Arracombe Wood by Charlotte Mew

English poet, b 15th November 1869 in Bloomsbury, London

Lithograph on paper by Charles Joseph Hullmandel after John Skinner Prout.

Tintern Abbey

Charles Joseph Hullmandel (15 June 1789 – 15 November 1850) was born in London, where he maintained a lithographic establishment on Great Marlborough Street from about 1819 until his death.

Gerrard Winstanley

“Plate sin with gold

And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks;

Arm it in rags, a pygmy's straw does pierce it.”

William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act IV, Scene 6

The Tring Tiles at The British Museum

There are many medieval stories about Jesus as a child that explores what it means to a child to be both mortal and divine. Jesus’ powers make him dangerous to the children around him. In this tile on the left a boy playfully leaps onto Jesus's back and then falls dead (the upside down child is the same one on the back of Jesus - figures depicted upside down mean they are dead)

On the right two women complain to Joseph on the left, while Jesus restores the boy to life.

The Tring Tiles are series of medieval wall tiles was bought at a 'curiosity shop' in Tring, Hertfordshire, England.

They were made about 1330.

Earthenware, lead glazed.

Silas Marner by George Eliot, chapter 17

'In sure and certain hope': York Minster'

1902 platinum print by Frederick H. Evans

Detail from the Kitching War Memorial Window at Hull Minster

Designed and executed by James Ballantine FSA of Edinburgh.

The window expresses gratitude for Victory in the First World War.

Notice the introduction of WWI new inventions: the tank, submarine, and biplane into the design at the bottom.

Ironbridge

Included as one of the first UK World Heritage Sites in 1986, the clue is in the name when it comes to Ironbridge Gorge. This was the place – a dramatic wooded ravine created by the River Severn – where the first cast-iron bridge was built in 1779.

Ironbridge, the town that sprang up beside the elegant River Severn crossing, became the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

This area, overflowing with natural resources such as coal, iron ore and limestone were all useful to the fledgling industries of the time.

Throughout the 18th century the gorge was a hotbed of production and manufacture, from smelting lead and blowing glass to making parts for steam engines and railway wagons.

However, the lack of a bridge over the Severn was a continual problem. The ferries that carried raw materials across the river were unable to operate whenever it was in spate or too low.

Ironworks owner Abraham Darby III was duly commissioned to build a bridge. The result was an immediate success. And when the structure remained solidly in place during the terrible Severn floods of 1795, it served as Darby’s cast-iron guarantee to customers as to the efficacy of his product.

Rochester Cathedral Interior by F. G. Kitton

Illustration for Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood, p. xxvi

“that it is lawful, and hath been held so through all ages, for any, who have the power, to call to account a tyrant, or wicked KING, and after due conviction, to depose, and put him to death”.

Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, John Milton on the execution of Charles I, 1649

November in England

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November

Versions of the above poem (c 1870) have been wide spread in England for centuries. They celebrate the foiling of the Catholic Guy Fawkes's attempt to blow up the Protestant controlled House of Parliament on November 5th, 1605.

Known as Guy Fawkes Day or Fireworks Night, the November 5th celebrations in the past included the burning of the Pope or Guy Fawkes in effigy. Children would make and display a “guy” to collect money for fireworks, saying “A Penny For The Guy”

In modern times, people attend firework displays and bonfires or have them in their garden. If effigies are burned, it is of modern people, often unpopular politicians or celebrities.

Foot’s Cray Church, Sidcup

from “Greater London ... Illustrated" by Edward Walford, 1823-1897

Details from Drinkstone Park, Cornard Woods? circa 1747 by Thomas Gainsborough

The title of the artwork shows that there is some doubt surrounding the place depicted in the painting: it could be Cornard Woods in Suffolk, which was the setting of other works by the artist, including the similar canvas in the collection of the National Gallery of London; or it could be Drinkstone Park, since the park's owner was also the owner of this canvas.

See the painting at Museu de Artes São Paulo

Talking Heads

English lives of quiet desperation captured with heartbreaking accuracy by Alan Bennett, English playwright

from THE STALLS OF BARCHESTER CATHEDRAL by M.R. James