Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
@swallowtailarch.bsky.social
Castles & Landscapes Expert | Research, Writing, Review, & Reach in Archaeology, History & Heritage | Where Words Work
www.swallowtailarchaeology.co.uk
#queenoflostcastles #LegendLadyLandscape
#ResearchWritingReviewReach
www.swallowtailarchaeology.co.uk
#queenoflostcastles #LegendLadyLandscape
#ResearchWritingReviewReach
Pinned
In our latest blog we have a guest post from @swallowtailarch.bsky.social talking about her latest fascinating research looking at Eleanor of Castile's (Edward I's wife) impact on the building of one of Wales's great castles, Caernarfon: castlestudiestrust.org/blog/2025/05...
My latest blog, courtesy of, and thanks to, @castlestudies.bsky.social
#medievalsky
#castle
#landscapes
#legendladylandscape
#QueenOfLostCastles
#SwallowtailArchaeology
#ResearchWritingReviewReach
#medievalsky
#castle
#landscapes
#legendladylandscape
#QueenOfLostCastles
#SwallowtailArchaeology
#ResearchWritingReviewReach
November 11, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Just led a brilliant Walk & Talk at #CaergwrleCastle with the Cambrian Archaeological Association! 🏰✨
We explored what’s known – and still debated – about this rare hybrid of Welsh siting & Edwardian-strength masonry, perched above the River Alyn. 1/3
#MedievalCastles #WelshHistory #MedievalSky
We explored what’s known – and still debated – about this rare hybrid of Welsh siting & Edwardian-strength masonry, perched above the River Alyn. 1/3
#MedievalCastles #WelshHistory #MedievalSky
September 16, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Just led a brilliant Walk & Talk at #CaergwrleCastle with the Cambrian Archaeological Association! 🏰✨
We explored what’s known – and still debated – about this rare hybrid of Welsh siting & Edwardian-strength masonry, perched above the River Alyn. 1/3
#MedievalCastles #WelshHistory #MedievalSky
We explored what’s known – and still debated – about this rare hybrid of Welsh siting & Edwardian-strength masonry, perched above the River Alyn. 1/3
#MedievalCastles #WelshHistory #MedievalSky
To book your place, contact me on rachel@swallowtailarchaeology.co.uk
*Reminder* Free Cambrians Walk and talk this Saturday Sept 13, 2025! Come and join @swallowtailarch.bsky.social Dr Rachel Swallow- Queen of Lost Castles 🏰- and learn all about Caergwrle Castle, Anglo-Welsh/Marches. To book: cambrians.org.uk/walks-and-ta...
September 11, 2025 at 6:16 AM
To book your place, contact me on rachel@swallowtailarchaeology.co.uk
Reposted by Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
Enjoying attending the Thirteenth Century Conference online today. Currently following the first Bjorn Weiler Memorial Lecture,by Daniel Power on Eleanor of Castile's inheritance in Ponthieu and Aumale. #medieval #medievalsky
September 5, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Enjoying attending the Thirteenth Century Conference online today. Currently following the first Bjorn Weiler Memorial Lecture,by Daniel Power on Eleanor of Castile's inheritance in Ponthieu and Aumale. #medieval #medievalsky
🏰✨ Free Walk & Talk! ✨🏰
📅 Sat 13 Sept 2025 | ⏰ 2–4 pm
📍 Caergwrle Castle, Flintshire
📩 Reserve your spot: rachel@swallowtailarchaeology.co.uk
#SwallowtailArchaeology #QueenOfLostCastles #ResearchWritingReviewReach #CaergwrleCastle #WelshHistory #CastlesOfWales #LegendLadyLandscape #medievalsky
📅 Sat 13 Sept 2025 | ⏰ 2–4 pm
📍 Caergwrle Castle, Flintshire
📩 Reserve your spot: rachel@swallowtailarchaeology.co.uk
#SwallowtailArchaeology #QueenOfLostCastles #ResearchWritingReviewReach #CaergwrleCastle #WelshHistory #CastlesOfWales #LegendLadyLandscape #medievalsky
September 2, 2025 at 7:08 PM
🏰✨ Free Walk & Talk! ✨🏰
📅 Sat 13 Sept 2025 | ⏰ 2–4 pm
📍 Caergwrle Castle, Flintshire
📩 Reserve your spot: rachel@swallowtailarchaeology.co.uk
#SwallowtailArchaeology #QueenOfLostCastles #ResearchWritingReviewReach #CaergwrleCastle #WelshHistory #CastlesOfWales #LegendLadyLandscape #medievalsky
📅 Sat 13 Sept 2025 | ⏰ 2–4 pm
📍 Caergwrle Castle, Flintshire
📩 Reserve your spot: rachel@swallowtailarchaeology.co.uk
#SwallowtailArchaeology #QueenOfLostCastles #ResearchWritingReviewReach #CaergwrleCastle #WelshHistory #CastlesOfWales #LegendLadyLandscape #medievalsky
Acorns on sun-burnt August grass 🌱☀️
In medieval Britain, the oak was power itself — boundary marker, court tree, symbol of endurance and lordship. 🌳👑
#Oak #Acorns #BritishCountryside #MedievalHistory #Folklore #queenoflostcastles #medievalsky
In medieval Britain, the oak was power itself — boundary marker, court tree, symbol of endurance and lordship. 🌳👑
#Oak #Acorns #BritishCountryside #MedievalHistory #Folklore #queenoflostcastles #medievalsky
August 27, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Acorns on sun-burnt August grass 🌱☀️
In medieval Britain, the oak was power itself — boundary marker, court tree, symbol of endurance and lordship. 🌳👑
#Oak #Acorns #BritishCountryside #MedievalHistory #Folklore #queenoflostcastles #medievalsky
In medieval Britain, the oak was power itself — boundary marker, court tree, symbol of endurance and lordship. 🌳👑
#Oak #Acorns #BritishCountryside #MedievalHistory #Folklore #queenoflostcastles #medievalsky
St. Mary’s, #Beverley, #Yorkshire - founded AD 1120.
Though the #Lincoln #Imp is famous, the Beverley Imp is arguably more frightening—yet perhaps also endearing?! Its grotesque face vividly shows how #medieval carvers mixed #myth and #morality into #sacred spaces.
#medievalsky
Though the #Lincoln #Imp is famous, the Beverley Imp is arguably more frightening—yet perhaps also endearing?! Its grotesque face vividly shows how #medieval carvers mixed #myth and #morality into #sacred spaces.
#medievalsky
August 19, 2025 at 8:22 AM
St. Mary’s, #Beverley, #Yorkshire - founded AD 1120.
Though the #Lincoln #Imp is famous, the Beverley Imp is arguably more frightening—yet perhaps also endearing?! Its grotesque face vividly shows how #medieval carvers mixed #myth and #morality into #sacred spaces.
#medievalsky
Though the #Lincoln #Imp is famous, the Beverley Imp is arguably more frightening—yet perhaps also endearing?! Its grotesque face vividly shows how #medieval carvers mixed #myth and #morality into #sacred spaces.
#medievalsky
August 15, 2025 at 7:30 PM
August 4, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Reposted by Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
One of two stones discovered on the moors around Whitby and given to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society by antiquarian Canon Raines in 1895.
One disappeared, but this fantastic bit of #rockart can still be seen at York Museum Gardens. 📸 my own, yesterday.
One disappeared, but this fantastic bit of #rockart can still be seen at York Museum Gardens. 📸 my own, yesterday.
August 2, 2025 at 10:43 AM
One of two stones discovered on the moors around Whitby and given to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society by antiquarian Canon Raines in 1895.
One disappeared, but this fantastic bit of #rockart can still be seen at York Museum Gardens. 📸 my own, yesterday.
One disappeared, but this fantastic bit of #rockart can still be seen at York Museum Gardens. 📸 my own, yesterday.
Reposted by Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
One of the staircases leading from the front lawns up to Marbury Hall, #Cheshire (pic my own), & an aerial image from before the hall was demolished in 1969 (pic via the Friends of Anderton & Marbury). The site has been a country park since the late 1970s - a local treasure. #StaircaseSaturday
August 2, 2025 at 8:33 AM
One of the staircases leading from the front lawns up to Marbury Hall, #Cheshire (pic my own), & an aerial image from before the hall was demolished in 1969 (pic via the Friends of Anderton & Marbury). The site has been a country park since the late 1970s - a local treasure. #StaircaseSaturday
Some very lovely people very kindly made my #dream come true a year ago today!
Another Big One off my Big #Birthday #BucketList!
Just loved it! 😊
#tractor
Another Big One off my Big #Birthday #BucketList!
Just loved it! 😊
#tractor
July 30, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Some very lovely people very kindly made my #dream come true a year ago today!
Another Big One off my Big #Birthday #BucketList!
Just loved it! 😊
#tractor
Another Big One off my Big #Birthday #BucketList!
Just loved it! 😊
#tractor
Reposted by Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
Alltwen Moon.
July 28, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Alltwen Moon.
Reposted by Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
Glastonbury Tor this evening.
July 28, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Glastonbury Tor this evening.
Reposted by Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
Reposted by Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
New book just arrived for review! Exciting #medievalsky
July 26, 2025 at 12:46 PM
New book just arrived for review! Exciting #medievalsky
Reposted by Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
'O luminous late day!
The air's enchanted.
The white stork flying by
is half asleep
and the swallows
cross one another—wings
sharp-stretched
to the gold air—
and away'
-Antonio Machado
@signemaene.com welcomes you to a Spanish #BookWormSat.
🎨Kerry Buck
The air's enchanted.
The white stork flying by
is half asleep
and the swallows
cross one another—wings
sharp-stretched
to the gold air—
and away'
-Antonio Machado
@signemaene.com welcomes you to a Spanish #BookWormSat.
🎨Kerry Buck
July 26, 2025 at 7:29 AM
'O luminous late day!
The air's enchanted.
The white stork flying by
is half asleep
and the swallows
cross one another—wings
sharp-stretched
to the gold air—
and away'
-Antonio Machado
@signemaene.com welcomes you to a Spanish #BookWormSat.
🎨Kerry Buck
The air's enchanted.
The white stork flying by
is half asleep
and the swallows
cross one another—wings
sharp-stretched
to the gold air—
and away'
-Antonio Machado
@signemaene.com welcomes you to a Spanish #BookWormSat.
🎨Kerry Buck
Reposted by Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
Rosamund's Tower, #Pickering Castle. Early C14 as part of a broader upgrade of the outer curtain, from timber palisade to stone wall. William I began the castle in the years after Hastings, as part of his 'harrying' of the North. #WallsOnWednesday #NorthYorkshire #Castles
📷 My own
📷 My own
July 23, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Rosamund's Tower, #Pickering Castle. Early C14 as part of a broader upgrade of the outer curtain, from timber palisade to stone wall. William I began the castle in the years after Hastings, as part of his 'harrying' of the North. #WallsOnWednesday #NorthYorkshire #Castles
📷 My own
📷 My own
Thank you for sharing, @suegreaney.bsky.social !
New publication covering 25yrs of landscape and palaeoenvironmental research on Lake Flixton (North Yorks) - Palaeolithic and Mesolithic wonders! Available to download for free here: www.arch.cam.ac.uk/mcdonald-ins...
McDonald Institute Monographs Archive (2021‒2025)
Our full catalogue is presented here by publication date. Our publications are distributed by Pen & Sword Books/Casemate Academic. Direct links to Pen & Sword Books are included in the catalogue
www.arch.cam.ac.uk
July 23, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Thank you for sharing, @suegreaney.bsky.social !
Reposted by Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
Today is publication day for the long-awaited PAPERBACK edition of ‘Magic in Merlin’s Realm’, my book about the political significance of magic in Britain from the Middle Ages to modern times 📚🧙♂️🔮 @universitypress.cambridge.org www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...
July 22, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Today is publication day for the long-awaited PAPERBACK edition of ‘Magic in Merlin’s Realm’, my book about the political significance of magic in Britain from the Middle Ages to modern times 📚🧙♂️🔮 @universitypress.cambridge.org www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...
Worn holloways, whispering sunken lanes.
A #castle nestled in the folds of its landscape.
No sound but #nature.
Time and Peace hold their breath. 😊
#MedievalWales #Castles #LandscapeDreaming #SunkenLanes #medievalsky #queenoflostcastles #legendladylandscape
A #castle nestled in the folds of its landscape.
No sound but #nature.
Time and Peace hold their breath. 😊
#MedievalWales #Castles #LandscapeDreaming #SunkenLanes #medievalsky #queenoflostcastles #legendladylandscape
July 23, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Worn holloways, whispering sunken lanes.
A #castle nestled in the folds of its landscape.
No sound but #nature.
Time and Peace hold their breath. 😊
#MedievalWales #Castles #LandscapeDreaming #SunkenLanes #medievalsky #queenoflostcastles #legendladylandscape
A #castle nestled in the folds of its landscape.
No sound but #nature.
Time and Peace hold their breath. 😊
#MedievalWales #Castles #LandscapeDreaming #SunkenLanes #medievalsky #queenoflostcastles #legendladylandscape
Reposted by Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
Anyone still unsure of the difference between a publisher and a vanity press? Here it is. Publishers make money from selling books to the public. Vanity presses make money from selling publishing services to authors. In one model, the author gets paid. In the other, the author gets charged. Simple.
July 22, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Anyone still unsure of the difference between a publisher and a vanity press? Here it is. Publishers make money from selling books to the public. Vanity presses make money from selling publishing services to authors. In one model, the author gets paid. In the other, the author gets charged. Simple.
Reposted by Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
Obligatory castle pic from medievalist on holiday - who will be the first to guess *which* castle?
July 22, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Obligatory castle pic from medievalist on holiday - who will be the first to guess *which* castle?
Reposted by Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
Arguing about Castles - 2 medieval Mulgrave Castles and a hypothesis, presented this morning in Leeds. Might make a good talk for the winter programme @whitbynats.bsky.social @whitbymuseum.bsky.social or a summer outing in 2026.
July 7, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Arguing about Castles - 2 medieval Mulgrave Castles and a hypothesis, presented this morning in Leeds. Might make a good talk for the winter programme @whitbynats.bsky.social @whitbymuseum.bsky.social or a summer outing in 2026.
Reposted by Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA
Some excellent @castlestudies.bsky.social action @imc-leeds.bsky.social this afternoon! Organised by @willwyeth.bsky.social, 'Arguing About Castles' featured papers from @swallowtailarch.bsky.social, Christian Clarkson (Simpson & Brown), and Ryan Prescott (Leeds).
July 7, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Some excellent @castlestudies.bsky.social action @imc-leeds.bsky.social this afternoon! Organised by @willwyeth.bsky.social, 'Arguing About Castles' featured papers from @swallowtailarch.bsky.social, Christian Clarkson (Simpson & Brown), and Ryan Prescott (Leeds).