A while ago I saw a picture of the north arcade of St. Laurence's church in Pittington. I assumed that it was some over the top Victorian restoration job trying to copy the Galilee chapel in Durham Cathedral. I did a little research (Pevsner & the H.E. listing) and discovered that I was wrong. These wonderful columns and arches are genuine and date to the late twelfth century.

Visiting family in North Wales, we had a couple of free hours so decided on a megalithic hit and run visit to Anglesey. The burial chamber at Presaddfed was on the top of my list. The sign on the lane that leads to the stones reads 'Anglesey Shooting School'. Walking past the gatehouse a rather handsome cockerel began to crow and doesn't stop until I'm well beyond the house.

Recently, for one thing or another, I’ve not been able to venture too far from home. I have quite a long list of places to visit and a a free day left me trying to decide where to go. I decided to let John Piper’s photographs of Yorkshire be my guide. Looking at his photographs of Easby and remembered that the abbey had been sketched and painted by JMW Turner on a number of occasions, Piper & Turner, who can argue with that?

All Saints church at Crathorne has been a bit of a frustration for me. The beautiful hogback which was repurposed as a lintel has always had me wondering what other stones are held within the church. Sadly my previous visits have always resulted in a locked door. I was in the area so I thought I’d call in and visit the lintel.

Back in the early 2000’s I spent some time exploring the Prehistoric rock art of Allan Tofts on the North York Moors. Many of my images from that time have been lost. Here’s a few that I managed to salvage. On visiting the moor recently, I noticed that a number of these stones have disappeared beneath the peat. A few can still be found, the carvings can be quite subtle so are be seen when the sun is low and casting shadows.

My friend Graham Vasey makes beautiful, short, silent films on 16mm film stock using vintage cameras. The atmospheric soundtracks for the films were composed by Will Yates aka O.G. Jiggs. The films and the soundtracks combine beautifully together and are well worth checking out. See Graeme's films here - Black Tor Productions The soundtracks tracks have been complied onto an album, Black Tor Tracks

Wandering the uplands of Upper Swaledale in search of millstones and chert. A landscape of man-made ravines and blasted crags, of spoil heaps and bell pits, crushing floors and flues. Moulds Old Lead Level - Doddson Hush - Moulds Top - Stemple High Whim - Hungry Hushes - Stodart Hush - Justice Lead Level - Tottergill - Boulderslaw Lane.

Three Fonts and The World of Rock Rudston Reighton Flamborough John Bull’s World of Rock

The Old Woman Stone on Bamford Moor High Peak Derbyshire In December 1931 this lovely Bronze Age 2.4m standing stone was deliberately broken and thrown down by the owners of the grouse moor to prevent it being used as a waymarker by walkers. In April 1932, Benny Rothman led the mass trespass of Kinder Scout in Derbyshire. The mass trespass followed an unsuccessful legal campaign to gain public access to the land.

'Merrington church stands at the east end of the village, and, from its elevated situation, is one of the most conspicuous land-marks in the county of Durham. The Norman portion of it is of great antiquity, being coeval in style with that of Jarrow’ The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham. Pevsner described the church at Kirk Merrington as ‘

In the late 1990’s I was reading a book on European megaliths and saw a picture of a large mound with a pair of ancient chapels on its summit, beneath the mound was a large neolithic passage grave. The site was called was called La Hougue Bie and was situated on the island of Jersey. In the mid-90’s I had visited and been impressed by another mound-church-passage grave called the…

My friend Martyn was fortunate enough to be given some tickets to visit Andy Goldsworthy’s Hanging Stones. The number of people who can visit the artwork on a daily basis is limited, so when Martyn invited Graeme and I to join him we were well up for it. 'Hanging Stones has been conceived by Goldsworthy as a single artwork – the walk between each building is as much a part of the artwork as the buildings themselves.

Trying to crack the code while the sun the sun cracks the flags.

‘Verbia is often equated with Brighid, the Irish goddess, a.k.a. Bridget, Bride, Brid or Brig - possibly the origins of Brigantia, the goddess of the Brigantes. Bride’s Day is Imbolc, 1st of February, or when the ewes start to lactate. A goddess who heralds the coming warmth of spring... ...The Latin for spring is ver, from which our ‘vernal, ‘verdigris (green rust on copper) and ‘verdant’ (fresh, green) come.

Sneaton Corner - Robin Hood’s Bay Road - Nigh Middle Sike - Middle Rigg - Far Middle Sike - Low Moor - Gray Heugh Slack - Biller Howe Dale Slack - John Cross Rigg From when I left home to when I arrived at the at Sneaton Corner, on the edge of Flyingdales Moor, there was steady drizzling rain. Just after I arrived at the moor, the rain stopped and the sun came out from behind the clouds.