote: Brexit has turned the UK grey not green | The Wildlife TrustsA new report commissioned by The Wildlife Trusts has uncovered the decade-long decline of the UK’s environment since the EU Referendum. 155
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 27/06/2026This lovely corner of Hauxley nature reserve, Northumberland, was a birders paradise today. I saw my 100th species of the year - a Cetti’s warbler - along with knot, green sandpiper, little gull, black-tailed godwit, barnacle geese, a Canada/greylag hybrid, and many, many more… 130
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 23/06/2026Thank you to all of you who have sent me birthday greetings today. I’ve had a lovely day on a boat trip round the Farne Islands. I’m always so grateful to live in such a lovely part of the world! 060
Reposted by Brycchan CareyAlnwick Area Friends of the Earth @alnwickfoe.bsky.social · 22/06/2026It's that time of year again! The Alnwick 'What a a Wonderful World' festival is on at the Alnwick Playhouse - and beyond - on 25-28 June. There's a fantastic line up of music, poetry, workshops, talks and visits, with something for everyone. Come and join in! whataww.org/festival-eve... 042
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 21/06/2026There’s a haar, or sea fret, coming up the Aln to Alnwick Castle this evening. 040
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 21/06/2026The fruits of idleness! Or rather the flowers of idleness. By simply not mowing parts of my lawn I now have orchids, which arrived of their own accord and love growing where the yellow rattle naturally suppresses the grass. 030
Reposted by Brycchan CareyASLE-UKI @asleuki.bsky.social · 20/06/2026Apply here: asle.org.uk/awards/grants/ 044
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 05/06/2026Applications are open for the 2026/27 BSECS-Northumbria Fellowship, offering expenses up to the value of £4000 to support a visiting scholar undertaking research into the long eighteenth century. More information and apply at bsecs.org.uk/prizes-and-a... @bsecs.bsky.social 12018
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 29/05/2026I was at Siccar Point in Berwickshire earlier today for the launch of the ‘Deep Time Trail’ marking the site of James Hutton’s unconformity - the geological feature that transformed our understanding of the history of the Earth. james-hutton.org/deep-time-tr... 050
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 26/05/2026I’m giving a talk at St Olave’s Church in London this evening about Tudor botanist William Turner, who is buried there. So is Samuel Pepys, who lived next door, saved the church from the Great Fire, and buried his parmesan cheese in the garden. @literarybritain.bsky.social 052
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 17/05/2026Some news in my local paper, The Northumberland Gazette. “one of UK’s last tea leaf readers fears ancient art could die out”. But why “fears”? Surely she knows? 050
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 16/05/2026Out Now! The Cambridge Companion to Ignatius Sancho, edited by Nicole Aljoe and Kristina Huang with 14 original essays. My chapter revisits Joseph Jekyll's 'Life of Ignatius Sancho' and offers a new theory on how Sancho got from Cartagena to Blackheath. www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...cambridge.orgThe Cambridge Companion to Ignatius Sancho | Cambridge University Press & Assessment 02415
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 13/05/2026Applications are now open for the 2026/27 BSECS-Northumbria Fellowship, offering expenses up to the value of £4000 to support a visiting scholar undertaking research into the long eighteenth century. More information and apply at www.bsecs.org.uk/prizes-and-a... 033
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 10/05/2026Tristan da Cunha has some wonderful place names like “Down Where the Minister Land His Things” and “Ridge Where the Goat Jump Off”. They’ll now need to add “Where The Paratroopers Rescue The Hantavirus Victims”. 021
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 08/05/2026The final figures are yet to come in but so far, in England, the three main progressive parties combined have done slightly better than the two conservative parties combined. More evidence, if more evidence was needed, of the need for a Progressive Alliance. 040
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 02/04/2026So far, Just 18,557 of the 69.86 million people in the UK have donated to help save the Rothbury Estate in #Northumberland. If £13.5 million can be raised by September, this will become the largest new nature reserve in the UK in a generation. Please donate! www.wildlifetrusts.org/appeals/roth...wildlifetrusts.orgDonate to Secure The Rothbury Estate | The Wildlife TrustsStretching over 3,800 hectares, the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland is abundant with opportunity. It’s the largest continuous area of land to appear on the market in 50 years. Its sale creates a uni... 0128
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 01/04/2026Last time I stayed up late to watch a moon launch, I was about six years old. Not sure why I waited so long to do it again. 030
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 01/04/2026I've updated my database of clerical naturalists to include 31 women who were both active naturalists and active in their church, including Margaret Gatty, pictured. They're all in the main list, but I've also created a separate page to highlight them. www.brycchancarey.com/naturalists/... 611322
Reposted by Brycchan CareyDolly Jørgensen @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social · 20/03/2026Join us online on Monday 23 March for @brycchancarey.bsky.social discussing The Unnatural Trade: Slavery, Abolition, and Environmental Writing, 1650-1807 (Yale UP 2024) in @greenhouseuis.net #envhum book talk series. Starts 4pm CET, 3pm GMT, 10am EST newnatures.org/greenhouse/e... #ecocrit 16532
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 20/03/2026Well I seem to have found one thing at least that I can stick to. Whether I’m actually learning to speak another language is another matter… 140
Reposted by Brycchan CareyBSECS @bsecs.bsky.social · 11/03/2026***DEADLINE ON FRIDAY 13 MARCH*** Don't forget to submit your proposals for our #PGR #ECR conference, University of Montpellier Paul-Valery! Only two days left to go! 054
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 06/03/2026I just found the folder with my first-year undergraduate essays. I’m still working on this one… 150
Reposted by Brycchan CareyEarly American Literature @early-am-lit.bsky.social · 03/03/2026Congratulations to Andrew Lipman on being awarded the 2025 EAL Book Prize! We also would like to congratulate the Book Prize's honorable mention Phillip Round and the short list of finalists: Anna Brickhouse, Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social and Russ Castronovo. @uncpress.bsky.social 144
Brycchan Carey @brycchancarey.bsky.social · 01/03/2026In a corner of Bristol Cathedral I found two literary monuments: a bust of Bristol-born poet laureate Robert Southey (1774-1843) and a plaque remembering the Elizabethan editor of travellers’ tales Richard Hakluyt (1553-1616) who was a prebendary of the cathedral. @literarybritain.bsky.social 030