Archaeology & Heritage Group Chairman
CONFERENCE REPORT
Chelin Miller LRPS 49 Stephens Road Tunbridge Wells Kent TN4 9JD 01892 670056 chelinmiller@hotmail.com Secretary
Rodney Thring LRPS 27, College Ride Camberley Surrey GU15 4JP 01276 20725 rodney.thring@ntlword.com Treasurer
Jim Tonks ARPS Earlton,
174, ChairboroughRoad High Wycombe Bucks HP12 3HW 01494 443061 francistonks@hotmail.com
Eric Houlder LRPS
Editor
Eric Houlder LRPS 31, Fairview Carleton, PontefractWF8 3NT West Yorkshire 01977 702995 erichoulder@gmail.com Committee
Ken Keen FRPS R Keith Evans FRPS Dr Mike Sasse Garry BisshoppARPS Walter Brooks Eric Houlder LRPS
Dr Mike Sasse
Editor Published by the Archaeology & Heritage Group of the Royal Photographic Society, November 2015 . ISSN 0-904495-00-0. Copyright in all text and pictures is held by the credited authors , or as otherwise stated . No part of this publication may be reproduced , transmitted or stored in any form without prior written permission of the Publisher .
Cover picture: Baconsthorpe Castle !new of the inner gatehouse, the first part of the castle to be constructed by Sir John Heydon . 22mm lens, ¡ 1/125@f11 ISO100. Rodney Thring LRPS.
David Bryson
The 2015 Annual Conferencewas held in The Institute, Leatherhead,on October 10th. As usual there was a varied programme,reflectingthe widely varied interests of the Group members. Sadly, the attendance was down on previous years, and the Committeewill have to address this problem before the 2016 event. The meeting was chaired by Group Chairman Chelin Miller LRPS, and the programmewas arranged by the ProgrammeSecretary, Dr Mike Sasse. The first contributorwas Group Editor Eric Houlder LRPS, who gave a short presentationon his (and his wife's) adventures exploring the battlefield of Agincourt by bicycle. Eric began by explaining the backgroundto the battle, its course, and briefly its results. Then he showed how he and Joan cycled around the various parts of the field, explainingwhat happenedwhere. As usual, Eric's pictures included details of where they stayed, where they ate, and their appreciationof the local cuisine, all vital to prospectivevisitors. The next contributorwas Dr Mike Sasse. Three aspects of Cornwall's built heritage were presented in his talk Aspects of Comish Heritage. Churches are often small and of local granite, and exude simplicity and antiquity more than external decoration, though some notable exceptionswere also shown. Sites such as holy wells remind us of Christianity's origins in the Celtic church here. The county is rich in ancient monuments- from Neolithic chamberedtombs to late Iron Age settlements, they span around 3000 years of prehistory. The enigmatic standing stones and stone circles were described as well as prehistoric remains in Scilly. Finally, industrial heritage, often dramaticallysituated, was illustrated. Sites such as a restored china clay works, and the many ruined engines houses and other remains from tin and copper mining, speak of the importanceof industry here in the last few centuries The story ran up to the virtual cessation of mining in the late 20thcentury. As usual, Mike's images demonstrateda wonderful mastery of light and its uses in architectural photography. David Bryson gave a talk looking at the role of osteological photographyin documentationand communication of the lives of the Anglo-Saxonsfrom Little Chester in Derby, includingthe relationship between osteoarchaeologicalremains and modern clinical
Heritage Photography Autumn 2015, Page 2
Robert Lincoln
Gwil Owen ARPS
Waner Brooks
conditions. David's talk was illustrated with a number of advanced digital photographic techniques includingfocus stacking and HDR photographyto increase the level of detail visible especially in close-up photographs, A lively discussion ensued. The Other Trafalgar Square was presented by Robert Lincoln. Attempting to trace the origins of his Great Great Grandfather, Robert visited Old Sunderland in the North East. Here was a square of almshousesdedicated to the 76 local seamen who fought at Trafalgar in 1805. The whole locale is now a conservationarea, and Robert contrasted images taken on slides in 1989, and digitally in 2013. His observationson the scanning of old transparencieswere of particular interest to those of us who have large libraries of them. Like Eric's contributionabove, this presentationwas particularly apt as 2015 is an anniversary year of Trafalgar. Lunch at Wetherspoons(as usual) followed, and immediatelyafterwards Chelin Miller, Group Chairman, presented RPS Certificatesof Appreciation,with appropriate lapel badges, to Rodney Thring, Mike Sasse, Jim Tonks, Ken Keen and Eric Houlder. After lunch, Gwil Owen ARPS gave everyone's grey matter something to challenge it. Gwil is noteworthyfor his thoughtful and demanding uses of photography,and this was well up to his usual standard. The talk explored the difficulties of understandingcultures different from the common "western" perspective,cultures differing due to distance or time. How can the photographerdecide what is fair and accurate comment on another culture's world view? If we cannot be sure of other beliefs one solution is to show accurately the physical aspects of an object - but in an attractive way, to draw the viewer into further exploration.To further complicate matters, how indeed can the photographerbe sure that the intendedviewer is on the same wavelength and getting the message? Some images can evoke what may be universal human reactions, not dependent on time or place. The burial of an infant in ancient Egypt was one example. Even with supporting captions or text the photographercannot always be sure that an image does to the viewer what the photographerintends. This, of course, is no reason why photographersworking within cultural heritage should not persevere. Walter Brooks talked about the dilemmas facing those responsiblefor the care of particularly sensitive sites where visitor usage was an importantfactor in generatingfunds for their upkeep, but which brought with it serious concerns about the level of preservation, restoration or renovationthat should take place. To illustrate these concerns, he showed photographsof some of the remains at Herculaneum, near Naples, where treatment could be seen to be inappropriate- the charred remains of window shutters that had been fixed to black-paintedplywood, a modem tap and hosepipe fitted into the carving on a water trough and plastic covers fitted over wall paintings, with the purpose of protectingthem from the elements (but which had caused condensation to damage them) were some of the examples shown. The final presentationwas another short one by Eric Houlder LRPS entitled A Step too Far- did the Sutton Hoo Ship Sail?Using scans of slides shot almost fifty years ago, Eric outlined the evidence for a mast on the famous Saxon galley. He then examined maststeps on other ships he has excavated as well as those on some of the Scandinavian ships excavated during the earlier days of archaeology.The original study was prompted by the recent receipt of a large Lottery Grant to make a full scale replica of the Sutton Hoo Ship on the waterfront at Woodbridge.Although most experts now believe that the ship sailed, there is a vociferous minority who claim that it was nothing more than a large rowing boat. Unfortunately,everyone involved in the two digs of 1939 and 1965-7 at the top level is now dead, so recourse must be had to the record (not entirely clear, to be honest) and original photographs. PictUre Cl'Bdits for this report : C Miller LRPS; E Houlder LRPS . The picture of Ille Inst/tuts was taken during Ille
2011 Conferena, , with SBV8f'BI of Ille dslsgatss on Ille bench outside .
CHAIRMAN'S LETTER Many members will be aware that Che/in, our Chainnan, has recenUy been ill She has still found time to pen the short column below. On behalf of all Group members, I wish her all the best and hope to see her at future Group events in due course. EH
Heritage is what has come down to us from the past that we value and wish to pass on to the future. There is no ques- . tion that photography has been, since its invention, a really important cultural change.l>hotographyshapes the way we rememberthings - no longer through poems, stories and songs, but through looking at photographs. Since its invention in 1839 photography has changed immensely,and it
will continue to change. Up until then, only the very wealthy who could afford to have their portraits painted knew what their ancestors looked like. These days everybody is a photographer, everyone carries a camera in their bag or pocket. We make photographsin a different way from the way we used to. But we make them for the same reason, to preserve a memory from the past, and so preserve our heritage
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PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION Images by Robert Lincoln and Eric Houlder LRPS
Rodney Thring LRPS
Jim Tonks ARPS
Group Chairman Chelin Miller LRPS presentedthe Society's Certificatesof Appreciationto five long-standingGroup members during the Group Conference. The certificates recognisethe time and effort expended by the recipientssupportingthe Society in general, and the Groups in particular. RodneyThring is the long-standing Group Secretary; Jim Tonks has served on the Group Committee for many years; Mike Sasse is the Group Programme Secretarywho organises visits, meetingsand the Conference; Past Chairman Ken Keen has served on Committeefor many years, whilst Eric Houlder has served on the Committee most of the time since being a Founder Member of the Group. The ceremonywas held at the LeatherheadInstitute, and was a wonderful surprise to at least one of the recipients. Eric HouIder, currently Editor of this Journal, was (quietly) celebrating his seventy-fifth birthday, and the certificate and accompanyinglapel badge made a wonderful extra present. The Group Conference is reported upon on pages 2-3..
Dr Mike Sasse
Ken Keene FRPS
Eric Hou/der LRPS
AGINCOURT BY BICYCLE This October being the six hundredth anniversary of Henry Vs great victory, my mind went back to our two visits to the site of the battle. Having always had an interest in the English (originally Welsh) longbow, Agincourt usually comes to my mind when discussing its impact on medieval warfare ar:idmedieval Europe.
Henry V never intended to fight Agincourt. He landed in France rather too late in the year, as became evident later. Europe still used the Julian Calendar, so all dates were actually almost a fortnight behind by 1415. Thus the battle was eventuallyfought in early November. The courageous defenders of Harfleur held him up further, as did the numerous casualties occasioned by an outbreak of dysentery. When he was finally free to move away
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from the coast, his advisors counselled him to return home. He the pictures were all taken with my Minolta SLR outfit on Fujifelt that this would be an admission of defeat , so he decided on chrome Velvia and Provia . However, anticipating the digital reva quick march to the English outpost of Calais. His army of olution , I had my slides scanned by the lab. about 7000 was composed entire ly of mounted men, most of The following summer we booked two nights' accommodation, whom were archers . He felt that the divisions within the French July 30th and 31st 2008 , and planned to spend the whole of the camp would keep his enemies busy, but was unaware that the 31st cycling around and photographing the Azincourt battlefield. By this time I had obtained a digital camera, a Fujifilm seven ...-----------,----------, national emergency megapixel instrument, but continued to use the film outfit too. I used a Lowepro waist-pack , with two Minolta X500 bodies and had led to 17-28mm , 28-85mm & 70-300mm lenses. The Fuji digital cama tempoera lived in a well-padded handlebar bag, whilst Joan carried rary truce , and a mas- our picnic in her handlebar basket. The battlefield is fairly flat sive French with one or two steep little inclines , whilst its approach from the army was Ternoise river crossing at Slangy is a long energy-sapping hill. gathering. The chosen day was lovely, though as it progressed it became He planned increasingly humid. We looked around Azincourt itself, the to cross the neighbouring village of Tramecourt and its chateau, and MaiSomme soncelles where the English army spent the night before the estuary at battle. Many pictures were shot of all these locations using film Blanche and digital media. After eating a picnic lunch by the monument, Taque, we cycled toward Slangy, where the armies crossed the river L __________ _..:.: .:.::::.~:.:::::: ::..._:.:.....J where his Ternoise on the day prior to the battle. grandfather We never reached Slangy as the first drops of warm, heavy rain Arrowheads and ca/throps (to lame horses) gathEdward Ill caught us on the long descent. Realising that the same long ered by Patrick Fenet on the field Some are later had descent would have to be ridden back up, we turned around hunting arrowheads (the spike-tanged ones), and crossed and sought shelter in an antiques-retailing barn at the back of two are modem copies. Shot on the breakfast ta- before Cre- Tramecourt . Luckily , the rain held back its worst efforts until we cy, but the were safely under cover . I still regret not recording the bridge ble/ French had over the Temoise at Slangy, as it was here that Henry waited staked the riverbed, making crossing impossible . From this whilst his scouts brought back the news that he was dreading: point onward his aim was to reach Calais without coming upon that the French were waiting for him astride his road between the French army of about 50,000 men. Hope finally ran out near Azincourt and Tramecourt. There was now no alternative ; he the crossing of the River Temoise at Slangy, and when his arcould surmy ascended from there to the plain between Agincourt and render or Tramecourt on the back road to Calais, the enemy army was fight. The blocking his road. former Firstly, it should be said that there is no such village as Aginchoice court . The location of the battle is between the villages of Azinwould court and Tramecourt in northern France. The mean that misunderstanding came about when after the battle , Henry his archers asked the French herald the name of the castle whose towers would lose he could see over the trees to his left. The herald replied, "Azin- their right court." In medieval French the 'z' is pronounced as a soft 'g,' drawing hence the confusion. The English immediately began to use fingers and their own pronunciation with the hard 'g'I England As a lecturer on archaeological topics, I had long wished to visit would be Agincourt. Our annual treck to Joan's sister's cottage in Brittany faced with gave me the opportunity for using the Dover-Calais crossing a massive which would pass the battlefield , and also that of Crecy. Spend- ransom de- Wew from the English left wing, looking diagonal ing time on these historic fields would enable us to sample the mand. The ly across the field The burial pits are in the wood, ambience , and more importantly, secure photographs for future latter would front right I believe that the poppies are particupresentations . mean cerlarly apposite. Seeking a chambre d'h0te a short distance from the ferry termi- tain death nal at Calais we , my wife Joan and I, bought Alastair Sawday's for most of his army and the same ransom demand . He chose Special Places to Stay: French Bed & Breakfast . This is how we to fight. came to meet Patrick and Marie-Jose Fenet who live in a mini There is an excellent restaurant in Azincourt, but it is only fully chateau, La Gacogne, actually on the battlefield. They are open in the evenings . On both visits we used it for ice creams proud to live on the very spot (the English right wing , where the and drinks , but drove into Hesdin for the evening meals . Hesdin Duke of York died during the battle . Accounts vary , but he eiin the early Fifteenth Century was a fort ified town, so Henry ther suffocated in his armour, or perhaps suffered a stroke or wisely avoided it, as he did others on his route. Today it has heart attack .) Patrick is a medieval warfare re-enactor , and his excellent restaurants, and on both occas ions we patronised La living room is hung with crossbows , armour etc . He is an excel- Belle Epoque near the little river which winds through the town. lent shot with a longbow , and plays the part of an English archAzincourt village has an excellent museum which tells the story er in the battle re-enactments! Over breakfast Patrick produced of the battle . As the French actually won the Hundred Years a handful of arrowheads and calthrops collected from the fields War , and took many important lessons from Agincourt, they can outside . Their visitors' book has a list of battlefield experts , afford to be magnan imous . some of whom I have worked with on various digs over the Henry eventually married Princess Catherine of France, as per the treaty , but died shortly before his father-in-law. He never years . Our first visit was the night of July 24th 2007 . We planned to became king of France , though his ill-fated son did. look around the battlefield tl'le following morning , and move on He had brought his bride to Pontefract castle on their honeyto see Crecy (the site of Edward Ill's great victory in 1346) in moon tour. He left Catherine to entertain her cousin, the Duke the afternoon. This we duly did , though we soon realised that a of Orleans , who was a prisoner on parole there , whilst he himmorning was not enough for Agincourt, and neither was an afself visited Beverley and Bridlington , whose saints (both John) he had invoked during the battle. Eric Houlder LRPS. ternoon for Crecy . This was just before I moved into digital, so
Heritage Photography Autumn 2015 , Page 5
GALLERY
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7 A LATE 19th or EARLY 20th CENTURY WITCH BOTTLE by Eric Houlder LRPS
Above: The Wood Hall site studio
set up for macro imag es. Note the reflector, which is a melamine cupboard door spare from the fitting of our new kitchen in 1975. Note that for the bottle image, a much greater camera to subject distance was necessary than is shown in the picture above.
-a
Leff: The witch bottle described below.
The bottle was found beneath the threshold of the final farmhouse on the Wood Hall site near Selby in North Yorkshire. The site was excavated throughout the 1990s and received an award in the British Archaeological Awards. The bottle is clearly modem, as it appears to have been made ori an Owens machine. These were in use in nearby Knottingley during the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries. Indeed, the writer, who laboured in a glassworks as a student, remembers the Owens very clearly. The contents include pins (iron) and water - probably urine, which a witch is unable to pass. Such witch bottles were traditionally placed beneath thresholds, in window frames, and in chimneys to deny access to witches. They have even been found amidst thatch on roofs. As one of the small finds on the excavation, the bottle was treated exactly like the other finds. Eventually, it had to be photographed. Finds photography has its own protocols, which the writer learned from the master: late Fellow, and friend, Brian Tremain FRPS, whose obituary appeared in our last issue. The important points are: • The scale should appear in the same plane as the subject, and be strictly parallel to the frame edge. • A pot or container should have the mouth showing as a shallow ellipse. • Any handles should always be on the right. • The main light shduld always be from the top left. • There should be a reflector or fill-light on the right. • The background should be unobtrusive, • The camera should be equipped with the longest focal length lens conveniently usable.
At Wood Hall, the small finds photography was undertaken in a Portakabin without mains or any other form of power. Lighting was in the form of battery-powered brolly-flashes on stands, with reflectors, also on stands. Exposure was measured with a Polaris flash meter, though sometimes TTL flash metering was used with the selection of Minolta SLRs in use. Lens was usually an 80-200mm, though a 1960s MPD f4.5 Rokkor 100mm was sometimes utilised. All exposures were made on the tripod. The writer almost always preferred to use an infinity-curve background. This is a sheet of card which is horizontal beneath the subject and curves upwards to the vertical behind it. The curve eliminates any joint which would obviously show. A variation on the infinity-curve is similar, but darkening towards the top. This can be achieved with lighting (difficult) but is more easily attained with card that is already pre-printed with a graduated tone. Today, excellent macro and micro scales may be purchased easily on-line, including reproductions of those used in CSI television programmes! Then (the '90s) the writer designed his own with a CAD program on his Amstrad computer, a spin-off from his work reviewing DTP software for the Times Educational Supplement Examples with light and dark ends were made to suit the subjects. The original A4 sheet was scanned and copied both to the Mac he used in the early years of the current century, and later to the present Windows machine. The scale in this example was pasted onto card and cut around with a craft knife. It was held up with the ubiquitous Blu-Tak; what would we do without it? This one has clearly seen a lot of use, and could do with some work in an editing program to clean it up.
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by Nick Bowman LRPS
EDITORIAL As I write, the leaves are beginning to accumulate on the ground, and the best autumn for photographers I can remember is fading into memory. I hope that you have been busy recording buildings and other heritage subjects whilst the opportunity lasted, not least traditional pubs.
NormantonChurch •
Taken at Rutland Water, near Oakham, Rutland.
•
Church has been saved from the water and is occasionally used for concerts & weddings .
•
Taken using tripod.
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Sony A99 FF camera.
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Sony Zeiss 24-70 F2.8 lens.
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Lee Big Stopper.
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Processed via Adobe CC Lightroom & Photoshop + NIK software.
. The Pulpit •
Taken in Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire often referred to as "The Ship of the Fens"
•
Taken using tripod .
•
Sony A99 FF camera.
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Sony Zeiss 16-35 F2.8 lens.
•
Processed via Adobe CC Lightroom & Photoshop. Aboutmysell I'm 59 and startedphotographyabout3.5 years ago. First,I attendeda 10 weekbeginnerscourseat a local collegeand thenI joined Sutton Photographic Clubin Cambridgeshire . About6 monthsafterthat I joined Ely PhotographicClub whereI am now Chairman.I gainedmy LRPS in September,whichI was naturally delightedabout- one of my panel images wasEly CathedralPulpit. I tookthe Ely CathedralPulpitphotographto form part of a panel of 4 photographs for an Ely Club competition - TheKen Hitch Trophy. Muchto my surpriseI wonthiscompetition againstsomemuch more experiencedphotographers . I tookthe Norman/onChurch photographas thisis a locationI wasfamiliarwithhavingcycledaround· RutlandWaterwith,Jny family. I don't have a website(am thinkingaboutestablishing one next yeai'),but do display many of my photographs on Fllckr - NickBowman 1
_. _. . Myfavourite, The Boardat Lealholm, is also a favourite amongst artists and ~...,,....a;;ll!!ft.t photographers, especially from beneath the wonderful copper beech tree on the edge of the village car park (next to the public loo!). Whilst staying there recently, I could not resist the temptation , and on the pretext of moving the car nearer, I took a couple of shots, one of which graced the pages of the Yorkshire Postone day last week. The Boardis truly traditional, being Eighteenth century , so with the contemporary bridge over the Esk in the foreground, it made a lovely picture. I must admit to shooting a lot of images of pubs, especially this one. Only last year I was there when a game of quoits was in progress on the green in front of it. Either my reactions have slowed, or age is creeping up on me, for I never quite managed a shot with the quoit in mid-air and showing as a ring. Speaking of quoits, the best pub as background for the game is the Birch Hall Inn at Beck Hole, in the same national park. The game is crying out for a photo essay in true Picture Poststyle. If any members think along the same lines, I would be happy to use pictures and articles on pubs and pub games . My project to portray archaeologists and related experts (as described at the 2014 Conference and in the Autumn 2014 issue of Heritage PhotographYJ is progressing. A recent subject was Dr Deborah Moretti, an expert on the archaeological evidence for magic. This image accompanied a report on her talk in the Pontefract & Castleford Express, my local newspaper. My dayschool at Sutton Hoo in June gave me the chance to portray an old friend, Dr Sam Newton. Sam is a true character, being a Harley-Davidson enthusiast and also a noted Anglo-Saxon scholar . Today he is best known to non-specialists for his work on Channel 4's Time Team. On one of the hottest afternoons of the year we both shot images of each other - at arguably Britain's most charismatic and photogenic ancient site! Eric Houlder.
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BACONSTHORPE CASTLE
Wewof the outer gatehouse, constructedby Sir ChristopherHeydon in the Tudorperiod. 16mm 1/60sff 1
/S0100 Baconsthorpe Castle is a fortified manor house, now a ruin, to the north of the village of Baconsthorpe, Norfolk. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building, and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is a moated, fortified 15th century manor house which symbolises the rise and fall of a Norfolk family. In a period of just 200 years, this manor house was built, enlarged, and abandoned . Sir John Heyden started building at Baconsthorpe in 1447 on the site of an earlier manor called Wood Hall. In five years the tower was completed . It was large enough to serve as a selfcontained defendable residence. He also constructed a gatehouse, which had on the ground floor two lodges, and on the first floor there was a spacious suite of chambers, for Haydon's family . Sir John' s son Henry completed the construction of the manor house. It was originally built without a licence. Its outer walls in the form of a quadrilateral had towers, and inside it was a range of buildings . The walls of the house and the associated buildings were made of a core of mortared flint rubble and were dressed with stone and brick. On the eastern side of the quadrangle stood the service range of buildings which were converted into two long rooms in the 16th century, with large oak-mullioned windows to provided light for the spinners and weaverswho worked there producing cloth. "
Sir Henry's son Christopher was in 1561 granted a licence to crenelate Baconsthorpe and impark it. He also added the outer gatehouse. This was constructed to form an impressive entrance to display the Heyden family's wealth and status . The outer gatehouse was built of flint with stone dress ing. It was originally three bays wide with gable end turrets which had octagonal shaped towers on square bases and crowned with a cupola. The interior consisted of a central passage on the ground floor with rooms to both sides and a large chamber on the upper floor . The outer court was originally flanked on the eastern side by a row of cottages and on the west side by a long barn. Both the barn and cottages still remain. Sir Christopher Heyden continued to spend lavishly on Baconsthorpe and the park and in 1561 an ornamental garden and a lake were formed from the eastern side of the moat. Sir Christopher's son also a Christopher mortgaged Baconsthorpe, and with his brother John took part in the Essex revolt of 1601 against Queen Elizabeth 1, leading rebel troops through Ludgate . Christopher was held in the Fleet Prison , but was pardoned for ÂŁ2,000. His finances were very low, and in 1614 he was forced to mortgage some of his estates . After the Civil War Baconsthorpe Castle fell into ruin. The Parliamentarians had seized the estate: Christopher Heyden who had been a commander of Charles l's artillery during the war was allowed to buy it back in 1657.
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View of the inner gatehouse. This was the first part of the castle to be completed. 19mm 11125sf11 1SO100
Christopher had inherited his father's debts and also his brother William's. In a bid to raise cash he demolished much of Baconsthorpe castle and sold the stone, much of which went to Felbrigg Hall. The outer gatehousewas bought by a London merchantwho converted it into a farmhouse and called it BaconsthorpeHall. It was lived in until 1921, when gales brought down the left tower, tearing away much of the structure. Parts of the walls of the left bay remain and also the wall footings of the projecting east and west wings which were added when the gatehousewas converted into a house. Detail of the outer gatehouse. 24mm 1/200 f8 1SO100
View of the west wall with the moat 35mm 1I125s f111SO100
The curtain walls of BaconsthorpeCastle are complete and include the remains of the towers. In the middle of the south wall are the remains of John Heydon'sthree-storey gatehousewith a two-storey projection for the drawbridge. Along the east wall are the remains of the two-storey service range. To the east is the lake, and the moat surrounds the other three sides. One of the gabled end turrets remain of the outer gatehouse as does part of the original building. The stone moulding of the inner arch is still largely intact in the north wall, as are parts of the brickwork of the outer gate arch which are visible behind the insertion of a later door in the south wall. The western wall of the gate passage still stands, and includes a partly blocked, arched doorway with its moulded stone surround. Window bays and jambs still remain in the north and south walls to the west of the gate arch. There are only small traces left of the formal gardens, and the lake, which was formed from the eastern side of the moat, is now much smaller than whe'f'Iconstructed. All the photographswere taken with a Nikon 03100with a Nikon 16-
Detail of the outer gatehouse showing Elizabethan tower. 56mm 1/250 f8 1SO100
85mm DX lens. All photographstaken In RAWwith minimalprocessing. eg minimumcurves only.
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FINDING A 'LOST' CITY CHURCH By R Keith Evans FRPS Strolling through an unfamiliar part of the City of London's 'Square Mile' one recent weekday, looking for a sunny spot to eat my lunchtime sandwich, I happened to pass an attractive oak front door, number thirty-five Wood Street. Part-shaded by a newly planted tree, the facade with its two carriage lanterns was inviting enough to merit a quick snapshot. But when I stepped back to admire the building to which the door belonged, I was delighted to find myself looking at an entire Christopher Wren church tower ... that of St Alban Wood Street. One of Wren's few Gothic towers, it alone survived when the rest of the building was destroyed in the London blitz of the Second World War . Dating back to Saxon times, the church was largely burned down in the Great Fire of 1666, and rebuilt by Wren in the 1680s. Today surrounded by modem office buildings, the tower was converted into a private residence in 1985 - though it still has no lift ! The A & H Group has made a number of visits to London's City churches, most recently in May of this year. But hitherto they have all been active churches; perhaps our esteemed Editor could prepare a future article on the City of London's forty or so 'lost' churches like that of St Alban - remembered today only as partial remains, gardens or simple memorial plaques.
Nothing unusual, perhaps, about this domestic front door in the City of London ... Until one sees its location - the Wren-designed tower of St Alban' s church.
THE GROUP PROGRAMME OF EVENTS, 2016 March
Photography at a cathedral in the Midlands.
August
A visit to Snowshill Manor, Glos.
April
A visit to Hartlebury Castle, Worcestershire.
October 8th
Group Conference at Leatherhead .
May 7th
Group AGM and Print Day.
October
Portchester Castle , Portsmouth .
May
West Stow Anglo-Saxon village nr bury St Edmunds .
November
A second printing workshop
..
June
Churches on the Pilgrims' Way in Kent Tudely & St Thomas a Becket.
Details & confirmed dates will be published on the Group website and in the RPS Joumalas soon as finalised.
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THE ADORATION Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire The Adorationof the Magi (Anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: A Magisadoratur). This is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, lay before him gifts of Gold , Frankincense, and Myrrh, and worship him. It is related in the Bible by Matthew 2-11: "On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage . Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh . And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, They left for their own country by another path". This event is commemorated in Western Christianity as The Feast of the Epiphany (January 6). The Orthodox Church commemorates the Adoration of the Magi on the Feast of the Nativity (December 25). Christian iconography has considerably expanded the bare account of the Biblical Magi given in the second chapter of The Gospel of Matthew (2:1-22) and used it to press the point that Jesus was recognized, from his earliest infancy, as
The Kingof the Earth. ~
Digital copy of an Original Salt PrintŠ 2015 Ken Keen FRPS .
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