The long, violent making of England – with invading boats and out-of-touch elites Nicholas J Higham dismantles the myth of sudden Saxon conquest, revealing a slower, more contested beginning

📖 “How England Began” by Nicholas J Higham

The long, violent making of England – with invading boats & out-of-touch elites

Nicholas J Higham dismantles the myth of sudden Saxon conquest, revealing a slower, more contested beginning

#SaxonSunday #BookchatWeekly #BookSky

Sunday
#AncientSiteSunday
#CeilingsonSunday
#FolkloreSunday
#SaxonSunday
#SevenOnSunday
#ShakespeareSunday
#ShieldSunday
#SignsOnSunday or #SundaySigns
#SilentSunday
#skysunday
#SpoliaSunday
#StainedGlassSunday
#StandingStoneSunday

1/ Suggested hashtags to join on a Sunday

#StandingStoneSunday
#AncientSiteSunday

#SaxonSunday
#ShieldSunday

#SpoliaSunday

#StainedGlassSunday
#SundaySermons

#SundayBells

#SundayStonework

#StandingCrossSunday

#CeilingsOnSunday

#ChandelierSunday

1 of 8 #SundayHashtags

Either surrounded by flood waters, or in the drier months - always have time for the Saxon Earthworks of Wareham
beautiful stuff

We were there recently on a bit of a journey across Dorset which you can catch here >>>
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r994...

#SaxonSunday

Imagining Sutton Hoo: Rædwald's helm by Aakheperure | Redbubble A simplified design of the reconstructed Sutton Hoo helm. Hand drawn in Affinity Designer 2, 2023

Is it #SaxonSunday again?

rdbl.co/40xZq0q
#SuttonHoo

1/ Suggested hashtags to join on a Sunday

#StandingStoneSunday
#AncientSiteSunday

#SaxonSunday
#ShieldSunday

#SpoliaSunday

#StainedGlassSunday
#SundaySermons

#SundayBells

#SundayStonework

#StandingCrossSunday

#CeilingsOnSunday

#ChandelierSunday

1 of 8 #SundayHashtags

Sunday
#AncientSiteSunday
#CeilingsonSunday
#FolkloreSunday
#SaxonSunday
#SevenOnSunday
#ShakespeareSunday
#ShieldSunday
#SignsOnSunday or #SundaySigns
#SilentSunday
#skysunday
#SpoliaSunday
#StainedGlassSunday
#StandingStoneSunday

Gift of Gold by Aakheperure | Redbubble Gim sceal on hringe ● standon stēap and gēap Gems shall be in rings, standing steep and broad. The Kingston Down brooch is a composite disc brooch made from gold, garnet, blue glass, paste and shell....

Trying to work out how to draw the wonderful effect of stamped gold foil under the garnet slivers was tricky, but this piece based on the Kingston Down brooch turned out better than I expected.

Polychromos on drawing cartridge.

#SaxonSunday
rdbl.co/4d1xfiL

Teil eines Frieses aus dem 10. Jahrhundert, der einen Tierkopf darstellt und vom Old Minster in Winchester stammt. Heute Teil der Sammlung des Winchester City Museums. 📸 Eigenes Foto. #StoneworkSunday #SaxonSunday #Winchester

Staffordshire hoard zoomorphic riff by Aakheperure | Redbubble A design that riffs on a zoomorphic seax fitting from the Staffordshire hoard. Hand drawn in Affinity Designer 2020

So far I've only done one design inspired by the Staffordshire hoard, I probably should do something about that.

#SaxonSunday
rdbl.co/2CDl6S6

Sunday
#AncientSiteSunday
#CeilingsonSunday
#FolkloreSunday
#SaxonSunday
#SevenOnSunday
#ShakespeareSunday
#ShieldSunday
#SignsOnSunday or #SundaySigns
#SilentSunday
#skysunday
#SpoliaSunday
#StainedGlassSunday
#StandingStoneSunday

1/ Suggested hashtags to join on a Sunday

#StandingStoneSunday
#AncientSiteSunday

#SaxonSunday
#ShieldSunday

#SpoliaSunday

#StainedGlassSunday
#SundaySermons

#SundayBells

#SundayStonework

#StandingCrossSunday

#CeilingsOnSunday

#ChandelierSunday

1 of 7 #SundayHashtags

Part of a 10th century frieze depicting the head of an animal from the Old Minster at Winchester. Now part of the collections at Winchester City Museum. 📸 My own. #StoneworkSunday #SaxonSunday #Winchester

#SundayStonework with the c8 saxon stonework used to reconstruct the altar at St Laurence, Bradford on Avon

See more of Bradford on Avon on our way past in the new episode >>>
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0a9...

#SaxonSunday

On the left, a cruciform style copper alloy Saxon brooch with a square head at the bottom and decorative features along the body. On the right a necklace with a boar's tusk amulet at the right end and 17 beads, mostly amber, a=of varying sizes and shapes. These were among grave goods of a pagan woman in Londesborough in Yorkshire.

#SaxonSunday
In AD 550-690 a Saxon woman was buried in Londesborough Yorks with personal objects arranged all around her body, including
--cruciform brooch, and
--necklace w glass and amber beads and a boar's tusk amulet.
Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle 🏺

1/ Suggested hashtags to join on a Sunday

#StandingStoneSunday
#AncientSiteSunday

#SaxonSunday
#ShieldSunday

#SpoliaSunday

#StainedGlassSunday
#SundaySermons

#SundayBells

#SundayStonework

#StandingCrossSunday

#CeilingsOnSunday

#ChandelierSunday

1 of 6 #SundayHashtags

Sunday
#AncientSiteSunday
#CeilingsonSunday
#FolkloreSunday
#SaxonSunday
#SevenOnSunday
#ShakespeareSunday
#ShieldSunday
#SignsOnSunday or #SundaySigns
#SilentSunday
#skysunday
#SpoliaSunday
#StainedGlassSunday
#StandingStoneSunday

🧵/9

We'll park the thread there but don't forget to check out the episode for more ancient places across the Peak District

#SaxonSunday
#SundayStonework

🧵/8
While this is both Christ descending to Hell on the left & ascending to heaven on the right

#SaxonSunday
#SundayStonework

🧵/7
There is *a lot* going on here,
for example - this rather hard to parse scene which is in fact Mary being buried after her death

#SaxonSunday
#SundayStonework

🧵/6
If that dating seems suspiciously-specific...
on the cross is a lamb (Jesus depicted as an actual sheep) & this was outlawed by the Council of Constantinople in 692
so while its possible a recalcitrant mason carved this later, it seems likely to have been earlier

#SaxonSunday
#SundayStonework

🧵/5
However - these pieces are dwarfed by this ...utterly incredible frieze, discovered in 1820 under the chancel floor being used as the lid of a tomb
dated to pre-692

unbelievable 😳

#SaxonSunday
#SundayStonework

🧵/4
And a bit of local celebrity - T'owd man is reputedly the oldest depiction of miner in the world
there seem to be a a wide spread of dating estimations tossed around from 800 years old to ...much older,
(and the village of Bonsall would rather like him back)

#SaxonSunday
#SundayStonework

🧵/3
These two are especially striking the 'King & Queen of hearts' in a suitably naive style

#SaxonSunday
#SundayStonework

🧵/2
Either built into the walls or on display inside is an absolute treasure trove of Pre-Conquest stonework (though ...full disclosure, i've struggled to find secure dating on much of it)

#SaxonSunday
#SundayStonework

In a mixture of #SaxonSunday & #SundayStonework thought we could use a thread of some of the fantastic things on display in St Mary's Church, Wirksworth in the Peak District

🧵👇

1/ Suggested hashtags to join on a Sunday

#StandingStoneSunday
#AncientSiteSunday

#SaxonSunday
#ShieldSunday

#SpoliaSunday

#StainedGlassSunday
#SundaySermons

#SundayBells

#SundayStonework

#StandingCrossSunday

#CeilingsOnSunday

#ChandelierSunday

1 of 6 #SundayHashtags

#SaxonSunday with the beautiful St Martin on the Walls, Wareham, during & after the rain a couple of sundays ago

See more of the cozy pubs from Wareham & around Dorset >>>
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kav...

St Andrews standing high above the village.

Part of a 10th Century Preaching Cross found in the churchyard, now resident in the South Aisle of the church.

Carved stone head at the entrance to the porch.

Carved stone head at the entrance to the porch.

The Saxon Preaching Cross fragment is the oldest surviving trace of Christian worship at St Andrews in Foxton, Leicestershire.

#StandingCrossSunday
#SaxonSunday
#SundayStonework

A little NW of the castle, these stonking great defensive earthworks are even older, from Alfred's time. #Wallingford was one of his burhs - settlements planned or adapted for organised defense, as part of a network. The past lives.
#SaxonSunday #OxfordShire
📷 My own, from 2017.