Ben Potts
@benjaminsteven.bsky.social
Local Gov. Archaeology, Books, Art, Mountains. Birmingham City, Post-Punk, Films. Usually found in the Yorks, Worcs, and Pembs Tri-State area. History and Philosophy @ UWL.
Proper bit of stone...
December 27, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Proper bit of stone...
Oh, just seen this. Nice to see others relate to Longbridge. The scene on the dual carriageway appeared to be Rubery and Colmers Farm school.
The excellent @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social (which has done such great reporting on the flag epidemic over the last few months) delivers the goods again today with this deep dive into the Midlands mythology of Penda's Fen.
Penda’s Fen reinvents Mercia for the modern age
How an experimental British 1970s television play pioneered a folk horror revival
www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk
December 26, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Oh, just seen this. Nice to see others relate to Longbridge. The scene on the dual carriageway appeared to be Rubery and Colmers Farm school.
Spending Boxing Day morning watching Penda's Fen in a Cold and Lemsip driven-delirium.
My grandparents lived in Pinvin, and the house my grandfather built there was called Penda's Fen.
Photo of the River Avon, Pershore in the shadow of Bredon Hill.
My grandparents lived in Pinvin, and the house my grandfather built there was called Penda's Fen.
Photo of the River Avon, Pershore in the shadow of Bredon Hill.
December 26, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Spending Boxing Day morning watching Penda's Fen in a Cold and Lemsip driven-delirium.
My grandparents lived in Pinvin, and the house my grandfather built there was called Penda's Fen.
Photo of the River Avon, Pershore in the shadow of Bredon Hill.
My grandparents lived in Pinvin, and the house my grandfather built there was called Penda's Fen.
Photo of the River Avon, Pershore in the shadow of Bredon Hill.
Reposted by Ben Potts
Clear #Christmas sky this morning in the #Cairngorms
December 25, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Clear #Christmas sky this morning in the #Cairngorms
Between Oppenheimer for Christmas and Paddington, Angel of Death seemingly everywhere (I hear the beating of huge wings etc) - I get the impression that our Overlords are preparing us for something bad.
I see that Oppenheimer is on telly soon. Is it a Christmas movie now?
"Season's greetings. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
"Season's greetings. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
December 23, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Between Oppenheimer for Christmas and Paddington, Angel of Death seemingly everywhere (I hear the beating of huge wings etc) - I get the impression that our Overlords are preparing us for something bad.
Reposted by Ben Potts
A homemade 1944 Christmas card with a geological map of the Lake District cut from an original William Smith 1815 geological map of England and Wales. It was made by FJ North of the National Museum of Wales from the remnants of a map he rescued from a bonfire. Today Smith maps sell for over £100K.
![Left, the picture of a homemade Christmas card of 1944, a simple geological map of the Lake District, with rocks shown in brown and blue shades; top right, the typewritten caption on the card: 'One of the few fragments of William Smith's Geological Map (1815), rescued from the debris of a bonfire. The owner supposed that such an old map could not be of any use, but thought that FJN [FJ North] would like to have a newer one that he had saved. It was a 1910 map from a railway timetable!'; lower right: the burnt and cut remnant of the northern sheet of Smith's map.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vcl75pfg74dsskrzvynq5rez/bafkreiejqdomarpem6q2obtqdzddakiyzahz72sv3ncv6ldv4ilocbegna@jpeg)
December 23, 2025 at 7:16 AM
A homemade 1944 Christmas card with a geological map of the Lake District cut from an original William Smith 1815 geological map of England and Wales. It was made by FJ North of the National Museum of Wales from the remnants of a map he rescued from a bonfire. Today Smith maps sell for over £100K.
Reposted by Ben Potts
Reposted by Ben Potts
Last few remaining, love mine, it's a beautiful thing in the mysterious land of Neolithic henges and the immense Devil's Arrows standing stones, North Yorkshire, England. Help fund Thornborough #Archaeology Group's community projects thornboroughag.org/tag-calendars/
December 22, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Last few remaining, love mine, it's a beautiful thing in the mysterious land of Neolithic henges and the immense Devil's Arrows standing stones, North Yorkshire, England. Help fund Thornborough #Archaeology Group's community projects thornboroughag.org/tag-calendars/
December 21, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Reposted by Ben Potts
An exciting delivery at solstice time. Very much looking forward to reading this….#SkyscapeArchaeology
December 20, 2025 at 2:35 PM
An exciting delivery at solstice time. Very much looking forward to reading this….#SkyscapeArchaeology
Reposted by Ben Potts
WHAT’s up guys its Plato welcome back to the cave. Guys we’ve got some CRAZY shadows for you today you are not gonna want to miss this! But first I have to thank our sponsor OnX Backcountry
December 19, 2025 at 4:05 PM
WHAT’s up guys its Plato welcome back to the cave. Guys we’ve got some CRAZY shadows for you today you are not gonna want to miss this! But first I have to thank our sponsor OnX Backcountry
Reposted by Ben Potts
On the bright side, future teachers of evidence in public policy will not be short of examples of what happens when dogmatic contrarian certainty is combined with junk pseudoscience and confirmation bias.
December 20, 2025 at 6:46 AM
On the bright side, future teachers of evidence in public policy will not be short of examples of what happens when dogmatic contrarian certainty is combined with junk pseudoscience and confirmation bias.
Reposted by Ben Potts
Absolutely nobody asked for this BUT
English Anglican cathedrals that have burned down, fallen over, and sank into the swamp: a thread.
English Anglican cathedrals that have burned down, fallen over, and sank into the swamp: a thread.
December 18, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Absolutely nobody asked for this BUT
English Anglican cathedrals that have burned down, fallen over, and sank into the swamp: a thread.
English Anglican cathedrals that have burned down, fallen over, and sank into the swamp: a thread.
Reposted by Ben Potts
✨ New online:
Why are so many non-religious people going on pilgrimages? I walked to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne to find out
Why are so many non-religious people going on pilgrimages? I walked to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne to find out
An atheist goes on pilgrimage
Why are so many non-religious people going on pilgrimages? I walked to the island of Lindisfarne to find out
newhumanist.org.uk
December 18, 2025 at 9:21 PM
✨ New online:
Why are so many non-religious people going on pilgrimages? I walked to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne to find out
Why are so many non-religious people going on pilgrimages? I walked to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne to find out
Reposted by Ben Potts
Cover of the day: The Severn Bridge. There is no date on this, and it appears to have been published privately to mark the completion of works - so that places it just after 1966.
December 18, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Cover of the day: The Severn Bridge. There is no date on this, and it appears to have been published privately to mark the completion of works - so that places it just after 1966.
Ah, man....sad to hear of the demise of Trail magazine (physical copy). Helped me out so much early on in my hillwalking life. Thanks to all the staff over the years for helping me to not die, be comfortable, and find some amazing places.
December 18, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Ah, man....sad to hear of the demise of Trail magazine (physical copy). Helped me out so much early on in my hillwalking life. Thanks to all the staff over the years for helping me to not die, be comfortable, and find some amazing places.
Reposted by Ben Potts
Had a great show at the Jazz Cafe last night. Hung out after the show with friends new & old. Pictured are Luke Haines, Tim Wheeler (Ash) & Bernard Butler late of Suede & many solo adventures. Had a lovely conversation. Then they stood on the sidewalk & mocked my inability to load the van correctly.
December 18, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Had a great show at the Jazz Cafe last night. Hung out after the show with friends new & old. Pictured are Luke Haines, Tim Wheeler (Ash) & Bernard Butler late of Suede & many solo adventures. Had a lovely conversation. Then they stood on the sidewalk & mocked my inability to load the van correctly.
Reposted by Ben Potts
Late November, Ulleskelf station,
early evening darkness. Fog rolling
up the river from the German Sea.
The hiss of gas, a flickering candle...
Steve Ely
early evening darkness. Fog rolling
up the river from the German Sea.
The hiss of gas, a flickering candle...
Steve Ely
First published as a 'digital pamphlet' in 2023, and briefly available as a print edition in 2024, here's the free, downloadable PDF of our 'Winter Songs' mini-anthology, with poems apt for the year's end, and the year to come.
longbarrowpress.com/wp-content/u...
longbarrowpress.com/wp-content/u...
December 17, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Late November, Ulleskelf station,
early evening darkness. Fog rolling
up the river from the German Sea.
The hiss of gas, a flickering candle...
Steve Ely
early evening darkness. Fog rolling
up the river from the German Sea.
The hiss of gas, a flickering candle...
Steve Ely
Reposted by Ben Potts
The Lee Miller exhibition at Tate Britain is really remarkable - a brilliant reflection of an astonishing life. It runs until 15 February #LeeMiller (Self-portrait 1932)
December 15, 2025 at 7:45 PM
The Lee Miller exhibition at Tate Britain is really remarkable - a brilliant reflection of an astonishing life. It runs until 15 February #LeeMiller (Self-portrait 1932)
Reposted by Ben Potts
Reposted by Ben Potts
A couple of different angles of the standing stone at Gardom's Edge, near Baslow in Derbyshire, taken last month 🪨 #StandingStoneSunday
December 14, 2025 at 3:42 PM
A couple of different angles of the standing stone at Gardom's Edge, near Baslow in Derbyshire, taken last month 🪨 #StandingStoneSunday
Long Meg, Cumbria. Photo taken in October. What I took from this visit was a sense of silence and distance - implacable somehow - the inscrutability of the Millenia-long gap between then and now, and the peace that I felt with that. #StandingStoneSunday #Archaeology
December 14, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Long Meg, Cumbria. Photo taken in October. What I took from this visit was a sense of silence and distance - implacable somehow - the inscrutability of the Millenia-long gap between then and now, and the peace that I felt with that. #StandingStoneSunday #Archaeology
Reposted by Ben Potts
Feels like a good time to support @robinince.bsky.social by buying one of his books for Christmas. 'Being Interested: Adventures in Scientific Curiosity' looks good, so I got that one, but he's done a few! www.waterstones.com/author/robin...
Robin Ince books and biography | Waterstones
Explore books by Robin Ince with our selection at Waterstones.com. Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.
www.waterstones.com
December 13, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Feels like a good time to support @robinince.bsky.social by buying one of his books for Christmas. 'Being Interested: Adventures in Scientific Curiosity' looks good, so I got that one, but he's done a few! www.waterstones.com/author/robin...
Loved this view from Grassington Lead Mines over to Pendle Hill, Lancashire.
The mines, active from 15th–19th centuries, left shafts, smelt mills, and spoil heaps across the area in Upper Wharfedale.
The mines, active from 15th–19th centuries, left shafts, smelt mills, and spoil heaps across the area in Upper Wharfedale.
December 13, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Loved this view from Grassington Lead Mines over to Pendle Hill, Lancashire.
The mines, active from 15th–19th centuries, left shafts, smelt mills, and spoil heaps across the area in Upper Wharfedale.
The mines, active from 15th–19th centuries, left shafts, smelt mills, and spoil heaps across the area in Upper Wharfedale.
