Old Northern Curio
northerncurio.bsky.social
Old Northern Curio
@northerncurio.bsky.social
👋 Tim Lewthwaite |
Archaeology & Heritage 🏛 | Landscape & Old Northernism ⛰️ | Small Town Labour🌹 | Proud Brittunculus
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www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Little-Kingd...

LITTLE KINGDOMS: AN A-Z OF EARLY MEDIEVAL BRITAIN, my next book, releases on the 30th of November 2025

As of today it is now available for preorder, at a discounted early price of £20 (RRP £25)

Why should you pick up this book...? 🧵
Little Kingdoms
Before England, Wales, and Scotland were created, before Alfred the Great and the Great Viking Army, before even a raid on Lindisfarne, the kingdoms that…
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
May 30, 2025 at 5:06 PM
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www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Going to pin this (my first ever academic article) to my profile for the foreseeable so it is easily readable for all those who wish to know about kings, conflict, and crossing points of the seventh century marshes Isle of Axholme!
Three Fallen Kings: on the Edge of Northumbria in the Isle of Axholme (617–79) | Early Medieval England and its Neighbours | Cambridge Core
Three Fallen Kings: on the Edge of Northumbria in the Isle of Axholme (617–79) - Volume 51
www.cambridge.org
April 23, 2025 at 6:03 AM
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Morning all.

Alnwick’s 18th-century Town Hall remains a survivor despite several relocations of the council chambers, fitting in nicely with the North East’s countless striking civic buildings.
March 11, 2025 at 11:18 AM
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We're hosting our first ever gathering at the Tyne Bar on March 19th!

It's free and everyone's welcome. Come for a pint and a natter with fellow history & north east enthusiasts - it'd be ace to meet more of you over an icy whisky🍻

RSVP here: www.northeastheritagelibrary.co.uk/event-detail...
February 10, 2025 at 7:07 PM
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Stunning! Viking reuse of raided Insular metalwork

'Gilt bronze mount with panels of Celtic interlace later converted into a brooch, found in a Viking grave at Carn a Bhorich, Oronsay, AD 700-1000' (X.FC 183/184)

My 📷 from our 2018 Vikings in Scotland 20 Years On @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social visit.
March 3, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Finachale Priory on the River Wear. Cult site of eccentric merchant-turned-hermit Godric of Finachale, and later used as a holiday resort for monks of nearby Durham Cathedral.
One of the buildings is still in use as a diverse farm with cafe, campsite, and apiary!
January 26, 2025 at 4:29 PM
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If this early medieval carving from Millport, Great Cumbrae, is a lintel, then it's VERY rare.

n.1: Cumbrae is from ON Kumreyjar, Islands of the Cymry (Britons).

n.2: Anglo-Scandinavian Cumbrian style motifs in a Brittonic region recall the Viking-Age influences on the @govanstones.bsky.social.
January 24, 2025 at 6:05 PM
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Prudhoe Castle, Northumberland (England) reconstruction mock-up. Site besieged by King William the Lion of Scots (1165-1214). Castle passed to Percy family. Who spent most of their time fighting the Scots (Douglases) in Tit for Tat raids. #PrudhoeCastle #HistoryRebuilt #medievalsky
January 19, 2025 at 11:50 AM
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Another big discovery is that, contrary to narratives of Iceland being colonised by Norse warlords and enslaved Irish women, males in this study have higher than expected 'British' (and very likely Scottish and Irish) ancestry - as suggested by connections in the material culture of course
January 16, 2025 at 1:06 PM
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January 14, 2025 at 7:23 AM
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The Co-Op are prolific claimants of historic pubs - helping to protect the historic fabric of communities in the same way Wetherspoons repurpose old cinemas & banks. There certainly should be a minutae of gratitude towards them.
January 10, 2025 at 5:31 PM
The liver bird is real.
Viking Age settlement around #Liverpool maybe witnessed by the discovery of a stone fragment in a garden in Old Swan. It bears an animal face with a round eye, long snout, nostrils and mouth. This piece would have protruded from the top or side of a larger sculpture. Now in private hands #medieval
January 7, 2025 at 9:28 PM
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Snowy scenes on The Stray #harrogate

Share your snowy snaps from today below!
January 5, 2025 at 6:40 PM
The St Bees Priory Dragon Stone - thought to be St Michael casting Lucifer from heaven. Also floated as a motif from Germanic myth. The 12th century date always seemed late to me, but as the Bridekirk font shows, Anglo-Scandi styles stilled cropped up from Cumbrian craftsmen, if unconsciously.
January 2, 2025 at 6:33 PM
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Entirely appropriate and not at all ahistorical header image, @theguardian.com. Especially enjoying the horned and winged helmets. No notes.

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
January 1, 2025 at 5:04 PM
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Twigstats, a new method for high-resolution analysis of genetic history using #aDNA published yesterday in @nature.com, is an exciting move towards more nuanced studies of past human interactions and mobility.

www.crick.ac.uk/news-and-rep...
www.crick.ac.uk
January 2, 2025 at 4:40 PM
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A lovely, thoughtful piece on the meaning and significance of Christmas carols:

"Yet, for all the repetition, I’ve also realised why people love them: because they tell that ancient story so well ..."
www.ft.com/content/2d32...
The unsung power of the Christmas carol
Every year, their simple truths give us perspective on the rumbling horrors of the world beyond
www.ft.com
December 28, 2024 at 9:34 PM
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Amidst all the 'the Future of Anglicanism is x' discourse, here's my contribution ...

The King, this morning, attending his local parish church at Sandringham.

Faithful duty, parish church, unshowy, ordinary Anglicanism, and just getting on with it.
December 22, 2024 at 1:48 PM
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Photos quickly go from relatively mundane to important records of times past. We try to collect such photos and tell the story of our amazingly diverse islands, from pubs to seafronts to mountaintops and everything in between. All contributions welcome
Afternoon everyone. We’ve reached the surreal point in time where Google Street View has become a historical reference point…

Straker Street at Jarrow was once home to at least 3 pubs, with the Allison Arms being one of them. It’s shown below on Google 4 years before its demolition in 2012.
December 22, 2024 at 9:40 PM
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Afternoon everyone. We’ve reached the surreal point in time where Google Street View has become a historical reference point…

Straker Street at Jarrow was once home to at least 3 pubs, with the Allison Arms being one of them. It’s shown below on Google 4 years before its demolition in 2012.
December 22, 2024 at 12:56 PM
Michelle P. Brown's 'Bede And The Theory of Everything'. Remarkable book. Got my copy from St Paul's Jarrow, the very site where Bede unfolded his 'Dark Age' enlightenment.
December 7, 2024 at 9:54 AM
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Kirkoswald, Cumbria. Karcoswald 1167. 'Church of St Oswald'. From the dedication of the church (Old Scandinavian kirkja) to this saint, a 7thC king of Bernicia and Deira. Source: Oxford Dictionary of British #PlaceNames. 📸Andrew Smith
December 6, 2024 at 10:29 AM
From 'Welsh Histories' on FB
December 6, 2024 at 8:53 AM
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The end result of this (2-3 hours) is something like this; I might tinker with it some more but thats all three maps done for my next book LITTLE KINGDOMS for the time being!
December 3, 2024 at 1:13 PM
Strongly approve of this stylistic map of 7th century Britain that squeezes England south of the Humber into a more humble chunk of the landmass.
December 4, 2024 at 11:47 AM