Simon Knott
@simoninsuffolk.bsky.social
'dust in the air suspended,
marks the place where a story ended'
Find me at http://www.simonknott.co.uk
Also available on X/Twitter. All photos mine.
marks the place where a story ended'
Find me at http://www.simonknott.co.uk
Also available on X/Twitter. All photos mine.
The famous 'Valentine' letter from Margery Brews to John Paston III, 14 February 1477, photographed in 'Medieval Women' at the British Library a year or so ago. It's generally believed to be the oldest surviving correspondence expressing love on the feast of St Valentine.
February 14, 2026 at 2:32 PM
The famous 'Valentine' letter from Margery Brews to John Paston III, 14 February 1477, photographed in 'Medieval Women' at the British Library a year or so ago. It's generally believed to be the oldest surviving correspondence expressing love on the feast of St Valentine.
'I know I was writing stories when I was five. I don’t remember what I did before that. Just loafed, I suppose.' - PG Wodehouse
Remembering one of the greatest humorists of the 20th (or any other) Century - P. G. WODEHOUSE - who left us 51yrs ago today, aged 93.
February 14, 2026 at 11:25 AM
'I know I was writing stories when I was five. I don’t remember what I did before that. Just loafed, I suppose.' - PG Wodehouse
If anyone is interested in seeing more from the exhibition, there's a selection of them in a set on my flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/norfo...
February 14, 2026 at 9:31 AM
If anyone is interested in seeing more from the exhibition, there's a selection of them in a set on my flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/norfo...
Reorganising my office bookshelves (as you do) I happened to open Camden's Kent and notice for the first time that it has Sir Roy Strong's bookplate in the front. He must have had a clear out at some point.
February 14, 2026 at 9:21 AM
Reorganising my office bookshelves (as you do) I happened to open Camden's Kent and notice for the first time that it has Sir Roy Strong's bookplate in the front. He must have had a clear out at some point.
'Design for wallpaper: Tree and Cow' by Edward Bawden, 1927. Seen and admired a couple of weeks ago in 'Gathering Landscapes: 150 Years of Collecting' at Weston Park Museum, Sheffield. 1/3
February 14, 2026 at 7:49 AM
'Design for wallpaper: Tree and Cow' by Edward Bawden, 1927. Seen and admired a couple of weeks ago in 'Gathering Landscapes: 150 Years of Collecting' at Weston Park Museum, Sheffield. 1/3
Huddersfield in the rain. The Kirklees Stadium, still popularly known as the John Smith Stadium despite a new sponsor, from Fitzwilliam Street. Designed by Populous, opened in 1994, it's the best of the new generation of football stadia, winning RIBA Building of the Year 1995.
February 14, 2026 at 6:49 AM
Huddersfield in the rain. The Kirklees Stadium, still popularly known as the John Smith Stadium despite a new sponsor, from Fitzwilliam Street. Designed by Populous, opened in 1994, it's the best of the new generation of football stadia, winning RIBA Building of the Year 1995.
Proudly serving the people.
An Ipswich bus at Tower Ramparts, 13 February 2026.
An Ipswich bus at Tower Ramparts, 13 February 2026.
February 13, 2026 at 10:01 PM
Proudly serving the people.
An Ipswich bus at Tower Ramparts, 13 February 2026.
An Ipswich bus at Tower Ramparts, 13 February 2026.
The Arctic Monkeys, the Human League and Jarvis Cocker on a pub sign. The Frog and Parrot, Division Street, Sheffield.
February 13, 2026 at 9:46 PM
The Arctic Monkeys, the Human League and Jarvis Cocker on a pub sign. The Frog and Parrot, Division Street, Sheffield.
Blades v Owls. A detail of the 10m long 'Sheffield Through The Ages' mural by Joe Scarborough, 2006, in Weston Park Museum, Sheffield. Shout outs for the Fat Cat, Sheffield Star and BBC Radio Sheffield, too.
February 13, 2026 at 9:24 AM
Blades v Owls. A detail of the 10m long 'Sheffield Through The Ages' mural by Joe Scarborough, 2006, in Weston Park Museum, Sheffield. Shout outs for the Fat Cat, Sheffield Star and BBC Radio Sheffield, too.
'Boy With Dove' by Anthony Padgett, 2025, in Weston Park, Sheffield. He was installed on the 75th anniversary of Pablo Picasso's participation in the 1950 World Peace Conference in Sheffield, and sits appropriately outside the world-renowned Sheffield Children's Hospital.
February 13, 2026 at 7:59 AM
'Boy With Dove' by Anthony Padgett, 2025, in Weston Park, Sheffield. He was installed on the 75th anniversary of Pablo Picasso's participation in the 1950 World Peace Conference in Sheffield, and sits appropriately outside the world-renowned Sheffield Children's Hospital.
I think I have got better and better at checking my posts for bizarre autocorrections, or at least I'm certainly trying to be. But I'm afraid I missed 'René' being turned into 'Renault' here! (In a funny way, it seems possible though...)
2/3 Elsewhere in the exhibition, 'Poire et Rose' by Renault Magritte, 1966, from his les Moyens d'Existence.
February 12, 2026 at 5:53 PM
I think I have got better and better at checking my posts for bizarre autocorrections, or at least I'm certainly trying to be. But I'm afraid I missed 'René' being turned into 'Renault' here! (In a funny way, it seems possible though...)
There are some fascinating things in the current 'Colour, Shape, Pattern' exhibition at Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich. It begins with a series of sketches, engravings and lithographs. Here's Renoir's portrait of Vollard, 1904.
February 12, 2026 at 12:56 PM
There are some fascinating things in the current 'Colour, Shape, Pattern' exhibition at Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich. It begins with a series of sketches, engravings and lithographs. Here's Renoir's portrait of Vollard, 1904.
To Christchurch Mansion!
February 12, 2026 at 12:09 PM
To Christchurch Mansion!
Ebenezer Elliott, Weston Park, Sheffield.
'Your own Ebenezer
Looks down from his height
On back street and alley
And chemical valley
Laid out in the light;
On ugly and pretty
Where industry thrives
In this hill-shadowed city
Of razors and knives.'
'An Edwardian Sunday, Broomhill', John Betjeman.
'Your own Ebenezer
Looks down from his height
On back street and alley
And chemical valley
Laid out in the light;
On ugly and pretty
Where industry thrives
In this hill-shadowed city
Of razors and knives.'
'An Edwardian Sunday, Broomhill', John Betjeman.
February 12, 2026 at 9:59 AM
Ebenezer Elliott, Weston Park, Sheffield.
'Your own Ebenezer
Looks down from his height
On back street and alley
And chemical valley
Laid out in the light;
On ugly and pretty
Where industry thrives
In this hill-shadowed city
Of razors and knives.'
'An Edwardian Sunday, Broomhill', John Betjeman.
'Your own Ebenezer
Looks down from his height
On back street and alley
And chemical valley
Laid out in the light;
On ugly and pretty
Where industry thrives
In this hill-shadowed city
Of razors and knives.'
'An Edwardian Sunday, Broomhill', John Betjeman.
'I fell asleep, waking at the fumes
And furnace-glares of Sheffield, where I changed,
And ate an awful pie, and walked along
The platform to its end to see the ranged
Joining and parting lines...'
Philip Larkin, 'Dockery & Son'
A view from the end of platform 5, Sheffield railway station.
And furnace-glares of Sheffield, where I changed,
And ate an awful pie, and walked along
The platform to its end to see the ranged
Joining and parting lines...'
Philip Larkin, 'Dockery & Son'
A view from the end of platform 5, Sheffield railway station.
February 12, 2026 at 9:20 AM
'I fell asleep, waking at the fumes
And furnace-glares of Sheffield, where I changed,
And ate an awful pie, and walked along
The platform to its end to see the ranged
Joining and parting lines...'
Philip Larkin, 'Dockery & Son'
A view from the end of platform 5, Sheffield railway station.
And furnace-glares of Sheffield, where I changed,
And ate an awful pie, and walked along
The platform to its end to see the ranged
Joining and parting lines...'
Philip Larkin, 'Dockery & Son'
A view from the end of platform 5, Sheffield railway station.
The chartist leader Samuel Holberry, 'who at the early age of 27 died in York Castle, after suffering an imprisonment of 2 years and 3 months, June 21st 1842, for advocating what to him appeared to be the true interest of the people of England'.
His headstone in Sheffield General Cemetery.
His headstone in Sheffield General Cemetery.
February 12, 2026 at 8:30 AM
The chartist leader Samuel Holberry, 'who at the early age of 27 died in York Castle, after suffering an imprisonment of 2 years and 3 months, June 21st 1842, for advocating what to him appeared to be the true interest of the people of England'.
His headstone in Sheffield General Cemetery.
His headstone in Sheffield General Cemetery.
Today's the feast of St Julian Hospitaller, recorded in the Golden Legend as a tireless charity worker after a prediction that he would grow up to kill his parents came true. He's depicted on the rood screen at Suffield, Norfolk, a hawk, his constant companion, on his arm. 1/3
February 12, 2026 at 7:22 AM
Today's the feast of St Julian Hospitaller, recorded in the Golden Legend as a tireless charity worker after a prediction that he would grow up to kill his parents came true. He's depicted on the rood screen at Suffield, Norfolk, a hawk, his constant companion, on his arm. 1/3
The Holly Street side doors of Sheffield City Hall, with the arms of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. Three for the price of one for #ADoorableThursday.
February 12, 2026 at 6:33 AM
The Holly Street side doors of Sheffield City Hall, with the arms of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. Three for the price of one for #ADoorableThursday.
I'm told by someone who saw the parallel post to this on X that the Stubbing Wharf closed in early January, which is a shame.
The Stubbing Wharf is a pub by the Rochdale Canal on the outskirts of Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. One winter's day in 1959, the poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, recently married, sat in the bar and argued about where they would live.
More: tinyurl.com/4n8b4s3d
More: tinyurl.com/4n8b4s3d
February 11, 2026 at 9:29 PM
I'm told by someone who saw the parallel post to this on X that the Stubbing Wharf closed in early January, which is a shame.
Two elephants flank John Shortridge's name and hand on the former Shortridge & Howell offices, the Wicker, Sheffield. 1/3
February 11, 2026 at 9:56 AM
Two elephants flank John Shortridge's name and hand on the former Shortridge & Howell offices, the Wicker, Sheffield. 1/3
Sylvia Plath waits with her bike at the Shoulder of Mutton, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. She's buried in Heptonstall extension churchyard on the hillside above.
February 11, 2026 at 8:37 AM
Sylvia Plath waits with her bike at the Shoulder of Mutton, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. She's buried in Heptonstall extension churchyard on the hillside above.
The poet Sylvia Plath committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in London #OTD 11 February 1963. A long-troubled soul, she's buried in the deep peace of Heptonstall extension churchyard, West Yorkshire.
February 11, 2026 at 8:33 AM
The poet Sylvia Plath committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in London #OTD 11 February 1963. A long-troubled soul, she's buried in the deep peace of Heptonstall extension churchyard, West Yorkshire.
The writer Patrick Leigh Fermor was born #OTD 11 February 1915. In December 1933, at the age of 18, he set out to walk across Europe from London to Constantinople, a journey which took him four years. His story captures the continent in the deceptive peace before the Second World War. 1/3
February 11, 2026 at 8:19 AM
The writer Patrick Leigh Fermor was born #OTD 11 February 1915. In December 1933, at the age of 18, he set out to walk across Europe from London to Constantinople, a journey which took him four years. His story captures the continent in the deceptive peace before the Second World War. 1/3
The former showroom of the Wharncliffe Fire Clay Works, 1888, Devonshire Street, Sheffield. The factory was at Deepcar and made the decorative tiles and bricks that were used in the showroom's construction. This side is around the corner on an orphaned stretch of Broomhall Street. 1/3
February 11, 2026 at 6:43 AM
The former showroom of the Wharncliffe Fire Clay Works, 1888, Devonshire Street, Sheffield. The factory was at Deepcar and made the decorative tiles and bricks that were used in the showroom's construction. This side is around the corner on an orphaned stretch of Broomhall Street. 1/3
Somme Barracks, Glossop Road, Sheffield, home of the 1st West Yorkshire Royal Engineers (Vols), by Alfred Turnell, 1907.
February 10, 2026 at 9:54 PM
Somme Barracks, Glossop Road, Sheffield, home of the 1st West Yorkshire Royal Engineers (Vols), by Alfred Turnell, 1907.