Peter McCullough

@mcculloughp

Things I like, make, or grow; assorted wokery; C16-17th religion, literature, and history. UK prof of English. 🏳️‍🌈

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Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· 22d

😘 Rushing to finish a shirt for the holiday.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· 22d

Tragically bound to putative authenticity.

Mortar and pestle with ground pine nuts and fresh basil, a pile of the latter next to it, making pesto.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· 23d

Pleased to pay my respects to subjects of current over-blown research project, the Elizabethan recusants Sir Thomas Cornwallys (d. 1604) and his wife Anne Jernegan (d. 1581). Badly restored mid-C19, but at least they're still there (Brome, Sfk). Impressive armorial achievement, not least the stag.

View length-wise from heads at eye-level of recumbent effigies of an Elizabethan knight and his lady; at their feet a tall stone achievement of their coat of arms in an elaborate Renaissance frame; at their feet an almost life-sized stag, the family's heraldic crest. Effigies rather clumsily painted.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· 23d

Not a great fan of Victorian reredoses, but this one was such full-blown diorama that it gets credit for trying. For St Mary's, Brome (Sfk) ca. 1860 by James Williams of Ipswich (Pevsner). I had to chuckle at the sculptural literalism of the empty tomb.

Stone reredos, figures deeply carved, some almost in full relief, stretching across entire east wall behind altar under east window; scenes of the life of Christ, with crucifixion centre.

Detail of reredos: scene of angel and stunned soldiers before empty tomb, which is a literal cave carved into the stone.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· 23d

Thoughtful restoration (1874-5): angle-post of the guildhall (late C15) of Eye (Sfk), with most work heavily recut, including Gabriel (r), but adjacent panel (BVM?) was left in its original state.

Corner of a late medieval oak half-timbered building; the corner post supporting projecting floor above has elaborate architectural niches with tracery and figures, but one half of one side is heavily weathered and worn away, having been left in its original state rather than the rest which was newly carved replacement work.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· 26d

Upper story of facade of St Michael’s, Beccles south porch (funds bequeathed 1455). Love the flamboyant repetition of the ‘Maria’ cipher. Lower stage for context.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· 26d

Sunset over the Waveney at Beccles—standing in Suffolk, view of Norfolk.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· 27d

Suffolk Archives must have one of the finer views going among county record offices. Much controversy over consolidation of local branches here in Ipswich, but facility is excellent, part of the U of Suffolk campus.

View down steps and across road to Ipswich marina.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· 27d

Very summery on the Ipswich waterfront.

View across the tidal River Orwell in late afternoon sun. Pleasure boats moored on opposite side, across water mostly low-rise new-build blocks; fore-left an historic sloop with party on board.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· Jul 11

Heatwave benefits.

Plates of freshly made French bean and tomato salad with basil on a kitchen worktop.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· Jul 11

Rousham—one of the most beautiful places in all England. Refreshment for hot, tired souls.

18th century architectural composition in Rousham’s Venus Vale: chaste Venus atop a stone arch over a mossy wellhead, surrounded by trees and ferns.

Statue of Mercury on a stone pedimented in a small glade under a deeply wooded hillside.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· Jul 9

AI shite that conflates Brome, Norfolk and Brome, Suffolk. Real historians have occasionally made the same mistake, but this is such a good example of the pitfalls for a history student or other who trusts these summaries. #earlymodern

Screenshot of Google 'AI Summary' for prompt 'Brome advowson'; summary narrative and links splice information about two different towns with the same name.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· Jul 8

Like this?

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· Jul 8

A few late roses to soothe the heatwave (they smell amazing).

Three shell-pink roses (‘Queen of Sweden’) in a little blue hexagonal medicine bottle, on a (messy) pine kitchen table.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· Jul 8

Could it be Stephen Batman of the ever-useful _Batman on Bartholomew_?

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· Jul 7

My mother would say, ‘Why didn’t you pay another dollar and get a red one?’ (Crocosmia ‘Emberglow’)

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· Jul 5

27.5C at 6pm would have been comment-worthy even a few years ago. Now we say, ‘It’s not too bad—the heatwave proper doesn’t start for a day or two.’ Climate crisis summers.

Gravel terrace with round table and umbrella; brick house walls with white cosmos and Jasmine around door. Slanting afternoon sun.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· Jun 29

St Peter’s day treat: service in hidden gem of Oxford’s oldest consecrated space, the crypt of St Peter-in-the-East (12th c.), in care of St Edmund Hall, which converted upper church to its library 1968-70. College scratch summer choir mustered Palestrina’s Missa Brevis, and Tallis ‘If Ye Love Me’.

View through pointed arch down steep steps from ground level outside to crypt of a medieval church. Much ivy on walls.

Inside crypt looking east past two short Norman columns supporting quadripartite vault; left round tiered pricket stand full of votive candles; right stone altar below small window, light flooding down onto stone floor.

Peter McCullough@mcculloughp· Jun 28

For the eve of St Peter, one of my desert island discs: I Fagiolini and The City Musick's Benevoli 'Missa Tu Es Petrus', written for four choirs in St Peter's basilica, based on Palestrina's motet. (Recorded in All Saints, Tooting, one of London's best acoustics.) Stunner.