A short and well used pencil that probably won't turn many more times in the pencil sharpener. The pencil is laying on a drawing of clouds and dark sky

An obverse of a Roman minted coin featuring a detailed profile portrait of emperor Pupienus with inscription IMP C M CLOD PVPIENVS AVG

On the 99th day of the year we look to this Roman minted coin for the emperor, Pupienus Maximus (164-238AD), who, with his co-emperor, Balbinus, ruled for just 99 days. They were two of the six men who ruled as emperor of Rome in 238 AD in the politically turbulent Year of the Six Emperors

Long-dead occupants of Medway church crypt have royal connections Several coffins are preserved under St Margaret's Church in Rainham.

The story of the crypt under St. Margaret's church, Rainham, Kent. 👇
BBC News - Long-dead occupants of Medway church crypt have royal connections - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

If walls could speak.
Ghost gable with brick tumbled verge (triangular sections), captured, like a fly in amber, in a later building, in Sandwich, Kent.

The 'Bayeux Tapestry of England'.

All Saints Church, Claverley, houses a remarkable 13th-century wall painting of over 15 metres. Its rare depiction of knights makes it unique in Britain. Thought to show the battle of Vices and Virtues, it is truly remarkable.

#history #medieval #churchcrawling

OFFICIAL STATEMENT We would like to share our thoughts and condolences with Kit Kat following their recent sad news. On an unrelated note, we’ve decided that we are going to rebuild the other side of the Mary Rose, using a surprising new building material – more info soon...

Kit kat replica of stonehenge

We would like to send our condolences to KitKat on their recent robbery of 12 tons of their chocolate bars. On a completely unrelated note, please see our latest Stonehenge replica!

"AI is here, we can't put the toothpaste back in the tube."

When I accidentally squeeze out too much toothpaste, I don't then shove it all in my mouth. I wash it down the plughole.

#UKSG2026

A sketchbook open at a page with a nineteenth century sepia pen sketch of a view of Dover Castle from Folkestone Road.

A recent colour photograph of a view of Dover Castle from Folkestone Road on a cloudy day

On display in the in #Dover Museum is another #sketchbook containing pen sketches of recognisable scenes and buildings in Dover which have been attributed to Captain Thomas Hastings (1778–1854). Pictured is a drawing of a view of Dover Castle ‘from Folkestone Road, Dover’ where the book is open to.

The House of Lords Digital & Communications Committee just published their report on AI, copyright & the creative industries, and their conclusions could not be clearer.

🧵 1/5

Thank you 😊

A watercolour illustration with black ink outlines. The illustration is of St Paul's church in Canterbury on a starry night. St Paul's entrance is illustrated with the door open and the door and windows are glowing with the lights on. There is also a lamp on above the entrance.Trees surround the church from both sides.

A watercolour illustration with black ink outlines. The illustration is of St Martin's church in Canterbury on a starry night. In the background St Martin's entrance is illustrated with the doors open and the door and windows are glowing with the lights on. Trees surround the church from both sides. There is a lit lamp, path and steps leading to the church entrance with a graveyard either side.

Illustration of St Paul's without the Walls (picture one) to go with St Martin's (picture two) in the city and diocese of #Canterbury.
The picture of St Paul's went a bit patchy after removing masking fluid made tears in the paper 😣
#watercolour #illustration #church #churches #heritage

A watercolour illustration with black ink outlines. The illustration is of St Paul's church in Canterbury on a starry night. St Paul's entrance is illustrated with the door open and the door and windows are glowing with the lights on. There is also a lamp on above the entrance.Trees surround the church from both sides.

A watercolour illustration with black ink outlines. The illustration is of St Martin's church in Canterbury on a starry night. In the background St Martin's entrance is illustrated with the doors open and the door and windows are glowing with the lights on. Trees surround the church from both sides. There is a lit lamp, path and steps leading to the church entrance with a graveyard either side.

Illustration of St Paul's without the Walls (picture one) to go with St Martin's (picture two) in the city and diocese of #Canterbury.
The picture of St Paul's went a bit patchy after removing masking fluid made tears in the paper 😣
#watercolour #illustration #church #churches #heritage

I know I buy far too many books but I like to think that lining the walls of my house with them wards off evil in some deeply important way.

Note from my notebook (2016). Nothing has changed.

A small stylised horse figure with featuring a prominent mane and, a circled dot for the eye and a completely looped tail. The brooch has an overall greenish colour from oxidation to the aged copper

As we as we gallop into #LunarNewYear, we thought we’d showcase this copper Roman horse brooch for Year of the Horse on display at Dover Museum

#HorseYear #YearOfTheHorse #Dover #Museum

My photo shows the ruin of an eight-sided Roman brick lighthouse with four stepped levels. There is a central arched opening (doorway) at ground level. On the upper three levels, in line with the doorway, there are narrow rectangular window openings. The lighthouse stands 15.8 metres high and is 12.2 metres wide at the base. Roman fabric survives to a height of 12.5 m. The brickwork of the uppermost level was reconstructed for use as a church bell tower for the adjacent Anglo-Saxon church of St Mary in Castro, which can be glimpsed on the right-hand side of my photo. The lighthouse is dated circa 1st century to early- 2nd century AD. It was one of a pair originally built on each side of the Roman port of Dubris (Dover). The other does not survive. This lighthouse stands within the grounds of Dover Castle.

The Roman Pharos (lighthouse) at Dover, still standing after almost 2,000 years! 🤩

It is the tallest surviving Roman structure in Britain, and one of only three surviving lighthouses from the former Roman Empire! Dated 1st-2nd century AD.

📷 me

#Archaeology

A flint arrow head. There is a rounded central section at the base called the tang which was used to secure to the arrow shaft. The extended points on either side of the tang are called the barbs which prevented the arrow being dislodged from its target.

An arrow for Cupid’s bow? This early #BronzeAge flint arrowhead was made by pressure flaking, a process of applying pressure using a pointed tool to pry off small flakes to create a precise point. Found in River #Dover by Douglas Welby, and features in his book The Kentish Village of River (1977).

A meme of 'Is this a document?' showing a grid with various classifications of things that might be documents based on their content and structure, graded between purist and radical. Each box has a matching image of the contents, including the USS Enterprise, a WAV waveform, the Boarstall Cartulary, and Scrabble.

Another useful guide from your friends at Buckinghamshire Archives

I'm sure there was room for another #terriblepun somewhere...

A closed landscape sketchbook with marbled decorative cover. The sketchbook cover is worn with age. It is closed with an metal clasp.

The sketchbook is open at a page with a pencil drawing of the outside of a Norman church in Barfrestone called St Nicholas' church. The picture is of the East end, featuring its wheel window.

A recent photograph of the outside of a Norman church called St Nicholas' in Barfrestone. The picture is of the East end, featuring its wheel window.

Captain, customs officer, amateur painter, draughtsman, watercolourist and etcher: the many occupations held by Captain Thomas Hastings (1778–1854). The pictured sketchbook is attributed to him, and it contains drawings of recognisable scenes in #Dover, including St Nicholas' #church in Barfrestone.

Two halves of a Bronze Age axe head mould laid side by side. The mould shows the shape of the axe head that would have been cast. The sides run parallel before flaring out to a curved cutting edge. The side flanges and central ridge in the mould create a shape in the axe head for hafting, which is the process of attaching the axe head firmly within a split in the haft (handle).

A photo of two halves of a Bronze Age axe head mould laid side by side. The photo shows the outside of the mould with teardrop-shaped ridges towards the end.

This #FindsFriday we wanted to highlight a new acquisition: two axe head mould halves dated to Middle #BronzeAge (c 1500-1200BC). The moulds cast a type of axe head known as a palstave. Discovered by metal detectors and acquired by #Dover Museum through @findsorguk.bsky.social .
PAS ID: KENT-CDA99E

The museum collection's manager and a volunteer are positioning glass from Roman Painted House display cases ready to clean. On the right a volunteer is cleaning the inside of the case.

A museum volunteer is repositioning Roman coins in a case after they have been condition checked and the case cleaned.

Another museum volunteer is repositioning a Samian ware bowl after condition checking objects and cleaning the case.

Behind the scenes, Dover Museum’s Collections Team and volunteers have been condition checking collections and cleaning their cases in the Roman Painted House.
The Roman Painted House remains closed for the Winter season, but we look forward to welcoming you back in the Spring
#Roman #Dover #Museum

Playmobil Cacofonix the bard blowing a miniature reproduction of the Norfolk carnyx, on a green field with other Iron Age Playmobil figures in the distance.

The Norfolk Carnyx: a Playmobil story in 4 parts. 🧵
#DiggingForBritain
#DrawingDiggingForBritain
#PlaymobilInfestation
@profaliceroberts.bsky.social
@pcaarchaeology.bsky.social

1: Life

“The creative industries are incredibly important to Google, and we see them as a partner,” Carter said soothingly. It’s now a couple of decades since Google “partnered” with the news industry, a relationship that left Google very rich and newspapers out of business. “We need an enabling copyright framework,” she went on. This is in rather the way that burglars need enabling window locks. Might the company hand over money to people who made things? “It’s not a question that we won’t pay. It’s that we need to have certainty of what we are paying for.” They could start by asking the people who are quite certain what they’re not being paid for. A peer concerned about the Elon Musk AI’s make-anyone-naked option asked whether the material on which Google’s AI was trained was all wholesome stuff. “It is not just that you want high quality data, you need the good, the bad and in cases the ugly as well,” Carter said. “If you’re training the model to be safe, you need to show it what is harm

The government retreat over AI and copyright is the headline, but yesterday's evidence from Google was also... interesting.

thecritic.co.uk/arti...

Posting carousels is like an Instagram cheat code in 2026 — Ned Potter Carousels combine the reach of a Reel with ease and accessibility of an image post. They're the easiest way for orgs to get key messages out to audiences.

This is for anyone who runs their institutional social media accounts...

You've got to use Carousels - they're basically like an #Instagram cheat code, combining the ease of images with the extraordinary reach of video. Doooo it! 📚

www.ned-potter.com/blog/posting...

If pushed, I'd probably have to say that my favourite Anglo-Saxon king is King Ethelbert since he is the only one whose name contains an entire middle-aged British couple from the 1960s.

A watercolour illustration with black ink outlines. The illustration is of St Martin's church in Canterbury on a starry night. In the background St Martin's entrance is illustrated with the doors open and the door and windows are glowing with the lights on. Trees surround the church from both sides. There is a lit lamp, path and steps leading to the church entrance with a graveyard either side.

St Martin's church in Canterbury on a starry night.

#watercolour #illustration #church #churches #Canterbury #heritage

Thanks 🙂
I tagged the St Martin's pages on Instagram. I don't think I've met InstaChris yet.

A watercolour illustration with black ink outlines. The illustration is of St Martin's church in Canterbury on a starry night. In the background St Martin's entrance is illustrated with the doors open and the door and windows are glowing with the lights on. Trees surround the church from both sides. There is a lit lamp, path and steps leading to the church entrance with a graveyard either side.

St Martin's church in Canterbury on a starry night.

#watercolour #illustration #church #churches #Canterbury #heritage