Dr Kelcey Wilson-lee
@kwilsonlee.bsky.social
Medieval historian & heritage wonk; FSA. Director of Programmes & Deputy CEO @archhfund. Also President Monumental Brass Society; Trustee Cambridge Past, Present & Future.
Here's the whole thing - though probably too far away to identify all the figures. It's a lovely piece!
November 13, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Here's the whole thing - though probably too far away to identify all the figures. It's a lovely piece!
England's churches contain one of our greatest national collections of art - extraordinary beauty, freely accessible near you! But these precious objects sometimes need repair. If you know an object in a church in need of some TLC, we have grants available! www.churchofengland.org/resources/ch...
November 13, 2025 at 8:03 AM
England's churches contain one of our greatest national collections of art - extraordinary beauty, freely accessible near you! But these precious objects sometimes need repair. If you know an object in a church in need of some TLC, we have grants available! www.churchofengland.org/resources/ch...
Lovely roofscape from Cambridge Central Library, with nearly 900 years of historic buildings on view.
October 31, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Lovely roofscape from Cambridge Central Library, with nearly 900 years of historic buildings on view.
Autumn is the perfect time to curl up with a hot drink & Machiavellian intrigue - so join me from 7 Nov as, over 8 week, we read Book 2 of Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy, BRING UP THE BODIES. Together we'll watch Cromwell climb the house of cards while queens fall.
Details: share.google/WHsPr6tgZu6v...
Details: share.google/WHsPr6tgZu6v...
October 24, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Autumn is the perfect time to curl up with a hot drink & Machiavellian intrigue - so join me from 7 Nov as, over 8 week, we read Book 2 of Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy, BRING UP THE BODIES. Together we'll watch Cromwell climb the house of cards while queens fall.
Details: share.google/WHsPr6tgZu6v...
Details: share.google/WHsPr6tgZu6v...
Inspired by brilliant Works Team at @yorkminster.bsky.social yesterday, learning about ongoing masonry conservation: a great example of using technology to improve efficiency without losing traditional skills & human artistry. We can have both!
Fabulous to get up close with old & new stonework!
Fabulous to get up close with old & new stonework!
October 9, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Inspired by brilliant Works Team at @yorkminster.bsky.social yesterday, learning about ongoing masonry conservation: a great example of using technology to improve efficiency without losing traditional skills & human artistry. We can have both!
Fabulous to get up close with old & new stonework!
Fabulous to get up close with old & new stonework!
The stained glass is beguiling, perplexing, intriguing. 1st pic here is Pricke of Conscience - the last 15 days of the world. The seas flood, retreat, burn. Towers shatter, trees rain blood, the stars fall, the dead run free.
But look at the brocade on that angel's gown?! 🤩 3/3
But look at the brocade on that angel's gown?! 🤩 3/3
October 7, 2025 at 3:08 PM
The stained glass is beguiling, perplexing, intriguing. 1st pic here is Pricke of Conscience - the last 15 days of the world. The seas flood, retreat, burn. Towers shatter, trees rain blood, the stars fall, the dead run free.
But look at the brocade on that angel's gown?! 🤩 3/3
But look at the brocade on that angel's gown?! 🤩 3/3
...cross slabs a plenty, with swords and spindles and chalices, and brasses with flying men and heraldic canting donkeys (for Thomas Askwith!)... 2/3
October 7, 2025 at 3:08 PM
...cross slabs a plenty, with swords and spindles and chalices, and brasses with flying men and heraldic canting donkeys (for Thomas Askwith!)... 2/3
Not everyday do you get to pop into one of England's greatest medieval parish churches. But today: All Saints, North Street, York. A double-aisled wonder with angels in the rafters, a surviving anchorite cell with squint, a Roman column propping up the chancel arcade... 1/3
October 7, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Not everyday do you get to pop into one of England's greatest medieval parish churches. But today: All Saints, North Street, York. A double-aisled wonder with angels in the rafters, a surviving anchorite cell with squint, a Roman column propping up the chancel arcade... 1/3
The fabulous monument to Sir James Hales at Canterbury Cathedral. He was Treasurer on the Portuguese expedition of 1589 - retaliation for the Armada attack the year before - but died & was buried, armoured, at sea. Also his wife Alice & their son Cheney (named for Alice's maternal family).
October 2, 2025 at 6:23 AM
The fabulous monument to Sir James Hales at Canterbury Cathedral. He was Treasurer on the Portuguese expedition of 1589 - retaliation for the Armada attack the year before - but died & was buried, armoured, at sea. Also his wife Alice & their son Cheney (named for Alice's maternal family).
Brilliant couple of days and one very colourful night in Bradford at @heritagenetwork.bsky.social conference. Wonderful to catch up with colleagues and friends, and meet new ones; mix of inspiration, practical advice sharing, and fun - always set within the most spectacular heritage buildings!
September 30, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Brilliant couple of days and one very colourful night in Bradford at @heritagenetwork.bsky.social conference. Wonderful to catch up with colleagues and friends, and meet new ones; mix of inspiration, practical advice sharing, and fun - always set within the most spectacular heritage buildings!
Fabulous blustery morning for a run along the coastal path from Ramsgate out to Broadstairs. Dramatic skies, white cliffs, and maybe the best house ever.
September 24, 2025 at 7:50 AM
Fabulous blustery morning for a run along the coastal path from Ramsgate out to Broadstairs. Dramatic skies, white cliffs, and maybe the best house ever.
Like many seaside towns, Ramsgate has fabulous buildings but also suffers from significant deprivation. Has been great today to visit projects led by Heritage Lab (an @archhfund.org.uk Heritage Development Trust) & Town Council that are putting the town's heritage into use for community benefit.
September 23, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Like many seaside towns, Ramsgate has fabulous buildings but also suffers from significant deprivation. Has been great today to visit projects led by Heritage Lab (an @archhfund.org.uk Heritage Development Trust) & Town Council that are putting the town's heritage into use for community benefit.
I've seen worse views than the end of summer early evening light bouncing off clouds and water, sparkling from gilded towers and silhouetted against an ancient obelisk. Evenings like this, where better than London?
September 4, 2025 at 5:18 PM
I've seen worse views than the end of summer early evening light bouncing off clouds and water, sparkling from gilded towers and silhouetted against an ancient obelisk. Evenings like this, where better than London?
Join me this autumn for a course that I should have titled 'Reading Mantel Like You're a Historian'. We'll read Bring Up the Bodies (Wolf Hall Book 2) together & explore the rich context & historical background to all the action. More info & how to book here: share.google/mNJUnz23yEM5...
August 28, 2025 at 6:03 AM
Join me this autumn for a course that I should have titled 'Reading Mantel Like You're a Historian'. We'll read Bring Up the Bodies (Wolf Hall Book 2) together & explore the rich context & historical background to all the action. More info & how to book here: share.google/mNJUnz23yEM5...
Back during my doctoral research 20 years ago, churches I visited seemed closed as a norm baring services; had to phone ahead. One of the best recent heritage stories has been that they now normally are open. Was surprised to find 2 closed yesterday. Guard them too well & people will forget to care.
August 26, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Back during my doctoral research 20 years ago, churches I visited seemed closed as a norm baring services; had to phone ahead. One of the best recent heritage stories has been that they now normally are open. Was surprised to find 2 closed yesterday. Guard them too well & people will forget to care.
Early medieval people thought the god Grim (Odin) was buried under a hill here, so they called it Grimshoe. Under its modern name, Grimes Graves, has been of antiquarian interest since at least the 17thC. Today, you can climb down into a flint mine thanks to @englishheritage.bsky.social
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August 25, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Early medieval people thought the god Grim (Odin) was buried under a hill here, so they called it Grimshoe. Under its modern name, Grimes Graves, has been of antiquarian interest since at least the 17thC. Today, you can climb down into a flint mine thanks to @englishheritage.bsky.social
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Dolwyddelan Castle at golden hour. Built c1220 by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth on a hill in a pass to control movement through. The castle has a keep (heightened by Edward I & later by 19thC owner) & another stone building w a grand fireplace upstairs, w/in a curtain walls. Yesterday we had it to ourselves.
August 22, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Dolwyddelan Castle at golden hour. Built c1220 by Llywelyn ab Iorwerth on a hill in a pass to control movement through. The castle has a keep (heightened by Edward I & later by 19thC owner) & another stone building w a grand fireplace upstairs, w/in a curtain walls. Yesterday we had it to ourselves.
Just for good measure, here is the view from the other side of the bay at Criccieth, from September 2022. Pretty solid castle action around these parts!
August 21, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Just for good measure, here is the view from the other side of the bay at Criccieth, from September 2022. Pretty solid castle action around these parts!
Harlech Castle is one of Edward I's great coastal fortresses, but the land here has grown since 1280s, so now there's about a mile from castle to a glorious sandy beach. Across the bay toward the Llyn Peninsula you can just spot Criccieth Castle, built by Llywelyn ap Iorwerth 50 years earlier.
August 21, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Harlech Castle is one of Edward I's great coastal fortresses, but the land here has grown since 1280s, so now there's about a mile from castle to a glorious sandy beach. Across the bay toward the Llyn Peninsula you can just spot Criccieth Castle, built by Llywelyn ap Iorwerth 50 years earlier.
Some views on the way up and down from Carnedd Dafydd (Dafydd's Seat - for Dafydd ap Gruffydd, last of the Welsh princes) yesterday. We saw three other groups at the summit along the Cambrian Way, but the route up from Bethesda was just us, some sheep, and ponies.
August 20, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Some views on the way up and down from Carnedd Dafydd (Dafydd's Seat - for Dafydd ap Gruffydd, last of the Welsh princes) yesterday. We saw three other groups at the summit along the Cambrian Way, but the route up from Bethesda was just us, some sheep, and ponies.
What Wroxeter still had, though, was plenty of Roman building material, & some of that was used in this church, which has materials & fittings from over 1600 years. Chancel c1200 w later nave, Tudor tombs, Georgian box pews & a font carved from a Roman column made in 2ndC. Now c/o CCT.
August 19, 2025 at 6:39 AM
What Wroxeter still had, though, was plenty of Roman building material, & some of that was used in this church, which has materials & fittings from over 1600 years. Chancel c1200 w later nave, Tudor tombs, Georgian box pews & a font carved from a Roman column made in 2ndC. Now c/o CCT.
Ruins of Wroxeter bath complex & its tantalising 'old work'. One of Roman Britain's largest cities & the capital of the Cornovii after they were compelled to move from earlier settlement atop the Wrekin, an imposing nearby hill. A reconstructed villa sits on site of forum, behind vast column bases.
August 19, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Ruins of Wroxeter bath complex & its tantalising 'old work'. One of Roman Britain's largest cities & the capital of the Cornovii after they were compelled to move from earlier settlement atop the Wrekin, an imposing nearby hill. A reconstructed villa sits on site of forum, behind vast column bases.
Victorian technology extravaganza in Fairford today at the steam rally. Engines galore: tractors, pumps, and sawmills, all powered by coal-fired steam. Inspiringly powerful but oh-so smoky!
August 17, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Victorian technology extravaganza in Fairford today at the steam rally. Engines galore: tractors, pumps, and sawmills, all powered by coal-fired steam. Inspiringly powerful but oh-so smoky!
Yarmouth is such a heritage powerhouse there are fascinating buildings everywhere. Favourite new to me today was the Fishermen's Hospital, dated 1702, to support the 'decayed', which I think we can all sympathise with after the heat today. Also the birthplace of Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty.
August 14, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Yarmouth is such a heritage powerhouse there are fascinating buildings everywhere. Favourite new to me today was the Fishermen's Hospital, dated 1702, to support the 'decayed', which I think we can all sympathise with after the heat today. Also the birthplace of Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty.
Excellent scorching day in Great Yarmouth with @archhfund.org.uk & @dcmsgovuk.bsky.social touring projects including Grade II former ice house now a venue/vibrant community space thanks to Out There Arts & tour of GY Preservation Trust projects: housing, social infrastructure & training. Brilliant!
August 14, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Excellent scorching day in Great Yarmouth with @archhfund.org.uk & @dcmsgovuk.bsky.social touring projects including Grade II former ice house now a venue/vibrant community space thanks to Out There Arts & tour of GY Preservation Trust projects: housing, social infrastructure & training. Brilliant!