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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 30/09/2026

is what's left of Greenhalgh Castle (near Garstang, also Lancashire) a keep? possible. it's on private land so you can't get into it. clearly smaller than Clitheroe though, what's left of it anyway.

View of Greenhalgh Castle from NW, from path around the east bank of the River Wyre

Zoom in view showing the block of the one remaining front (a full keep, tower house, or element of a larger block? i dont know), which missing its quoining the lower parts and is open to what I presume were formerly newel stairs

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 30/09/2026

strange how Clitheroe is always called the "second smallest stone keep in England" yet nowhere claims the smallest. When is a tower house not a keep, I suppose. Go on Clitheroe, muscle in and call yourself the smallest already.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 30/09/2026

The twelfth-century masonry keep of Clitheroe Castle is currently being unsheathed from its scaffold wrap after restoration work began in December last year, in case you are wondering about the current status of Clitheroe Castle's twelfth-century masonry keep

View west up Castle Street towards the keep

zoom view showing the lime mortar repointing

SW view from bailey, with hoardings sign for the conservation contractors, Halestone

View from NW approach to bailey, showing winch on the scaffolding

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 28/09/2026

looks like England's Places (The Swindon red boxes) still works, just the search is bust so it's hard to get at anything. It doesn't have that massively over-the-top smartframe protection (although the files are too low-res, if I feel like complaining) historicengland.org.uk/images-books...

historicengland.org.uk

Churches, Spalding | Historic England

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 25/09/2026

was actually here to see a single painting (which I hope to finish writing about very soon), but did walk as much around the building as you could. even though it was 33°C+ and I'd left my hat in the car.

W front of Burghley House (dated 1577) from behind a retaining wall of limestone - the "ha ha" constructed as part of the landscaping by Capability Brown in the third quarter of the 18th century.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 25/09/2026

although if you see the back it where it joins to the courtyard corridor it starts to make sense

Drone view over the N wing to the courtyard front of the S wing, note line of former parapet over tiny windows behind courtyard side 1st floor corridor

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 25/09/2026

wow! answer and more! thanks! does surprise me there's nothing above the George Rooms though. Because under 'Capability' Brown c.1765 they raised the third storey for an even roofline. that's a lot of roofspace! probably full of chairs.

Engraving of south front 1715, James Collins. Note the low third storey windows and elaborate pediment in the centre.

S front today, taken for the Country Life picture library.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 24/09/2026

I did get a little look inside one of the flanking quarter circle returns to rejoin to the line of the main wing. very interesting as it has a drainage downpipe and a convenience. But were these cut off as mere closets in the original late 16th fitting-out of the interior?

timber cubicle featuring a simple privy with jugs inside the quarter circle block flanking the Bow Room to the W

View of ceiling with drainage system from roof

First-floor plan of Burghley House showing location of said privy

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 24/09/2026

Close-up, clearly the windows are glazed (when I was there I thought they might be painted on) but I suspect they're boarded up on the inside and this is a kind of semi-attic space?

Close-up of W part of top storey of N front, showing the windows of the third storey. You can see reflections in the curve of the main bay's third storey windows, but only the flanking quarter-circle unit to the main body of the projection have curtains.

Also note the 1587 that I probably should have got the "1" of in frame. o well

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 24/09/2026

Been thinking about this since I was at Burghley House last month. N front (1587), featuring the Bow Room on 1st floor (decorated 1698) above the ground entrance hall (latter not open to public). The ceiling inside, right, it's so high that it means the 3rd storey windows aren't open to rooms?

Burghley House, nr. Stamford (Lincolnshire), as built under William Cecil, Lord Burghley (1520-98), north front, dated on the parapet 1587

Bow Room, looking NE towards the bay, on 1st floor over N porch in centre of N wing, painted by Louis Laguerre in 1697 for John, 5th Earl Exeter (1648-1700)
(sorry the windows blew out this photo a bit. it is the N side so it's very dark here compared to the outside. imagine how cold it got for dinner parties)

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 04/09/2026

of course i should have said "female religious convent", because although "nunnery" is basically the female version of "monastery" it does have very different popular connotations (naughty lesbians) funny how the trope of gay monks never comes up, huh.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 04/09/2026

i think the main thing here, other than the "Harold and his first wife were secret pagans" bit (I mean, didn't he refound Waltham as a serious college?), is Historical fiction writer have a drama set in a medieval nunnery where you don't have a naughty lesbian nun, difficultly:

Goldeneye for N64, 007 difficulty mode with enemy health and damage set to 1000% ("Dark LTK" [Licence to Kill]). This means you have to get 10 headshots on every enemy to kill them.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 03/09/2026

listened to this since it's all there. it's exactly what you'd expect for a Radio 4 drama. yes "the old ways" are a bit of a plot point ("don't you remember the cakes for Eostre? the winter sacrifice?"), but it tells an imagined story in 45 minutes about the making of Bayeux Tapestry. it's fine.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 02/09/2026

As it's barely published on, besides Crook/Mitchell articles. Can't really exaggerate how interesting it is in so many ways, so a publication on it is not to be rushed, although not sure if one's been worked on. I haven't thought before today... don't believe it's ever been exhibited.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 02/09/2026

probably could have spent longer here and maybe even got the tripod out but did want to start my trip back home so I was on the westbound M62 at the right time to see the solar eclipse. which isn't something I'll ever get to say again in a hurry I imagine

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 02/09/2026

The BoE calls this "strengthening", but surely it was a rebuilding (presumably before the belfry went on) as the original major 13thc arch was deformed. Because the tower pier is made much smaller in profile, the first bay of the nave is made so much wider it has be rebuilt quite ridiculously long.

View of first bay of the S arcade from across the nave, a very wide segmental arch springing from the Romanesque column into the tower pier. Again very plain, two orders, only enlivened with a simple chamfer each.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 02/09/2026

what about Bourne Abbey's SW tower you ask? [...?] WELL! its NW pier (integral with the S arcade respond), and the major arch along with the aisle transverse are all simple Perp. So the Romanesque evidence has been eliminated here (except for the intersecting arcading on the W front)

View of Bourne Abbey's SW tower from N. You can see two tiers of 13thc E.E. arcading internally, now divided by a mezzanine floor for a ringing chamber. The NW pier, attached to the W wall is the same as the opposite side (compound, interspersed with minor shafts with rings) but the arch it supports is very plain, two orders with a chamfer. It "dies" into the NE pier, which is basically just an octagon. The masonry in the top R is rough, as it recesses back to marry the difference in thickness between the two piers.

View of the NE pier showing the transverse, which also has simple dying moudlings.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 31/08/2026

importantly(!) you can see clearly that there was at least initially planned a Romanesque W block from the transverse arch springing from the other side of the Romanesque N arcade (it isn't vaulted, so this is arch into a W tower), and the new 13th tower was built outside of it.

This is the opposite side of the view of the previous post, note the reveal hole. By the arcade springing that has a capital with nicked corners, you can see the angle shaft is supporting the beginning of a plain transverse arch, and the equal of the ceiling roll shaft on the other side has a scalloped capital to take an arch. Then there is the much-more fancily moulded 13thc arch into the existing tower base.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 31/08/2026

Okay Bourne isn't the most spectacular fragment of an abbey church. But the N tower does have this cool revealed bit that shows there was an early 13thc plan to basically double the height of the nave arcade. I tried to decipher it.

View into NW tower of Bourne Abbey from nave, looking NW

Labels showing the planned early 13thc Early English Gothic rebuilding parts over the original post 1138 Romanesque build. E.E. in blue, Romanesque in red.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 31/08/2026

Also they've got 13.5K of the 40K GoFundMe despite saying they can afford it, just so he can get back to making alarmist stuff about invading immigrants and the Bolshevik intellectuals permitting it in his cosy mold-free roofspace all the quicker.

GoFundMe page. Mould Remediation
[Picture of Alex from niceboysinthecountry wearing a respirator in his internally gutted house]
A
Alex Bull
Donation protected
I’m currently living confined to one room of the house, surrounded by air purifiers and putting on a respirator whenever I need to move through the building or sitting in a filthy...

£13,542 raised of £40K
455 donations

454 recent donations
S
Sue Page
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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 31/08/2026

Sorry I should correct that slightly: the puff-piece they got in the local NewsQuest Media Group paper for the property doesn't mention it was literally rammed to the rafters with mold.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 31/08/2026

I won't link to the proof but you can see they tried to sell this deathtrap two years ago for slightly less than they paid for it with no mention in the brochure it was literally stuffed to the rafters with mold. Presumably every potential buyer had a survey done.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 31/08/2026

What does look suspect on the map depiction is the two W steeples. Yes it had two towers, but only the S seems to have ever been carried above clerestory height. The N has springers for an unbuilt vault. The later, slightly less elaborate S tower received another stage and then the Perp belfry.

View into the N tower from by the W door, circled is one of the vault springer, now below a modern ceiling which underlies the pyramidal roof above. The rest of the of the architecture is early 13thc lancets, accompanied by ringed shafts.

The N tower roofless, engraving del. T. Phillips, engraved by B. Howlett 1809. Also note the medieval W perp window which unfortunately was removed for a lancet triplet in 1883.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 31/08/2026

I suppose one thing I got from it is you can see the fragments of the crossing transverse responds, flat pilasters with angle shafts, that altogether too puny to support a proper tower, hence the little lantern thingy on the Pinchbeck Fen map.

View of the interior of the chancel to the NE. In the centre is the organ with a modern gothic arch to the organ chamber added in 1870. To the L is the angle-shafted NW respond of the crossing, to the upper right of it a fragment of worked masonry left revealed after internal rendering that likely relates to the eastern crossing arch.

Reverse angle on before with Romanesque N arcade with perp clerestory over on the L.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 31/08/2026

Took a detour to Bourne Abbey on the way home the other week just to get a south aspect picture for my Pinchbeck fen map project. Of course the E arm is gone, and the site of the crossing replaced by a post-Dissolution banged-together chancel.

Detail of Bourne Abbey from the c.1430 Pinchbeck fen map. the building has a pair of western towers with steeples, an aisled nave, a projecting transept that looks like it has E and W aisles with a crossing lantern or flèche and then a fully aisled east arm with a apparently flat termination.

Bourne Abbey from S. The gabled feature at the end of the nave aisle is probably a chapel on the W side of the transept (which has been demolished and replaced by the chancel)

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 30/08/2026

or this evergreen comment about every fire being a conspiracy to build a new mosque. Just went into the first post I found about the Woolton Hall fire last year and there it is!

Facebook comment "Always catch fire when an investor comes along new future mosque 🕌 I bet"

10 Likes, one angry react.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 30/08/2026

oh the whole "why not let church [essentially a congregational hall] be a place where homeless people can sleep" because it has limited facilities and it would be unsanitary and basically dehumanising beyond short-term emergencies!!

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 30/08/2026

Woolton Hall was gutted by fire last August. It's beyond rotting, it's utterly destroyed inside now. The owner was trying to turn it into a care home, but since two of his other care homes were shut down by the Care Quality Commissioner Liverpool Council were not keen. bsky.app/profile/drja...

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 28/08/2026

I think this is good by the way! no point keeping a school with no catchment area of children to go to it! good job by the community. that boiler unit is really bad though. not sure what happened there faculty-wise.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 28/08/2026

big upgrade on the village hall though via the sale of the school building in 2011.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 28/08/2026

also expected to arrive via a school at Blymhill founded before 1671 (the N block also designed by G.E. Street as part of the Bradford estate investment), but since the G-car came round, it's now been converted into a private house/AirBnB.

view of Blymhill Primary School, via the G-Car, 17 years ago (May 2009). The enclosed area is marked as a playground with some play equipment

Similar view in 2026. Dormers have been added to the 1911 S block.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 28/08/2026

As you might be able to tell from scraping for content with unsightly heating plant, didn't get inside Blymhill church (nor did I get in the following five parish churches in Shropshire!) Still, Blymhill's S aisle W window is very snazzy indeed, said at the time to be carved by G.E. Street himself.

Blyhill parish church from SW. Street's late 1850s S aisle and porch dominates, but the W tower is medieval, with some SPABby repair to the facing masonry using end-set tiles rather than new ashlar. The lower part is probably later 14thc, the belfry into the later 15thc.

Street's W window. In the voids above the dropped trefoil lights between a quatrefoil oculus pierced with circles at the angles, there is a scene of the Adoration of the Magi.

The scene is probably inspired from French ivories, but the vigorous folds running into the cloud like base is quite 14thc English. it's very good!

On the left is the Virgin seat with the Christ Child blessing one of the Magi and his gift with a Gothic canopy floating over their heads. The other two Magi fill the opposite void.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 28/08/2026

it's very weird because these architects have a page about a job (c.2024) installing oil-fired heating in the church, but show a lovely view of the N chancel wall without an ugly cabinet. Street would be appalled. At least make it look like a vomiting lion. www.hhastudio.com/st-marys-chu...

View of the N chancel wall with external tomb niche and stairway to lower boiler room unimpeded by a big green cabinet.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 28/08/2026

did find this very jarring, a oil-fired boiler with a 2026 manufacture date on a hardstanding making it very hard to enjoy the external tomb niche (a 14thc north-west Midlands trend possibly owing to Lichfield Cathedral). Not sure why it couldn't go in the old boiler room under Street's vestry?

Blymhill chancel from N. There are stairs down under Street's vestry presumably to the original coal-fired burner. The tomb niche has a big gable with faux-slating, and an arch with a sunk-casement moulding. There is a big green cabinet on a hard standing with a vent in front of all this.

Label on N side of boiler showing manufacture date of 2026.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 28/08/2026

there's also this rather preposterous lion atop a buttress on Street's vestry that adjoins the medieval N aisle, who was dry-heaving into a hopper. Look, if you can think of a better way to drain that tiny gutter, Street's all ears. Yeah, though not.

Lion under the eaves of the N aisle roof, with its mouth over an adjacent hopper of an independent downspout.

View from the other side showing the lion's hind quarters spread-eagled over the exit hole from the gutter of the pitched vestry roof which has lead flashing around it.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 28/08/2026

Genuine gargoyle giving good gargle-gargling, true to its name. Yesterday at Bymhill, Staffordshire It's part of the old church's major (and really rather fancy) Victorian rebuilding under G.E. Street 1856-9, financed in great part by George Bridgeman, 2nd Earl Bradford, whose son was rector here.

Panther-like sculpture protruding from parapet below the space between nave and aisle room, with water flowing from the valley gutter through its mouth. To the left is a large plate-tracery window with sculpture of the Three Magi.

View from below showing open space in the sculpture's head.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 25/08/2026

also day I was at Mitcheldean was quite a memorable one and not great for typical exterior photos

Micheldean, St Michael, from the SE covered in snow early Feb 2019. Note the projecting chancel bay and its even ashlar, essentially rebuilt under Woodyer 1852-3. Rood stair turret corresponds with the position of the Doom under the nave gable inside.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 25/08/2026

i did notice the smashing 1970 Hayward window in the Woodyer chancel window of 1852-3. Damned as "rather stark" by Verey and Brooks 2002, sadly. surely owes a bit to Epstein's bronze at Coventry of 1958, except St Michael here mirrors the devil's pose?

E wall of Mitcheldean chancel, with enormous marble reredos by W.G. Storr-Barber of Leominster, 1911-3. E window above by John Hayward, 1970.

Hayward's St Michael bodying the devil. called "rather stark" by 2002 Buildings of England. Tracery retained from an earlier glazing by J. Dudley Forsyth, 1906.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 25/08/2026

North Leigh: masonry screen is by G.E. Street, 1864, replacing a "Grecian" iteration likely installed by Perrot family who acquired manor 1676. E face of the tympanum retains their arms, related to their early 18thc outer N aisle. There MUST have been a medieval stone screen to hold that tympanum up

W face of the chancel threshold with Street's screen below the 15thc Doom. On the L is the Wilcotes chapel, licensed in the Patent Rolls 4 Nov 1438. On the R is the interface with the organ chamber of 1954.

via Nikhilesh Haval, https://oxfordshirechurches.in360degrees.co.uk/church/st-mary-s-church-north-leigh

W view of the screen with the Perrot stucco arms in a semicircle, with timber studs with rendered plaster in between that seem to be the support for the medieval doom, that must have been supported by a medieval masonry screen.

1954 arch to organ chamber L, arch to Wilcotes chapel R, possibly extant before the Wilcotes chapel is built.

Again thanks to Nikhilesh Havel for this. Valuable source in preparing for an Oxfordshire tour in 2025 for some places I hadn't managed to get to.
https://oxfordshirechurches.in360degrees.co.uk/church/st-mary-s-church-north-leigh

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 25/08/2026

Although it is intriguing neither Leigh church has Christ in Judgement, which does make one suspect the weaker one artistically (North) was dependent on the superior (South). When so few survive it's difficult not speculate on two next door to each other...

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 25/08/2026

no but it looks amazing: as a timber tympanum it is like the one in Mitcheldean, Gloucs. I will be watching the lecture you have online about it! www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZdg...

Mitcheldean church, looking E, the Doom tympanum above a spikey gothic screen and brace arch by Waller & Son, 1892-3.

General view of the Mitcheldean tympanum, above the regular Doom with Christ above the general resurrection going to Heavenly Jerusalem/Hellmouth, but with panels of Passion below (boustrophedonic from bottom left: Betrayal by Judas, trial before Pilate, Scourging at the Pillar, Crowning with Thorns; then boustrophedonic from centre top: Deposition, Entombment, Resurrection, Ascension). The Crucifixion itself as the centre of the narrative would have been represented by the sculpted rood in front.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 25/08/2026

Like, near Oxford you have churches of the adjacent villages of North Leigh and South Leigh, that both have well-preserved Dooms that couldn't be more different in their treatment.

The North Leigh Doom. Painted on a tympanum (the material of which is unclear to me, even after having a good look at it last year, but I assume its plaster on rubble masonry) retained over G.E. Street's stone rood screen of 1864.

Elect into Heaven left, Hellmouth right, centre the general resurrection. Three vertical strips with floral motifs were the "cloths of honour" behind the carved figures of the Rood itself with the flanking Mary and John. The figures are all rather stiff and similarly posed.

Decorative fragments at the bottom show it was painted over with a Biblical text after the Reformation.

Wikimedia Commons, Motacilla, taken 2 Nov 2009

The South Leigh doom painting, painted over the chancel arch with the general resurrection and returning over the N arcade wall and S wall with the Elect into Heaven and the Hellmouth. Vigorously posed figures throughout.

From https://www.seeingthepast.com/blog/south-leigh-doom-painting

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 25/08/2026

Interesting too as Great Eversden isn't far from Great Shelford (in distance, it's next to it in the county gazetteer) which has one of the best-preserved parish Dooms in the country, discovered c.1868. Better preserved (but retouched) it would seem to be unrelated workshop-wise.

Overall view of the Great Shelford Doom, Elect entering Kingdom of Heaven on left, Damned entering a Hellmouth on the right. The principal roof truss against it is an arch brace, with what I guess you call hammerposts to the wall-plate? (the BoE calls it alternating tie-beams and false-hammer beams)

Detail of the central section, Christ in Judgement between a sun and moon (latter with a face). Flanked by feather-costume angels presenting instruments of the Passion, including the cross. Strong line work as well as extensive red and yellow ochre. The face of Christ probably repainted in oil c.1868.

Detail of the Damned section with a chain around the souls pulling them towards a hellmouth whose eye can just about be seen top right. Next to the Passion Angel is John the Baptist, pendant to Mary on the other side.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 25/08/2026

The Doom at Eversden is recorded in C.E. Keyser's national medieval wall paintings survey of 1883, but evidentially covered over in the early 20thc. This photo of 2006 shows how there was a 1950s fibreboard ceiling just below purlin-level hiding the painting in a roofspace.

My photo from a few weeks ago, taken from under the tower arch. The nave roof has three tie-beams visible, the second of which blocks the view of the lower part of the wall painting. Note the purlins running horizontally along the rafters.

Photo by jmc4 - Church Explorer on Flickr, taken 7 May 2005. Taken further in than my picture, the second tie-beam is just at the top of the photo. You can see the ceiling with an access hatch above the principal tie beam, hiding the triangle above the purlins.

https://flic.kr/p/9SGTWY

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 25/08/2026

Big surprise at the little church of St Mary, Great Eversden, just SW of Cambridge, which has a laconic entry in the 2014 Buildings of England. A Christ in Judgement, only uncovered in 2017!

Wall painting of the Doom (Christ in Judgement) under the triangular shape of the nave principal roof truss. The space below the purlins has been destroyed. Christ is seen with a red robe, largely just the units of red ochre, with His hand raised to His right and the side wound pouring blood. To angels can be clearly seen to the left (the elect). There is a yellow mass to the right which early descriptions described as featuring a caldron and demons, but these may be below the purlin and have been destroyed.

Entry for Great Eversden from The Buildings of England Cambridgeshire, Simon Bradley and Nikolaus Pevsner, Yale UP 2014, p.554.

The text for the church reads:
ST MARY. Rebuilt after a lightning strike in 1466. W tower with diagonal buttresses, battlements and a spike. The stair-turret has a pretty quatrefoil opening in a circle. This and the bell-openings seem to be C14, reused. The rest all Perp. No aisles. N porch humble and cottagey, dated 1636. - STALLS. Two, with misericords: leaves, and a shield (Beauchamp). - PULPIT. Jacobean.

Also entries for 1845 congregational chapel, a late medieval aisled barn and jettied house at Church Farm, and Manor Farm, a 17thc H-plan house.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 18/08/2026

there's a double door behind the screens passage, which are supposed to lead into the buttery/pantry. the room behind has been messed about with a lot, there's a massive joist resting on a concrete support, so presumably it had a dividing wall. But the kitchen is at an angle.

back of double door. stairway down to cellars R backed with 18thc brick wall

concrete support for joist between two doors of buttery

Taylor 1884 plan of ground floor. he has the chamber N of the hall as butteries, kitchen next door. note the chamber between butteries and kitchen is now actually fitted out as a small kitchen.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 18/08/2026

And this is the hall of Manchester college the kitchen served, probably built shortly after 1421, arguably somewhat eclipsed by the 17thc library in the rooms over its adjoining cloister walks. It retains its timber screens passage with a formerly moveable central section.

Looking N to screens passage, doorways to buttery/pantry behind timber screen. Above the original roof with a collar purlin which is unusual in the absence of a crown-post.

Behind the screens passage looking SE. The piano is on the dais that occupies the site of the high table, with the original timber cove over. There is a low-side window below the main windows which are of a standard Perp type with a transom.

The high table bay window SW corner. The doorway leads to a stair to the upper chamber over the audit room (formerly the Warden's lodgings, now the library reading room)

This is essentially the reverse of the previous photo, taken through the cloister glazing across the garth to the hall. The traceried window is the high table light. Behind are the windows to the stair, and you can see windows that light a space above the coving.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 17/08/2026

This should help clarify your perspective on this part of medieval Manchester

Conjectural of the buildings in the 17thc
Plate from Henry Taylor, Old Halls in Lancashire and Cheshire, 1884

G-Earth view of the complex today. To bottom L is the Manchester Grammar Schools building built 1869-70. The chapel-like building across the car park is a schoolroom by Waterhouse, built 1867-7. To the bottom R is the Stoller Hall, built 2012-5. The Irk River flows out just by the railway bridge.

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 17/08/2026

You can see the chimneypiece for the fireplace if you go round the back. This would have fronted onto the River Irk, which is now culverted (it flows under the AO Arena/Victoria Station)

North front of post 1421 communal premises for the canons Manchester collegiate church, onto Walker's Croft, off Hunts Bank.

Centre is the fireplace of the kitchen space, a gabled protruding structure, topped with a tall chimneystack

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Dr James Alexander Cameron @drjacameron.stainedglassattitudes.com · 17/08/2026

rough joggled masonry fireplace lintel in the Old Kitchen of the former collegiate premises of what is now the Cathedral church of Manchester. Always enjoy a joggle.

centre of the fireplace lintel made of masonry units that have a projection on one side and a notch on the other to prevent them slipping down.

The wooden lintel underneath is carved with "quod tuum tene" (hold what is yours), the motto of Humphrey Chetham, whose executors acquired the former collegiate premises to become a Bluecoat School in 1654-8.

Wider view of north wall of former kitchen with fireplace over are benefaction and endowment boards formerly in the great hall, and timber rack, again with the Chetham motto, with rods for spit roasting. Behind these is a shallow reliving segmental arch in the masonry.

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