Philip Allfrey
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drpda.bsky.social
Philip Allfrey
@drpda.bsky.social
220 followers 110 following 160 posts
Heraldist by night, web developer by day. Lapsed particle physicist. Occasional palaeographer. Accidental digital humanist. He/him
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drpda.bsky.social
The brain is a wonderful thing! Yesterday I had occasion to look up a photo of the old Epsom library, where I worked during high school and the start of university. Almost three decades later I can still remember the shelving layout, and what books went where, almost down to the letter!
Floorplan of Epsom Library with annotations in red as to where the shelves were, and what they contained. The base document is Auckland Council Archives ACC 015/5837-18 (Epsom Library alterations and additions 1973) Photograph by Henry Winkelman of the Epsom Public Library in 1924. The image shows what looks like a white stuccoed house with bay window and tiled roof, with the higher gabled roof of a hall rising behind. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1-W0607.
October 22, 2025 at 7:29 AM
drpda.bsky.social
I made some macarons for a shared lunch today, and I'm very pleased with how they turned out! #DHBakes
Photograph of pink macarons inside a glass domed cake stand on a kitchen bench.
October 19, 2025 at 12:28 AM
drpda.bsky.social
I found a match! The document is from 1 March 1412. It was another Nicholas, the secretary of pope John XXIII.
See "Notice d'un cartulaire du clergé secondaire de Liège", Bulletin de la Commission royale d'Histoire, 1872 Vol 14 p.360
www.persee.fr/doc/bcrh_077...
Extract from a calendar of a cartulary: "65 - 1412, 1er Mars, Datum Rome apud Sanctum-Petrum, kl marcii, pontificatus nostri anno secundo." Then follows a summary of the document in French.
September 6, 2025 at 4:46 AM
drpda.bsky.social
I've been wanting a pedestal desk for my daily workspace for ages, and one finally came up locally in my price bracket a couple of months ago!
Photograph of a wooden desk with brass handles and three panels of gilt-tooled magenta leather, the middle one of which is a sloped writing surface. At the back corners of the desktop are two sets of three small drawers connected by a galleried shelf. In front of the desk is a slat-backed wooden swivel chair.
July 24, 2025 at 10:51 PM
drpda.bsky.social
@dannybate.bsky.social @broadsgirl.bsky.social I've plotted all the places with hythe and hithe in their name from OS Open Names. The regional distribution is quite striking. When you add in road names too, some of these appear to have historical roots. Haven't included non-obvious ones like Chelsea
Map of Great Britain with markers indicating places or roads containing "hythe" or "hithe" in their name Map of Great Britain with markers for places with "hythe" or "hithe" in their name Zoomed in map of the north of Scotland showing 10 markers along the coast, representing places with Hythe or Hithe in the name: Collach Hithe, Little Hythe, Slough Hythe, Crooked Hythe, Portknockie Hythe, Portlong Hythe, Redhythe Point, Old Hythe, Cowhythe Head, Boat Hythe, Fife Hythe.
July 1, 2025 at 1:42 AM
drpda.bsky.social
Putting my paleography and local history degree to good use in correcting a listing at the local auction house :)
Screenshot of an auction listing, reading "Lot Details watercolour and ink, named and detailed verso 'Miss Burke Auckland New Zealand March 29th 1862'. This inscription probably detailing the owner of this work. 220 x 440mm. Note: This catalogue description has been amended due to an expert opinion being received by Cordy's." The note has been highlighted.
June 26, 2025 at 10:40 AM
drpda.bsky.social
4am start this morning but all four of us made it to the ANZAC day dawn service at Auckland War Memorial Museum – Tāmaki Paenga Hira.

Lest we forget.
Photograph of a crowd of people gathered in the dark. A stone monument with flags is present to the right, and a bright light shines right at the camera. Photograph of a crowd in front of the stone cenotaph at Auckland War Memorial Museum – Tāmaki Paenga Hira. The flags of Australia, New Zealand and the UK hang from poles on the side. The sun is just rising in the background.
April 25, 2025 at 8:59 AM
drpda.bsky.social
A quick search of their digitised collections brought up the negative, and it's wonderful! I can zoom in and clearly see the same house which is sketched on the bird's eye view
collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/23205
Detail of late 19th century photograph clearly showing four houses. The central one is Hazelbank. Te Papa photography collection C.011160, https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/23205 Detail of the George Treacy Stevens birds-eye view of the same houses.
April 17, 2025 at 10:05 AM
drpda.bsky.social
One photo in the Auckland Museum collection actually had an x marking the spot and a handwritten annotation of "Hazelbank", though this has not been transcribed into the catalogue record.
Late nineteenth century photograph with vegetation in the foreground looking across a valley to buildings on the ridge opposite. An x marks the location of one building, with the handwritten legend "Hazelbank". Auckland Museum Photography Collection, PH-RES-280, https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/collections/record/1082568
April 17, 2025 at 9:59 AM
drpda.bsky.social
Much searching in other collections located photos of the property from the air, or from across the valley, but these were all of the later house on the site, and indistinct, because the house was very much in the background.
Aerial photograph of Symonds St and vicinity taken in 1939. Someone in decades past has annoted the image with street names. I have circled Hazelbank in red. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 580-ALB22-063. https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photos/id/118000
April 17, 2025 at 9:55 AM
drpda.bsky.social
Auckland Libraries, which has the largest collection of historic photos of the city and the best metadata, only had some photos of showing a corner of the house.
Alt: A photograph from 1919 of a group of women posed formally outside a two-storey house with a balcony. The occasion is the fifth triennial convention of the Australasian YWCAs, and the house is Hazelbank. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 318-Album-90-03-1. https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photos/id/68640
April 17, 2025 at 9:49 AM
drpda.bsky.social
The house with the long driveway was easily identified as Glenside, later Cintra, home of one of Auckland's mayors. The other house is Hazelbank, about which it is harder to find information.
Photograph of a house with a verandah taken in 1902. This is Glenside, at that time known as the Glenalvon boarding house. Christchurch City Libraries, Archive 892, Series 85, Item 9. https://www.canterburystories.nz/collections/archives/archive892/ccl-cs-11762 Circa 1940 photograph of a driveway leading up to the side of a two-story house with bay windows. There are two cars parked in the driveway, which has a stone balustrade along the left hand side. Fletcher Trust Archives P9271/21: Fletcher Holdings Ltd: 1940 Cintra Homestead, Circa 1940. https://collection.fletcherarchives.co.nz/objects/13302/fletcher-holdings-ltd-1940-cintra-homestead
April 17, 2025 at 9:47 AM
drpda.bsky.social
Backstory: a decade ago I came across this birds-eye drawing of Auckland from 1885–6, a year ago I got a full-size print which sits above my desk, and at eye level are these two mansions.
An 1886 birdseye drawing of the city of Auckland, New Zealand as if from a point 1000 feet above and 100 feet to the rear of the hospital, by George Treacy Stevens. Stevens, George Treacy, active 1880s. Stevens, George Treacy, fl 1880s :Auckland. N. Z. 1885-1886. [Auckland, 1886?]. Ref: D-001-006. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22734439 Detail of the same map showing two houses (circled in red by me) with formal gardens, just off Symonds St
April 17, 2025 at 9:42 AM
drpda.bsky.social
I had a similar experience a few weeks ago. After waiting a week I got in touch with the supplier who lodged an enquiry with the courier, and four hours later the package magically started moving again!
Screenshot of tracking details for a parcel, starting on March 7, with no movement between March 9 and March 17, when a customer enquiry was lodged. Within four hours the parcel was handed over to a local courier.
April 9, 2025 at 9:25 AM
drpda.bsky.social
OTD 120 years ago, a cheque was drawn on Maungatautari Peeke, a Māori-operated bank, one of only three such cheques known to survive.
This bank was one of two established by the Kīngitanga; the other was Te Peeke o Aotearoa, which used the same cheque design.

www.kotuia.org.nz/kete-sets/cu...
Photograph of 19th century cheque drawn on Maungatautari Peeke (i.e. Maungatautari Bank). The cheque is entirely in Te Reo Māori. (Image credit: Cambridge Museum) Photograph of a Auckland War Memorial Museum exhibit featuring a £1/kotahi pauna banknote from Te Peeke of Aotearoa, and also a cheque drawn on the same bank. More information: https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collection/object/648032
March 17, 2025 at 2:54 AM
drpda.bsky.social
Tonight's lunar eclipse/blood moon, photographed on a phone through a telescope.
Picture of the moon during a lunar eclipse. The moon has a red tinge, and light is starting to creep back in at the bottom edge.
March 14, 2025 at 9:04 AM
drpda.bsky.social
Indeed! And two more transport connections:
* the water polo was held at the Shelly Beach pools, which were demolished for the harbour bridge a few years later
* the map shows a flying boat coming in to land at Mechanics Bay, which service had only started a decade earlier.
Photograph of a Short S30 Empire class flying boat 'Aotearoa' ZK AMA at the wharf in Mechanics Bay, 1939. Photographer: Tinson, William H., 1901-1969. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1714-00001 Aerial photo of Point Erin Park, 1947, showing a grassy area with trees on a headland, a road extending out onto a causeway on the near side, and the salt water Shelly Beach Baths labelled in the sea on the far side. Photographer: Whites Aviation. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 580-ALB22-038
February 1, 2025 at 8:38 PM
drpda.bsky.social
A vexillological curiosity at yesterday's Santa Parade in Auckland - a quadruple size flag featuring New Zealand quartered with Japan.
A photo of 5 people bearing flags in a parade down Customs St in Auckland. The person in the centre is bearing a large flag which appears to be made up of two New Zealand flags and two Japanese flags sewn together in a checkerboard pattern. Crowds line the street, and in the background is part of Queen's Arcade and the Endean building at the corner with Queen St.
November 25, 2024 at 1:09 AM
drpda.bsky.social
I haven't yet determined whether this is part of a longer poem. AE Mulgan was a journalist for the Auckland Star, and the father of John Mulgan. I won the John Mulgan memorial prize for Greek twice, and used the book vouchers to buy the big Liddell & Scott dictionary.

teara.govt.nz/en/biographi...
Photograph of an open book with two bookplates from the University of Auckland commemorating the award of the John Mulgan Memorial Prize for excellence in Greek in 1998 and 1999.
November 17, 2024 at 7:56 PM
drpda.bsky.social
"In benediction falls the night
Priest of the kindly quiet hours"
A.E. Mulgan

I came across this unexpected poetry the other day on the back of a photo of Auckland being auctioned by the Fairfax Archives.

bid.thefairfaxarchives.co.nz/lots/view/5-...
Image of the back of a photograph with text and dates written or stamped at different angles. Written in the centre is "Auckland from Albert Park", and "In benediction falls the night Priest of the kindly quiet hours" A.E. Mulgan Black and white photograph of a night-time scene in a city, framed by trees. The photo is taken in Auckland, New Zealand from the Kitchener St side of Albert Park, overlooking the Society of Arts Building, Smith & Caughey, the T&G Insurance building, and the spire of St Matthew in the City.
November 17, 2024 at 7:47 PM
drpda.bsky.social
2) Since last time the bilingual text has been reordered so that the Te Reo Māori version is first

3) NZ passports support non-binary as a gender option, and apparently have done so since 2012

4) This is the first time I have seen an eye colour dropdown on a form!
Photograph of two New Zealand passports. The cover of the left (older) one reads "New Zealand Passport. Uruwhenua Aotearoa". The cover of the right (newer) one reads "Uruwhenua Aotearoa. New Zealand Passport". Screenshot of the eye colour dropdown from an online form. The option are Amber, Black, Blue, Blue/Brown, Blue/Green, Blue/Grey, Brown, Green, Grey, Grey/Green, Hazel, Not Applicable, Red, and Violet.
November 15, 2024 at 10:11 PM
drpda.bsky.social
For me, historical photos have recently been the gateway to lots of local history rabbit holes. I also have this wonderful bird's eye view map above my desk.

(I also keep meaning to produce an annotated version of 'The Lorax' as an example of the local history pipeline)
Photograph of a framed map. The map is a (recent print from a digitised copy of a) coloured lithograph of a bird's eye view of Auckland, New Zealand drawn in 1885-6 by George Treacy Stevens.
November 13, 2024 at 5:33 AM
drpda.bsky.social
This weekend's #DHBakes effort: a white chocolate berry cheesecake. I make this so infrequently that I forgot till after I put it in the oven that I normally only use the first half of this recipe and the second half of another. But only the first was saved in my phone! Photos are before after & BTS
A photograph of a springform tin on a bench. In the tin is a pale yellow liquid with a marbled berry pattern A cake tin on a bench with a baked white chocolate berry cheesecake A photograph of a kitchen bench showing half a dozen bowls, scales, empty packets, spoons, and spatulas
November 10, 2024 at 8:43 PM
drpda.bsky.social
I've been getting a bit* behind in my one-thing-a-day #DHMakes #dataviz, but fortunately there's a domain-specific hack that can help me move from spreadsheet to paper more quickly. In #heraldry "tricking" is labelling a sketch of a coat of arms with abbreviations for the colours.

*four months
A photograph of a wooden desk with an A3 sheet of paper and a silver dish of pens. The sheet contains 10 rows of 14 shields drawn in black ink. Most of the shields contain some sort of geometric design or pencil marking. Close up photo of the paper from the previous image, showing three rows of tricked shields. The abbreviations Or (for gold), Vt (for green) and Gu (for red) can be seen on the closest shields. Photograph of a wooden desk with a sheet of paper and a silver dish of pens. The sheet is coveted with 10 rows of 14 shields coloured in varying combinations of gold, red, green, blue, silver, black, and white. Photo of a wooden desk with two sheets of paper and a silver dish of pens. The left hand piece of paper is covered with 10 rows of 14 coloured drawings of shields. The right hand piece of paper is covered with the same number of shields, but they are uncoloured.
October 21, 2024 at 9:23 AM
drpda.bsky.social
Closeup to save you a click
Detail from a black and white photo showing two signs on a signpost in the midst of a dense crowd on a footpath. The upper sign reads "Government House Services Club" with an arrow pointing left. The lower sign reads "Albert Park Tunnel Shelters Victoria St Entrance" again with an arrow pointing to the left.
October 10, 2024 at 9:49 AM