Reblogged from Flickering Lamps:
Today, Spitalfields often feels like something of a battleground between the area’s rich and varied heritage and the seemingly unstoppable march of gentrification and redevelopment. Located on the north-eastern edge of the City of London, in recent decades it has been transformed from a mostly working-class district that was home to textile producers and a large fruit and vegetable market to a hub for high-end boutiques and trendy restaurants. It was the construction of a new office block in 1999 that led to the rediscovery of a medieval charnel house – the oldest building in Spitalfields – which had lain undiscovered for around 300 years.
Continue reading at Flickering Lamps
The dark stony cliffs were covered by a verdant expanse of foliage. The lush green sheath seems to curtail the harsh vigour emanating from rocky cliffs, soothing their angst with its tranquil fluorescence. At the base of the cliff was a narrow entrance. It seemed to lead to a subterranean passage leading to a tunnel that went deep into the earth.
Terry O’Shea threw a potato into the old town square gong. The otherworldly metallic crash rang across Lake Winataka. Where Edmund Winataka had obtained the gong and when he put it there was long forgotten. People joked a soul possessed less information after reading the description on a small sign next to the gong than before reading it. Because the sound carried so far, Terry and his friends had used it as a signal to meet up at Cave Portal after supper.
In the depth of the cave lies a long hidden secret, visible only to the initiated: to those who truly love this land, who have ploughed its fields, nurtured its trees and respected all that lives here. The secret tells them where to hide, how to protect their children and how to honour their ancestors.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 