Category Archives: Ancient sites

Time travelling: A place of kings and “holy air…”

Posted on February 18, 2019 by

“Holy air encased in stone” … that is how Sir John Betjeman described the crypt at Repton, and it was this that we had come to see… we hoped. On a previous visit, the crypt had been locked. This time, … Continue reading →

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Encryption… Stuart France

Posted on February 17, 2019 by

* Now they had unleashed the hounds the outcome of the chase was inevitable. One shard of memory alone held hope… Slipping into the museum without paying could only encourage capture… The dark arches spoke of deep secrets too arcane … Continue reading →

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Time travelling: St Wystan’s

Posted on February 16, 2019 by

We finally made it through the outer door of St Wystan’s church in Repton…and stopped. Two huge columns flank the inner door and, scattered around the porch are fragments of ancient masonry. carved medieval grave slabs and Saxon crosses. It … Continue reading →

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Betwixters?… Stuart France

Posted on February 16, 2019 by

* “We still don’t know how they did it, or why, or even if they really did it or not… …We do know that for at least two thousand years these sort of monuments were a preoccupation, were the preoccupation … Continue reading →

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Time travelling: Ivar the Boneless and the Bone-yard…

Posted on February 15, 2019 by

Repton today is no more than a small Derbyshire village, but once it was the capital of Mercia, one of the most powerful realms of its era. For three hundred years, Mercia encompassed most of what would eventually become the … Continue reading →

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Dear Wen: Ghaist Stanes…

Posted on February 14, 2019 by

Dear Wen… Why that particular text for a trip to the hospital was all I was really wondering…? The old Chestnut, with a twist, of files baked into Bakewell Tarts is possibly not the way to go… But the ‘…Stane’ … Continue reading →

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Time travelling: The ghosts of Repton…

Posted on February 14, 2019 by

After our visit to the wonderful church at Breedon, with its wealth of carved Saxon stonework, it seemed only right to call at Repton, less than ten miles away… and probably much closer in the days when horse and foot … Continue reading →

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A Trigonometry of Seeming… Stuart France

Posted on February 14, 2019 by

* The gnomon holds a special position in the annals of architecture: It is to time what the fulcrum is to movement. * Would, then, movement be anything without time? * Continue reading at Stuart France

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Dear Don: Ghaist Stanes…

Posted on February 13, 2019 by

Dear Don, Had the inadvertent blooding of the book indeed been a ritual, I would have minded far less, as such would hark back to the oldest rites, continuing the thread of vicarious sacrifice reaching even into the heart of … Continue reading →

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Scryer of Time… Stuart France

Posted on February 10, 2019 by

* Scryer of Time. On sky weathered stone our accidental tourist  has stepped through long horned, shaggy coated, cattle to glean and ponder the sun in rippled grain: no shadow cast from this bright interior’s sheen the mountain top of … Continue reading →

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