A resilient speech

 A great speech by Mark Carney.

18th January 2026 Puddingstone

 A WIP or a work in progress.  Chasing puddingstones.  You will see from the walls that these churches used up every bit of stone and Roman tiling in the area.  Then patterned the walls with supporting puddingstone.  Flint is of course also used as is plaster and lathe, giving rise to pargetting as an art form.

And why Puddingstone? because the pebbles in the dark matrix looked like a pudding, Christmas maybe!

There is hardly any stone in Essex, so every scrap that could be found to build a wall was used.  Interestingly brick was also used from as far back as the Romans, that is why you see the reinforcing edges of churches where Roman brick is used and later on brick that came over as ballast was used  from the Netherland.

Ingatestone (I think)

Fairstead Church.  P/S, Roman tile and flint
to be found here

Ingatestone Church.  The puddingstone is layered with Roman tile.

Broomfield Church. Was the stone already in situ and incorporated into the foundations?

Well we did this church in 2008. Paul has as always written it up beautifully.  

I love the paragraph out of the church pamphlet....

“The Roman tiles are a reminder of the story still related fifty years ago. The plan had originally been to build the church at the top of New Barn Lane, called Dragon’s Foot in the tithe maps, there is a depression, now somewhat ploughed out but still deep enough to be a dragon’s footprint. This was the site of a Roman building which still yields numerous hypocaust tiles and bricks, so the story is a delightfully muddled memory of the Saxons trundling cartloads of Roman bricks down to the Green on the orders of their new Norman masters to use as quoins since there were no local stone quarries.”

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St.Botolph's Pudding stone  ??? at Beauchamp Roding It hardly looks like a pudding stone but it is referenced as a pudding stone on the Megalithic Portal.

The Ugley Green puddingstone

The 2011 blog on this is here

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Saint Mary, the virgin. Great Leighs.  Look at that Norman doorway has someone cleaned it? 

Also, have just stumbled on Beeleigh Abbey, which is situated next to the River Chelmer and the original building is still intact. Also we once walked all this way along the river to Beeleigh but never found the abbey, all I remember is the beautiful demoiselles dragonflies skimming over the water.

Beeleigh Abbey

17th January 2026

From Perth, Australia, a non-profit idea that rebuilds war torn places.  Definitely worth donating to. Crisis Construction. Maybe the new 'peace organisation' being formed by the American government regime will take note, as will  Tony Blair. 

 

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This photo is from a visit we made to the family when they were holidaying in Whitby. Our rather plump and getting old Lucy was climbing the steps (not the199 steps) but steps from the small beach.  And it reminded me of trying to get her up the three  flights of stairs to the apartment the family had rented.

Lucy was reluctant to go up the stairs.  In other words she refused.  People came out of their apartments to encourage her on, one person even brought out ham to tempt. But no go, until my daughter marched down the stairs picked up a very heavy Lucy and carried her up the stairs, vowing she would never do it again.

Though Whitby is the 'in' place to bring your dog on holiday, it is rather steep in places.

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Not very funny but passable

Always fancied one of these, a curiosity cabinet

A blue sky for once.  I noticed something gleaming above the roof line, it was a heron.  Hardly to be seen in the photo. Maybe it is the one that occasionally sits beneath the bridge on the way to the bus station.  But it sat there for sometime sunning itself.

Carreg Samson

Definitely a favourite.  Carreg Samson, just says "you think I can't do this?" That heavy capstone must have taken some engineering to get it atop the orthostats.  Was it a top down or bottom up build I wonder.  There is a grace as to how the vertical stones lean.  This monster lives in a field, a fairly long walk down the drive to the farm and then you spy it in the field.  I remember Bucky and Loie coming with us and Bucky looking for more stones.  But look at the solid stone and green hedge behind and you will see large stones also in the wall.  Intriguing, what has been lost here I wonder.

Carreg Samson

Above this sea stands one cromlech, Samson Carreg facing the curving coastline, the ground is not high, softly sloping to the small bay beneath and the tiny island offset against the beach. Was this the reason the burial mound was placed here? It is an elegant statement of large standing stones that balance a chunky capstone. Julian Cope says of its stones that they are shot through with amber quartzite, it has become sculptured on the landscape like an "ancient stone rhinoceros, caught mid-charge in one instant and destined to remain here forever".  From an old blog.

Dear Moss my companion for many years on these forays into prehistory.  He looked after me and I shall never forget one time in an enclosure with a ruined chapel.  There was a couple in there and Moss seemed to go up and bite the man's bottom.  Profuse apologies from me, but the man said don't worry he was only protecting you.  Moss loved these holidays in Wales.

Saint Samson gave his names to a lot of prehistoric places and this 2009 blog gives some of them. 

Rebecca Solnit comprehensive essay on what is going on in America

Carreg Coetan

 I have decided to feature the cromlechs of Wales each day that I have seen in the past.  It is a bit like a revue and an opportunity to allow my mind to think about wormholes the mind goes down and comes up with no answers.

Carreg Coetan - Newport

You have to admit our progress into smaller gravestones was a technical advancement but Neolithic people were already studying the weight and balance of these cromlech stones. The upright stones look like a dog or seal, balancing the capstone on their noses. One asks the question were these stones shaped like that or were they natural but something tells me that shoulder curve was shaped.

These burial places sit all over Britain, relicts of the past, immovable almost, that is why they are left.  This cromlech is but a few miles from Pentre Ifan, were they tribal points in the landscape.  A stone monument declaring this is where so and so tribe lives.  Can we imagine the ceremonies of committing the dead either to fire or the birds in excarnation?  A 2007 blog here.

Geologically the different types of stone in our country is many and varied.  I often used to walk along the coast path of Pembrokeshire marvelling at the horizontal layers of rocks.  You would see the same in the small quarries or the stone houses, the bronzed nature of some of the rock layers.

Stone is beautiful, you have only to look at Bath buildings to understand that and also in the prehistoric use of them.  They would be chosen for their colour and durability.  The Bluestones of Stonehenge were brought down from the Presceli Hills, and the glint of quartz is often to be found in some stones.

A link to puddingstones

Puddingstone Trail on the Megalithic portal

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Last night I listened to a Green Party women's discussion on Zoom.  It was mostly about bullying within the party and I guess control of what was being said.  Now if you know the GP it bases itself on a democratic method of discussion within the party.  Everything fair and equal.  But then of course you must add humans to the pot and that is where the disarray happens.

Lots of words bubble to the surface, am I an ecofeminist for instance, do I have strong views on misogyny and trans people, to a degree but whether I am willing to spend endless hours discussing it - no.  I do feel though that since Andrew has committed himself to helping out locally I should take an interest.

I looked up the bio on Wiki of a certain person who bullied our wing of the GP in Bath, and remembered when he was a young lad  working on an excavation with us, think it was the medieval pottery kiln at Chippenham.  He was full of himself then, Derek Wall should have followed archaeology not politics.

Rambling

 From the Heathen Witch: "I took the road less travelled, and now the f**k  don't know where I am"   Loved it.  There was also good Brian Bilston poem about a plea for a no news day.  

Prayer for Uninteresting Times

Send me a slow news day,
a quiet, subdued day,
in which nothing much happens of note,
save for the passing of time,
the consumption of wine,
and a re-run of Murder, She Wrote.

Grant me a no news day,
a spare-me-your-views day,
in which nothing much happens at all,
except a few hours together
some regional weather,
a day we can barely recall.

As someone who watches Midsomer Murders because of its gentle murdering nature (you know it is not true). I sometimes think I cannot keep up with the adults you find in blogger land.  How can they sit through blood and gore, over-sexed maniacs, and opera, yes opera is a personal hatred and I think I do not understand the human race.  Here by the way, I am talking about the films they watch not what they get up to in Blogger land.

I haven't succumbed to the virus that is going around, though Andrew has been coughing terribly but of course there is still time.  

So what photos today, a Welsh cromlech - Pentre Ifan.  How to find it, just drive down some Welsh lanes out of Newport,  Park in the small layby, go through the gate, wander past the foxgloves and then find truly magnificent stones echoing the bare bones of a cromlech, for it would probably have had soil and stones to bury it.  I see I visited in 2007 my great love affair with Wales must have started from this year.  Here is a description of it. See how cleverly the capstone sits on the upright stones.  Balanced delicately on what must have been worked stones.  You can see this method in other cromlechs nearby.

I forgot to boast.  Got wordle in two this morning...........

Family matters

 Family matters: Those two words can be read in two different ways by the way... Well they got back to England safely, or Manchester airport to be more precise and my daughter has not brought back any religious stuff, though they went to St. Peter's square.

I have declared to  most of the family that my odd job sewing for them has come to an end, well I might sew a button or two but hemming jeans is definitely not on the agenda as I told Ben.  He is in the fashion business for goodness sake there must be a few seamstresses around.  And as for cutting off the hems of Matilda's tops, just so she can show a lean four inches of bare midriff that is wicked.  When I pointed out she would have frayed edges she replied but I don't wear them for long. Have you seen the piles of discarded clothing in those poor forgotten countries we do not speak of?

My interest was piqued (I love how that word floats to my brain;) by Tasker's latest blog, this time a book by 'Ascent of Man' by Jacob Bronowski.  My mind went a couple of thousand years into the future, aliens were prodding over our now deceased world.  Would they think men had the upper hand when they came across the book, indeed was it the actual truth.  Looking at the assemblage of middle to old men clustered round our present heads of states it could well be. I am not declaring war by the way but it led me down another rabbit hole.

My second husband who I had been married to for about 27 years, it was not a particularly happy marriage but as he was an archaeology lecturer, I learnt a lot along the way, and also of course saw a lot. I wondered how much he had written, for we were married when he was in his forties and his earlier life was never discussed.  So with the help of the web, I found two first World War books but not the dictionary of archaeology that he wrote.  I found plenty of papers and mentions in various journals.  It opened up another part of my life. 

The remains of  an Iron Age battle Carnyx horn is in the news today.  They can be found  on the Gundestrup Cauldron.

Peace Baby.

 

A remark uttered by a woman as the Peace Walk hits a town in America.  But look, the monks are preceded by two police motorbikes, two very large police cars and then another two large cars which must belong to the walk.  The small band of monks come walking through in their ochre robes and take a stand.  They all hold bunches of flowers, Aloka the dog is not amongst them.  He must be riding in the accompanying van tired from his walking that day.

Turn the page of history on this very self same day, America has invaded Venezuela, kidnapped the head of state, all illegally, all without the approval of the congress, or, outside international consultation.  Yes the world is going mad.

But it begins to remind me of Vietnam and the uproar and protest then, this is probably what we are walking into.  America is in a very dangerous place because of the foolhardiness and stupidity of a few men.  But the ordinary people of America are with the monks and peace.  They are with homes and secure jobs, food on their plates, goofy golden labradors and retrievers.

As we watch this unfold, remember that the majority of people are gentle souls and do not want conflict.  Murderous creatures like Hegseth, Vance and their ailing leader will eventually be gone. Is it a return to 'flower power'?

Anyway, read Rebecca Solnit on the subject and take heed of Bill McKibben's words.

Aloka's song

3rd January 2026

The War between the Land and the Sea

This is what I have been watching of late thanks to Sue (at the end of a Suffolk Lane) who must have mentioned it on her blog.  Story telling is an art form that grasps truth and renders this truth into fiction.  We live by stories, they stay in our imagination.  This story records our terrible behaviour towards the sea, which covers so much of our planet.  A truth that is slowly being acknowledged.  The terrible plastic pollution is highlighted by great swathes of rubbish floating down into the streets.  The prime minister alongside the American military promise to clean up the rivers, lakes and the sea of the polluting sewage and factory stuff we pump into the sea.  

The people of the sea led in the first instance by Salt declare war and take as the land ambassador a human  called Barkley who is a clerk.  The rogues are the American government in their never ending hunt for minerals.  They deliver a deadly virus to the sea people and as these dead  sea people are washed up on all the coastlines you might think that there was rejoicing but slowly the wrongness of what they have done slowly penetrates.  There is no happy ending for the time being except maybe the romance between the sea creature Salt and Barkley.

So as an add on to Doctor Who, Russell T. Davies has grasped the nettle once more and entered the land of fantasy but behind the story is the enormous moral question of why the human race is so greedy and destructive.

Highlighted to day of course by the attack on Venezuela by the American government in pursuit of its oil.  I forgot, it is also to get rid of the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.  Trump causing more damage in the world than is needed, his distractions are murderous!

The War Between the Land and the Sea | Trailer - BBCe War Between the Land and the Sea | Trailer  BBC   

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Walk of Peace:  Have you met Aloka the Peace Dog, marching alongside the Buddhist monks in America, I think they have marched through Georgia.  Wish them good luck in their endeavours.  Even stray dogs have their moments in history but let us hope the message of peace has some meaning.

1st January 2026

A Swift

Well it arrived yesterday, Wool Warehouse had only sent it the day before.  Who says England is rundown? The person at the warehouse was full of apology at the mistake.  I just love it for its wood, I think mango wood, and also its intricacies.

Wool love by the way is obsessional.  You can see from the small space used in the above photo, that a swift can be above the spinning wheel and once taken down like an umbrella can just be a horizontal stick anchored to the table.  Everyone collapsed when I said I haven't got my niddy-noddy, this is of course for winding the wool off the bobbins you can see in the back there.  I thought about the word then realized it came from how you hold the niddy- noddy by the vertical piece of wood and then turn the wool on the horizontal bars at both ends.

The house is quiet though I heard voices in the night, way after midnight, so there must be some of Lillie's friends in the house.  The New Year was of course brought in on the letting off of fireworks but not too noisy this year and short lived.  Fireworks like cigarettes are the quickest ways to burn money.  Or perhaps the crossness at how the fireworks frighten domestic animals is being recognised.

I will print the letter because obviously it appeared in a newspaper somewhere for public approval,  But as you can see calling people as low as cockroaches is an affront to the cockroach.  Did you know for instance that there are 5000 species of them fulfilling their place in this great wide world we dominate.  And cockroaches definitely don't swindle the public as so many of our fat cats do.

This is the year to defend the insects of the world as they are dying out at a terrible rate.