iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I went in 2019. I don't have photos of the interior, but what a letterbox and door handle.

An ornate possibly bronze letterbox inscribed HORNEL / LETTERS next to a rectangular polished brass door handle, on a green wooden door

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I'd also include the historic studio in the Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall.

Shelves with raw materials and accessories for making pottery in a historic space with a machine on the wall in the far corner

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Not a city, but coincidentally we shared this photo with colleagues in an intranet story today. Newly conserved and rehoused letters patent granted to Thomas Farmer for 'Improvements in treating Pyrites to obtain Sulphur, Sulphurous Acid and other products.'

A manuscript document with a seal attached, housed in a cardboard folder with a special box to support the seal

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Last weekend I enjoyed the Landcapes Unlocked exhibition in Bakewell, marking 75 years of the @peakdistrict.bsky.social National Park, whose photographic archive has been digitised in partnership with @derbyshiredro.bsky.social Record Office, funded by Archives Revealed @uknatarcsector.bsky.social.

A view of an exhibition of photographs mounted on pale green setworks

A black and white photograph of a boy dressed in hiking gear with a rucksack standing high up above a valley

Black and white photo of two young men walking through snow, one carrying a sheep on his back

Black and white photo of a National Park ranger standing by a Land Rover in front of a dry stone wall

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Have you read Extinct: A Compendium of Obsolete Objects ed. Penner et al? I'd say there's a chapter in each object you've mentioned. Sympathise on time, though. If I had more time, I'd contribute this extant manhole cover and use it to talk about London, politics, and mass rapid transit.

Cover with concrete centre and cast iron or steel edge labelled London County Council Tramways

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

We are seeking to appoint two independent members to our Collections Committee, for up to 4 years: One with significant experience in the management of historic collections in museums or heritage sites One with significant experience in the digital humanities. Closes 24 August: lnkd.in/e38mtWDf

Rows of historic cars and buses in a bright and clean warehouse environment

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

@lccmunicipal.bsky.social St Marylebone Borough Council coat of arms on public housing at Chapel Street, NW1.

A tiled coat of arms on a brown brick wall. There is a shield on a pale yellow background and letters in blue 'St. M. B. C.' Below is a street sign: 'Transept Street NW1 | City of Westminster'

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

What's interesting about those signs is that they are in the Ministry of Works style for site interpretation signage, but erected by a local society. Here's one from Lordenshaws, near Rothbury, Northumberland, that I took last month.

Sign: This cup and ring marked rock is protected as a monument of national importance under the Ancient Monuments Acts 1913-53 | Ministry of Public Buildings & Works

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

The Old Wardour Castle sign has the distinction of being the only one I've found located more than a few hundred metres from the site. I wonder if, before brown signs, they were more common. There's also a generation of National Trust signs still out there.

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

There's also a less commonly encountered serif typeface.

Sign: Ancient Monument | St Ninian's Cave ->

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

There is little that makes me happier than discovering another one of these signs.

Sign: Belas Knap Long Barrow | Ancient Monument

Sign: Tretower Court and Castle | Ancient Monument

Sign: Stanton Drew Stone Circle | Ancient Monument

Direction sign: Old Wardour Castle 4M | Ancient Monument

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

@lccmunicipal.bsky.social Vestry of St Pancras plaque, Gloucester Gate Bridge, Camden

An engraved stone plaque set into a carved stone end of a structure. It reads "Vestry of St Pancras / This stone was fixed on the 11th day of August 1877..." followed by names of people involved

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

A partial explanation, from the pamphlet Public Art in Public Transport (Centro, 2005).

An explanation that the artwork was purchased by Centro from Ronald Rae's Sheffield exhibition in 1995 and installed in 1998.

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Also, top notch street furniture (I'll admit that this is a niche taste).

An ornate street lamp with a very large base, and a square stone column topped with a stone pineapple and bearing inscribed distances in miles to other places

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

I went to Plas Newydd last week.

A bedroom in an historic house, with a four poster bed, a chest and a writing desk and chairs. The window has stained glass panels as well as clear glass. There are dark wood panels on some of the walls and by the window.

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

I successfully specified quite a large loading bay.

An historic tram being moved though a very large doorway into a large space in a modern building

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Not the first time that Barnsley has been the subject of improbable proposals. Yet Will Alsop's 'Tuscan' vision is credited with catalysing some regeneration. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... (Model on display in Experience Barnsley museum)

A large model of a town centre, mounted vertically on a wall, with colourful and strangely shaped model buildings and a luminous band around the edge

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

We’re running an anonymous survey to better understand how museums manage hazards in collections. It takes 5-10 minutes, is open to anyone working with collections, and helps shape future guidance and sector support. Closing date 15th February. www.surveymonkey.com/r/G98JRXK Please share.

Two hands wearing blue nitrile gloves writing with a pen on a red label with a yellow sticker with a warning triangle

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Agree. I went up Pendle Hill in Lancashire today (and then down the other side, very carefully).

View from a high point with snow on the ground over large green fields with stone walls, under a blue sky. There are small reservoirs in the middle distance and more hills on the horizon.

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

That reminds me to report that the Loop board at Trent Park is looking a bit worse for wear.

An information board leaning at an angle next to a path in front of trees.

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Lots to be said for getting up early. This is where I was at 10.15(ish). Best wishes for an easier year ahead for you.

A view across a valley with fields to woods and moorland in the distance, under a blue sky.

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Final walk of 2025. Happy new year, in advance.

Moorland landscape with woodland around an extensive reservoir in the middle distance

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Little Missenden, Buckinghamshire.

A tree with extensive balls of mistletoe

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

I was there on Sunday. Agree it is a good refurbishment and was gratifyingly busy during my visit.

A set from a Wallace and Gromit film showing a museum gallery with the character of Wallace hanging above a central gemstone on a plinth.

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

I was there this time last year. Gertrude Stein is buried nearby too.

Tomb of Oscar Wilde, protected by glass panels

Grave of Gertrude Stein, simple headstone, unprotected

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

During the pandemic I started noticing drain covers, the best of which tell a history of local governance. The earliest I have found is this one bearing the name Withington Local Board, which dates it to between 1876 and 1894.

Drain cover with inscriptions 'Joseph Berry' and 'Withington Local Board'

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

I expect you know that @c20society.bsky.social has a campaign to list cooling towers. c20society.org.uk/cooling-towers. However to my mind the best, the pink-tinted cooling towers of Ironbridge B (seen here in 2012), have already gone.

A single span iron bridge with a conical pink concrete cooling towers to the right, set in a wooded valley

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

+1 for the castle. Pilgrims Coffee is freshly roasted. Avoiding drowning on the causeway by knowing the tide times is wise. Hope there isn't a sea fret (or that it lifts).

View across the dashboard of a car. A narrow strip of road has sand and water very close to it

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

I feel we may have had this conversation previously, but orange is also used (admittedly rarely) to indicate hazardous goods prohibitions. As seen in your avatar, amongst other places.

Sign Birkenhead Tunnel 320 yards ahead, red circle containing a stylised goods vehicle with a square orange body, letter D, Prohibited traffic follow Chester (A41).

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

@milleanick.bsky.social I ticked off another of the North Eastern Railway tiled maps at Scarborough yesterday.

A map on tiles showing railway lines across the north of England, headed NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY. In a frame of orange-brown tiles, mounted on a stone wall. There is a small interpretation panel below the map.

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

I once went on the world's most improbable date, to see the ventilation shafts in Birkenhead. Despite this unlikely shared interest, a relationship did not result.

A tall brown brick building in art deco style, with a stepped top section. There are bright green doors at street level.

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

@olliedouglas.bsky.social The @railwaymuseum.bsky.social 1951 cattle wagon is having a moment in the sun as we prepare for the reopening of the Station Hall later this year. This is quite a late wagon from a period when cattle were increasingly travelling by road.

A wooden bodied railway wagon with partially open sides, painted brown.

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

@lccmunicipal.bsky.social I found this classic clinging on in a side street in Mill Hill.

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

@thebeautyoftransport.com @doublearrow64.bsky.social Oxford could win a Least Consistent Signage award, with Rail Alphabet, Rail Alphabet 2, and several iterations of First Great Western/GWR all in evidence. I think some of the Rail Alphabet is also NSE blue.

Direction signs in Rail Alphabet and GWR typefaces

Sign 'Oxford' in light blue Rail Alphabet with First Great Western vinyl applied

Sign Private in Rail Alphabet with First Great Western pink and blue stripes

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

It's been mixed here, but the sunshine yesterday made up for the dull/cool/damp bits.

A cairn on moorland under a blue sky with some white cloud.

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

I haven't walked the Broomway, but I did cross Morecambe Bay a couple of years ago. Highly recommended.

A tractor with two people on the back being followed by a running dog, crossing a vast expanse of wet sand with the coastline on the horizon

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

@lccmunicipal.bsky.social Today's treat is an unusually well preserved Finchley District Council stink pipe.

A street scene with a tall column similar to the bottom part of a lamp post, painted green with words Finchley District Council picked out in gold

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Plus Hendon Urban District Council for good measure.

Square cast drain cover set in a road with letters H U D C

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

@lccmunicipal.bsky.social Relics of both Finchley and Barnet Urban District Councils, near their former border.

Circular cast inspection cover with letters FUDC, set in pavement

Square inspection cover in two triangular parts, cast with maker's name A C Woodrow and Co, and Barnet UDC

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Luckily I still have the CD.

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

@rwldproject.bsky.social I came across this outdoor interpretation panel about a 1949 accident at Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve, part of the Avalon Marshes west of Glastonbury, Somerset. There was also an oral history clip.

Interpretation panel headed The Peat Moors: Peat industry and railways. There is a photo of a locomotive in a ditch. A subheading says A desperate dash. The body text says: On the foggy morning of 26th August 1949, a small peat train got stuck crossing the main line. The driver ran up the track to warn the driver of the 8.05 from Glastonbury but he was too late. The resulting crash sent the passenger locomotive plunging into the South Drain. Fortunate there were no casualties, but the mainline locomotive couldn't be lifted out in one piece and was salvaged in sections.

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Yes we have a number of them in store. See also www.jstor.org/stable/23787...

Diorama of tractor ploughing (1917) with Ford 1917 model tractor and model of Oliver No.7 two-furrow plough (scale of models 1:12)

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

But warmer than Cheshire 500m above sea level.

Hoar frost (hair-like ice crystals) on a gorse bush

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Jack Kirby @jdk653.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Gertrude Stein's grave, Cimetière du Père Lachaise, Paris, October 2024

Plain headstone with name 'GERTRUDE STEIN' in gold. The grave is covered in small brown leaves

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