Fact-checking the facts! #NextBook #Walthamstow #Pevsner

Bits and bobs are already being teased for this year's Birmingham Heritage Week. Can't wait to see the full line up! I'd best get cracking with my talk n walk proposals/ submissions then 😬😬😅. Deadline 29th July in case you are thinking of taking part 😎. #BirminghamHeritageWeek #LocalHistory

A spot of forest bathing, back in May, before the weather got FIERCE and I melted. (Forest of Dean, where wild boars do roam).

Historic pub fancier? You'll love this fab visual treat: GII Rose Villa Tavern (1919-20), Birmingham Jewellery Quarter. It cuts a fine fancy red brick/terracotta figure on Vyse St/Warstone Lane-perfect to pop to after haunting nearby Warstone Cemetery. Decorated/pictorial tiles! Stained glass! Go!

Love the jaunty font of Geoffrey Buildings, a 1901 brick/ terracotta GII listed building. It strikes a marvellous pose at the junction of John Bright St/Lower Severn St. Once a nightclub, after a bit of a fire/rebuilding, it is now one of the area's striking C19th/early20 terracotta buildings.

I cannot visit #Brighton without popping into The Grand Hotel. In a slight break with tradition, I am enjoying a tea rather than a cocktail. Gasp. Loving how some glorious ceiling details are reflected in the table...

Resting my weary paws at Saltdean's Whitecliffs Cafe following @seasidenetwork.bsky.social / Fred Gray's fabulous Art Deco Modernist walk (in the heat of the midday sun!) from Rottingdean to Saltdean. Now for a spot of gentle seagazing and foot rotations...

Current status: Grumpy Puddle. On vv warm train 2 of journey. For all travelling/already travelled to #Brighton for tomorrow's @seasidenetwork.bsky.social #seaside #heritage symposium, hope journeys are/were as smooth as possible! Hurrah, tomorrow's venue has aircon! Here's some London from train.

The rather unloved-looking Tameside Hippodrome unexpectedly loomed into my vision as I arrived at Tameside Archives... Does anyone know of its fate? It looks pretty lonely. #GreaterManchester #Tameside

When research interests collide! Happy 100th birthday to Skegness' neo-Georgian GII listed former Town Hall, North Parade! 1926: opened as a convalescent home 1964: repurposed as a town hall 2023: sold as 'surplus to requirements' & plans approved to convert it into a hotel.

Say hello to these fabulous beasties who live on #Birmingham's Church of St Martin in the Bullring. Met them at the end of a fab stillwalking.org walk- Devilish Details. Always #lookup! #Architecture #gargoyles #grotesques

One of my latest #HouseHistory projects took me to #Northallerton where I stayed at Porch House, reputedly the town's oldest house. Loved my room, with exposed beams here & there, wonky floor & this painting of Charles I astride a chonky horse-cow. He stayed there apparently. Charles, not the horse.

I finally travelled the Pineapple Express! ... aka the new Camp Hill line... Fabulous to see views I'd not seen before, though couldn't photograph ones near town, on account of the dazzling teatime sunshine! #Birmingham

Accidental Batley visit...! Just time enough to snap a couple of interesting buildings before popping off to my correct destination... #historicbuildings #architecture #researchtrip #historianlife #Yorkshire

A truly glorious spontaneous afternoon in #York yesterday with my fab sister-in-law and niece. The sun! The blossom! The blue sky! The big ole church thing! And two bears including that #Paddington chap. #sunnyafternoon #Yorkshire #springhassprung

View from platform 5b as my journey north continues at historic #York station...

Pulling out of #Sheffield station, I'm glad I twisted my head around, else I'd have missed these jolly platform canopy beauties.

Rather dramatic oilette #Easter Tuck postcard from c.1910... There were several versions of this Faith postcard- this is the blingy one with beads n glitter. Added drama courtesy of sea and crashing wave, though she appears a tad expressionless...

Well, ahoy there! Something exciting re: Birmingham history is coming soon...💃 Pic: Japanned Tray, View of St Martin's Church #Birmingham, from the Bullring, 1815-1835. By Thomas Hollins (From the very wonderful Bham Museums Trust collection of Public Domain images dams.birminghammuseums.org.uk

Popped up the Lickeys* with m'lovely family on Sun in remembrance of m'Dad- would have been his 81st bday. He loved it there, specially as a kid. A popular place visited by generations of Brummies...we were often armed with a flask of orange squash& a pile of fishpaste or egg sarnies. *Lickey Hills!

One of my local parks is lined with cheesy but nice motivational quote benches... This one reads: -'' 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' asked the mole -'Kind' said the boy''. #PinkofInstagram #MotivationalMonday #DawberryFields #Birmingham

1924 ad for Wm Harbrow Ltd, 'Specialists in Design and Constuction of Temporary and Semi-Permanent Buildings.' Temp churches sprang up mid-C19th (until c. WWI) as places of worship for rapidly expanding populations in industrial towns & cities. Also a need for more nonconformist places of worship.

For #InternationalWhiskyDay Whisky A Go Go club over Chetwyns, John Bright St #Birmingham. Popular w.1960s mods. Bands incl local groups & further afield: Jugs O'Henry, Moody Blues, Denny Laine, Spencer Davis, Geno Washington&Ramjam band, Small Faces, Jimmy James&Vagabonds. What a magnificent clock.

Looking through tithe apportionment records online for a Gloucestershire parish, happened upon Purgatory as a field name. Especially like the one that is just 'Part of Purgatory' as opposed to being a full-blown Purgatory... @nationalarchives.gov.uk.web.brid.gy @thegenealogist.bsky.social #archives

Former Futurist Cinema, John Bright St, Birmingham. Not demolished. Repurposed. Awarded GII listed status last year, hurrah! Designed 1914 but delayed by War, closed 1991. 1st Brum cinema to show 'talkies' & an early example of cinema architecture with brick,stone&terracotta dressings. Fancy that!

An hour or so chatting about the history and stories of Britain's town halls for an article, and then pondering why more folks don't want to talk about them...I want to talk more about them 😅.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! For #StDavidsDay this sublime British Railways (Western Region) travel poster for the #seaside resort of #Aberystwyth #Wales. WHERE HOLIDAY FUN BEGINS (you've been told!). Artwork by Harry Riley, probably 1960.

Jam-packed-historical-facts-galore on this information sign, itself now an historical feature at #KingsNorton Green, #Birmingham. I like the final sentence, imploring folk to please treat The Green with care...

Brutalist-inspired detailing on a boundary wall, Sheepcote Street, #Birmingham. I do love an architectural hexagon. #Brutalism #architecture #LookIp

Wonderful medieval buildings, Kings Norton Green #Birmingham near where I grew up 🙂. 1) GII* St Nicolas Place (former merchant house, later Saracens Head), winner of BBC's 2004 Restoration-now up for sale, grrr. 2) GII* Old Grammar School- also part of Restoration 3) GI C13th St Nicolas Church.