iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Honoured to be serving once again as an officer of the Council of the @royalarchinst.bsky.social, this time as Honorary Secretary. Today marked my first meeting of a new three-year term. Good to be back in London - and with a purpose. #Archaeology

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The Castle Studies Trust @castlestudies.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Everyone has heard of a dig diary, well how about a building survey diary as Tom Addyman gives an update of his and his team's first visit to survey the inner ward of Cockermouth Castle. They've already made intriguing discoveries. Read here to learn more: castlestudiestrust.org/blog/2026/04...

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The Castle Studies Trust @castlestudies.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Fascinating discoveries after only their first visit to survey the inner ward of Cockermouth Castle, from Tom Addyman and team. For fans of domestic arrangements note the kitchen tower and its similarity to John Lewyn's designs at Durham and Raby yet possibly 30+ years older. Read more below.

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The Castle Studies Trust @castlestudies.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

We in the news in Ireland for our funding of the Kilkenny "Finding Flemingstown" geophyical survey by @discoveryprogramme.bsky.social. Development of castle and town in early Anglo-Norman colonisation were entwined so it's a further boost to Irish castle studies: www.independent.ie/life/archaeo...

independent.ie

Archaeologists uncover signs of forgotten village beside Kilkenny Castle

There has been a breakthrough in the search for a long lost medieval village in Kilkenny as experts believe they may have found the location of where the village once stood hundreds of years ago.

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The Castle Studies Trust @castlestudies.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

On 15 April, our latest project starts, the co-funding of an engineering survey of the great gatehouse of the Edwardian castle of Ruthin. A major castle now ruined and then had a C19 mansion and gardens built on it there's still medieval remains read more here: castlestudiestrust.org/blog/2026/04...

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The Castle Studies Trust @castlestudies.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

And this is one about the digital reconstruction of Holt which we funded over a decade ago, built by John de Warenne and favourite of Richard II: castlestudiestrust.org/blog/2021/04...

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The Castle Studies Trust @castlestudies.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Not all Edwardian castles in North Wales built in the late C13 were royal ones. In the Welsh Marches barons built great castles. These include, Hawarden, Holt and Ruthin. The latest project we are co-funding is on the Ruthin, built by Reginald de Grey: castlestudiestrust.org/blog/2026/04...

castlestudiestrust.org

Ruthin Castle: conserving and learning more about an Edwardian Castle – Castle Studies Trust Blog

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The Castle Studies Trust @castlestudies.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

In 2025 we awarded a grant to @crookston.bsky.social to carry out a community geophys survey of Crookston Castle supported by the geophys team of HES. We found not just some great archaeology but also a local area keen to learn more about "their" castle: castlestudiestrust.org/blog/2026/04...

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Duncan Mackay @theduncanmackay.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Stop! I know what you’re thinking! You need that final stocking filler for a history-loving loved one! Something under £15, small, perfectly shaped for wrapping, easily & quickly available from (all good) high street shops or online! I’ve got your back… #Echolands - A Journey in Search of Boudica

Echolands by Duncan Mackay on Christmas wrapping and decorations.

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Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Castel Nuovo, also known as Maschio Angioino, stands proudly in front of Piazza Municipio and Naples’ city hall. Built 1279, I took this photo this October. #Naples #Napoli #CastelNuovo #Italy #MedievalArchitecture #TravelPhotography #MedievalSky #QueenOfLostCastles

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Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

3/3 I’ll be running the Walk & Talk again soon under Swallowtail Archaeology – watch this space! swallowtailarchaeology.co.uk #CaergwrleCastle #MedievalSky #QueenOfLostCastles

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Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

2/3 Huge thanks to everyone who joined in. Your ideas & questions are already feeding into my current research on new contextual interpretations of the castle and its landscape. 🙌 #ArchaeologyWalk #CommunityResearch #QueenOfLostCastles

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Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

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Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Just led a brilliant Walk & Talk at #CaergwrleCastle with the Cambrian Archaeological Association! 🏰✨ We explored what’s known – and still debated – about this rare hybrid of Welsh siting & Edwardian-strength masonry, perched above the River Alyn. 1/3 #MedievalCastles #WelshHistory #MedievalSky

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Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

To book your place, contact me on rachel@swallowtailarchaeology.co.uk

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Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

I’d have loved to have heard this paper - particularly as it was in honour of Björn. Is it recorded/online, do you know?

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Paul Webster 🌈 @webstermedieval.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Enjoying attending the Thirteenth Century Conference online today. Currently following the first Bjorn Weiler Memorial Lecture,by Daniel Power on Eleanor of Castile's inheritance in Ponthieu and Aumale. #medieval #medievalsky

Computer screen showing lecture slide with maps of England and Northern France.

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Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

🏰✨ Free Walk & Talk! ✨🏰 📅 Sat 13 Sept 2025 | ⏰ 2–4 pm 📍 Caergwrle Castle, Flintshire 📩 Reserve your spot: rachel@swallowtailarchaeology.co.uk #SwallowtailArchaeology #QueenOfLostCastles #ResearchWritingReviewReach #CaergwrleCastle #WelshHistory #CastlesOfWales #LegendLadyLandscape #medievalsky

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Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Acorns on sun-burnt August grass 🌱☀️ In medieval Britain, the oak was power itself — boundary marker, court tree, symbol of endurance and lordship. 🌳👑 #Oak #Acorns #BritishCountryside #MedievalHistory #Folklore #queenoflostcastles #medievalsky

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Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Oh, you’re so right! ‘Beauty’ is most definitely in the eye of the beholder!

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Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

St. Mary’s, #Beverley, #Yorkshire - founded AD 1120. Though the #Lincoln #Imp is famous, the Beverley Imp is arguably more frightening—yet perhaps also endearing?! Its grotesque face vividly shows how #medieval carvers mixed #myth and #morality into #sacred spaces. #medievalsky

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Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

Oh, that’s so beautiful! I went to briefly Anchorage a few years ago - and it’s so lovely!

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Ben Potts @benjaminsteven.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

One of two stones discovered on the moors around Whitby and given to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society by antiquarian Canon Raines in 1895. One disappeared, but this fantastic bit of #rockart can still be seen at York Museum Gardens. 📸 my own, yesterday.

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Ste Lingard @stelingard.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

One of the staircases leading from the front lawns up to Marbury Hall, #Cheshire (pic my own), & an aerial image from before the hall was demolished in 1969 (pic via the Friends of Anderton & Marbury). The site has been a country park since the late 1970s - a local treasure. #StaircaseSaturday

A short, wide staircase in some slightly overgrown parkland, relict from a former country house, now demolished.

An aerial view (black and white) of Marbury Hall. From: https://foam.merseyforest.uk/?cat=20

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Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Some very lovely people very kindly made my #dream come true a year ago today! Another Big One off my Big #Birthday #BucketList! Just loved it! 😊 #tractor

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Glastonbury Tor this evening.

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Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

New book just arrived for review! Exciting #medievalsky

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BookWormSat @bookwormsat.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

'O luminous late day! The air's enchanted. The white stork flying by is half asleep and the swallows cross one another—wings sharp-stretched to the gold air— and away' -Antonio Machado @signemaene.com welcomes you to a Spanish #BookWormSat. 🎨Kerry Buck

Artwork of swallows and dandelions. light blue and green background colours.

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Ste Lingard @stelingard.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Rosamund's Tower, #Pickering Castle. Early C14 as part of a broader upgrade of the outer curtain, from timber palisade to stone wall. William I began the castle in the years after Hastings, as part of his 'harrying' of the North. #WallsOnWednesday #NorthYorkshire #Castles 📷 My own

A square tower, made of stone, partly ruined and partly overgrown.

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Today is publication day for the long-awaited PAPERBACK edition of ‘Magic in Merlin’s Realm’, my book about the political significance of magic in Britain from the Middle Ages to modern times 📚🧙‍♂️🔮 @universitypress.cambridge.org www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...

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Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA, FHistS @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Worn holloways, whispering sunken lanes. A #castle nestled in the folds of its landscape. No sound but #nature. Time and Peace hold their breath. 😊 #MedievalWales #Castles #LandscapeDreaming #SunkenLanes #medievalsky #queenoflostcastles #legendladylandscape

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Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Anyone still unsure of the difference between a publisher and a vanity press? Here it is. Publishers make money from selling books to the public. Vanity presses make money from selling publishing services to authors. In one model, the author gets paid. In the other, the author gets charged. Simple.

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Rachel Moss @menysnoweballes.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Obligatory castle pic from medievalist on holiday - who will be the first to guess *which* castle?

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