Author
Laurence Mitchell
Writer and photographer based in Norwich, UKMarch 2021 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 -
Recent Posts
Category Archives: History
To the Lighthouse
They are taking the lighthouse down. It was really just a matter of time. Time and tide, it is said, wait for no man, and the two make for a powerful combination on this rapidly changing shoreline. The Orford lighthouse … Continue reading
Posted in History, Suffolk, Uncategorized
Tagged cooling towers, lighthouse, Mostar, Orford Ness, psychogeography, Sheffield, Syria, W G Sebald
23 Comments
Blakean Spirit
I wander thro’ each charter’d street, Near where the charter’d Thames does flow. And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe. William Blake London Last week I paid a visit to London to go and … Continue reading
Posted in art, Cities, History, Literature
Tagged Bunhill Fields, John Clare, London, poetry, William Blake
2 Comments
All Fall Down
Two weeks ago I read a news article about the demolition of the cooling towers at Ironbridge on the River Severn in Shropshire. Their final demise was witnessed by many who came to see the four great towers collapsing after … Continue reading
Posted in History, Midlands, Northern England
Tagged cooling towers, Industrial Revolution, iron, Ironbridge, Shropshire, Yorkshire
4 Comments
The Crossing Place
A pinch of the River Clyde; a squeezing of the water that flows west through Glasgow towards the sea; a watery place where shipyards once dominated the shoreline and the air shook with the hammering of rivets, the scrape and … Continue reading
Posted in Cities, History, Scotland
Tagged churches, Glasgow, Govan, gravestones, Hen Ogledd, River Clyde, shipbuilding, Strathclyde, Zaha Hadid
11 Comments
Riasg Buidhe – an abandoned village on the Isle of Colonsay
It is not that easy to find but if you go to the recycling depot at the highest point on the road between Scalasaig and Kiloran on the Isle of Colonsay, then follow the rough track that leads towards the … Continue reading
Posted in History, Islands, Scotland
Tagged abandoned villages, Colonsay, Gaelic, Hebrides, Riasg Buidhe, ruins, St Kilda
9 Comments
A Berlin Interlude
What do you do on a drizzly grey day in Berlin? A midwinter day when the sun is enfeebled and hidden, cowering somewhere beneath a thick duvet of cloud. What do you do in a city that you do not … Continue reading
Posted in Cities, History, Travel
Tagged Berlin, Germany, Karl Liebknecht, light, Rosa Luxemburg, Spartacists, winter
6 Comments
Callanish
“a place appointed for worship in the time of heathenism” Martin Martin A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland circa 1695 Someone once said that the wonder evoked by historical sites is inversely proportional to the number of eyes … Continue reading
Posted in History, Islands, Scotland, Travel
Tagged Callanish, Great Bernera, Lewis, monoliths, Outer Hebrides, prehistory, standing stones, Stonehenge
9 Comments
Blyth Spirit
Back in April I took part in a writing workshop in Suffolk led by Ivor Murrell of Suffolk Poetry Society and Melinda Appleby of Waveney & Blyth Arts. The workshop encouraged the participants to immerse themselves in the sights, sounds … Continue reading
The Minster in The Saints
The Saints is a small, loosely defined area of northeast Suffolk just south of the River Waveney and the Norfolk border. Effectively it is a fairly unremarkable patch of arable countryside that contains within it a baker’s dozen of small … Continue reading
Posted in History, Suffolk, Travel, wildlife
Tagged Anglo-Saxons, churches, genius loci, Romans, sense of place, South Elmham, The Saints, woods
9 Comments
Skellig Michael – The Edge of the World
Today is St Patrick’s Day and March 17 is the supposed date of the 5th-century missionary’s death. Patrick was the forerunner of many early missionaries who came to Irish shores to preach Christianity, the island more receptive to new ideas … Continue reading
Posted in History, Islands, Travel, wildlife
Tagged Ireland, monasteries, monks, seabirds, Skellig Michael, Skelligs
12 Comments