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Mythical Britain

@mythicalbritain.bsky.social

850 followers 390 following 640 posts

Michael Smith. Author, printmaker, translator and illustrator of medieval romances. Whimsy, art. Published by Wilton Square Books. PhD research University of York. Follows the Blackburn Rovers. www.mythicalbritain.co.uk.

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 19d

The fourteenth century is alive again! I'm delighted to announce that my books are now published by @wiltonsquare.bsky.social. They should once again be available through all good trade outlets in the coming days; please do support your local bookshop. Events and signings soon - please bear with me!

The Romance of William and the Werewolf book cover

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 1h

Pump-less in the sluggish fen, no more the sails go turning. Gone too those creaking wooden groans blown soft among the reeds.

Cameron Self @camself.bsky.social · 4h

Brograve Mill or what's left of it.
#Norfolk

Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 1h

Archaeologists in shock as fossil of early prototype of Brian the Snail found on beach proves that dinosaurs watched the Magic Roundabout - official.

Dean Wilson @deanwilson.bsky.social · 2h

Beach Finds
#Easington

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 12h

When Adam delved and Eve span… the poems of the Alliterative Revival hold lessons for those today seeking power out of narcissism, vanity or a vacuous sense of entitlement and self-enrichment. Through fear and uncertainty, the poets kept writing, carrying a torch for those oppressed in future times.

The Alliterative Revival - lessons from a time of tyranny which still hold true today

The poems of the Alliterative Revival may date from the fourteenth century but their content has much to tell us about the need for good government today - and how to avoid the tyranny of terrible lea...

www.mythicalbritain.co.uk

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 12h

Up in the fells, where former folk once gathered and all was far away.

Dr Rachel E Swallow FSA @swallowtailarch.bsky.social · 13h

#Castlerigg

Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 1d

In the Green Chapel - colour version of a b/w linocut print illustration in my translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Nobut an old cave? Certainly a dark and haunting place, where the Devil’s matins might be heard at midnight... #TombTuesday #linocut #SirGawain #SGGK

Linocut print showing a worried Sir Gawain standing in front of a grinning Green Knight with a giant axe.

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 3d

Yet still it stands in statement old. Ancient witness to life in the Fens; the fascinating pre-Conquest Longthorpe cross, now incongruously set amongst houses and gardens. One side has faint interlacing decoration. #StandingStoneSunday

Shaft of old cross next to a hedge and brick wall.

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 3d

It’s bigger in real life than it looks here; the immense sound of the engines was the giveaway amongst the trees, forcing you to look skywards.

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 3d

Country walk Catalina cruising high above!

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 3d

Castles in the landscape

Tuatha @tuatha.ie · 3d

Looking for an adventure this weekend? Discover the stunning Atlantic coast of Mayo with our Achill Island and Clew Bay Trail.

There are few places as wildly beautiful as Achill Island, yet there are many stories to discover.

#Ireland #SpéirGhorm #Wildatlanticway

A stone tower stands next to the water, with sheep grazing on the shore grass in the foreground

Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 4d

I’ll go for Russ Conway’s Another Six!

Record cover showing Russ Conway playing a piano

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 5d

Fascinating and multifaceted but sadly defaced; a fabulous fifteenth century font at Denston in Suffolk. #FontsOnFriday

Stone font in a church with defaced figures calved in each face.

Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 5d

A friend told me the news about Gush and my response was the same!

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 5d

Got it in one!

Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 5d

Hasn’t Gush died recently? I still have his Renaissance Armies from way back when - and a load of 25mm Hinchliffe/Gilder gendarmes, landsknechts and Swiss all boxed away in the garage waiting to do battle again! Dare I wake them from their slumbers to re-fight Pavia and Ravenna once more?…

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 6d

Practising archery at the butts? Crikey!

Simon Knott @simoninsuffolk.bsky.social · 7d

A man bares his bottom at an archer about to fire an arrow. A detail of a c1500 misericord in the M Shed Museum, Bristol for #Woodensday, originally in the Augustinian abbey in the city. I dare say there's a niche site on the internet somewhere for this kind of thing.

Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 6d

What delights dwell within, behind the door at Denston? #AdoorableThursday

View through a part-open doorway into a church

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 6d

Dreams dusted by sand at the height of the day, up where Sir Gawain once wandered. Sunbathing as it should be done, in macs and flat caps by the sea!

Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 7d

Two men sunbathing, August bank holiday, Blackpool, 1971, by Don McPhee.

Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 6d

Moss-dipped Devon, delicious in green.

Rachel Burch @rachelburch.bsky.social · 6d

Oaks near Sheepstor last November, #Dartmoor, #Devon. #photography

Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 7d

Like some old cinema show! Nature lit large in the lightest of tracery at Great Tew with its medieval magic. #WindowsOnWednesday

Church interior showing light streaming through a window and trees outside.

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 9d

Is there such a thing as #MisericordMonday? Here’s a delight from Denston, Suffolk, a bird with spread wings beautifully depicted.

Carved misericord church seat showing a bird.

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 10d

From Thunderer to Blunderer.

Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 10d

Castles in the landscape

Forest Archaic Collective @forestcollectiv.bsky.social · 10d

#CastleSaturday ...so much more fun when I've been in Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
While dodging showers been catching parts of the Ring of Iron

Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 11d

When we moved house many years ago we’d receive random but fairly regular calls from an old man who asked, in a frail voice, a simple, one-word question: “Doris?”. After many years the calls stopped. We never knew either person; we were but recipients of a tiny fragment of existence, gone forever.

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 11d

After All Hallows Day, Gawain must set off to meet his nemesis the Green Knight. The beginning of this journey is the subject of one of the many linocut illustrations from my translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight published by @wiltonsquare.bsky.social. It also features on the front cover.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight book cover from Michael Smith’s translation

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Mythical Britain @mythicalbritain.bsky.social · 11d

It’s November!

Zet Quayle al-hal-day with Arþer he lenges,
And he made a fare on þat fest, for þe frekez sake,
With much reuel and riche of þe Round Table…

(He stays with Arthur for All Hallows Day,
Who had provided a feast for his own sake,
Laid out as befits the wealth of the Round Table…)

Linocut print of Sir Gawain on horseback from Michael Smith’s translation.

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