Simon Knott
@simoninsuffolk.bsky.social
'dust in the air suspended,
marks the place where a story ended'
Find me at http://www.simonknott.co.uk
Also available on X/Twitter. All photos mine.
marks the place where a story ended'
Find me at http://www.simonknott.co.uk
Also available on X/Twitter. All photos mine.
3/3 I became so interested that I travelled to Lichfield and visited the Larkin family graves in St Michael's churchyard. The 18 year old Larkin himself had wandered among them, horrified to find this one with his name on. His parents are buried here, but he himself is buried at Cottingham in Hull.
November 15, 2025 at 10:27 AM
3/3 I became so interested that I travelled to Lichfield and visited the Larkin family graves in St Michael's churchyard. The 18 year old Larkin himself had wandered among them, horrified to find this one with his name on. His parents are buried here, but he himself is buried at Cottingham in Hull.
2/3 Larkin's parents lived briefly in Lichfield after the bombing of Coventry in November 1940. He wrote several poems and letters expressing his boredom there while staying with them during his Oxford vacation. But the connection was deeper, for Lichfield had been the family home for generations.
November 15, 2025 at 10:23 AM
2/3 Larkin's parents lived briefly in Lichfield after the bombing of Coventry in November 1940. He wrote several poems and letters expressing his boredom there while staying with them during his Oxford vacation. But the connection was deeper, for Lichfield had been the family home for generations.
The new edition of 'About Larkin', the journal of the @plsoc.bsky.social, arrived in the post this morning, and inside there's an excellent article by Peter Young about Larkin and Lichfield, something I became particularly interested in last year, so I'm glad to read more about it. 1/3
November 15, 2025 at 10:17 AM
The new edition of 'About Larkin', the journal of the @plsoc.bsky.social, arrived in the post this morning, and inside there's an excellent article by Peter Young about Larkin and Lichfield, something I became particularly interested in last year, so I'm glad to read more about it. 1/3
A closer view of the late 14th Century wooden lierne vault within the central tower at Peterborough Cathedral. The central boss of Christ in Majesty enthroned on a cloud is similar to the one a few miles off at Ely. Around him, angels hold Instruments of the Passion, painted by Clayton & Bell.
November 15, 2025 at 9:52 AM
A closer view of the late 14th Century wooden lierne vault within the central tower at Peterborough Cathedral. The central boss of Christ in Majesty enthroned on a cloud is similar to the one a few miles off at Ely. Around him, angels hold Instruments of the Passion, painted by Clayton & Bell.
And then there are buttresses. The tower of Conington St Mary, Cambridgeshire, isn't going anywhere. #SteepleSaturday
November 15, 2025 at 7:14 AM
And then there are buttresses. The tower of Conington St Mary, Cambridgeshire, isn't going anywhere. #SteepleSaturday
The fan vaulting in the retrochoir at Peterborough Cathedral creates an impression reminiscent of a bower of trees as you walk beneath it.
November 15, 2025 at 7:08 AM
The fan vaulting in the retrochoir at Peterborough Cathedral creates an impression reminiscent of a bower of trees as you walk beneath it.
3/3 Wooden nave ceiling, Peterborough Cathedral, early 13th Century, although repainted several times since.
November 14, 2025 at 8:08 PM
3/3 Wooden nave ceiling, Peterborough Cathedral, early 13th Century, although repainted several times since.
2/3 Vaulting in the retrochoir, Peterborough Cathedral, late 15th Century.
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
2/3 Vaulting in the retrochoir, Peterborough Cathedral, late 15th Century.
Looking up into the crossing tower, Peterborough Cathedral. 1/3
November 14, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Looking up into the crossing tower, Peterborough Cathedral. 1/3
The early C13 Alwalton marble font in Peterborough Cathedral, Cambridgeshire. It was brought into the cathedral in 1820 from a local garden where it had been in use as a planter. The setting dates from the C21 refurbishment of the nave after the fire. #FontsonFriday
November 14, 2025 at 3:31 PM
The early C13 Alwalton marble font in Peterborough Cathedral, Cambridgeshire. It was brought into the cathedral in 1820 from a local garden where it had been in use as a planter. The setting dates from the C21 refurbishment of the nave after the fire. #FontsonFriday
2/2 Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery, 'Presented to the Citizens of Peterborough, June 22 1931'. Well worth a visit.
November 14, 2025 at 1:15 PM
2/2 Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery, 'Presented to the Citizens of Peterborough, June 22 1931'. Well worth a visit.
Market Square, Peterborough, by Nathan Theodore Fielding, 1794, on display in Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery. It doesn't look so very different today.
November 14, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Market Square, Peterborough, by Nathan Theodore Fielding, 1794, on display in Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery. It doesn't look so very different today.
3/3 Looking east inside at Levington. As you can see, the walls lean outwards rather dramatically.
Levington: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/levington.html
Levington: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/levington.html
November 14, 2025 at 7:09 AM
3/3 Looking east inside at Levington. As you can see, the walls lean outwards rather dramatically.
Levington: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/levington.html
Levington: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/levington.html
2/3 A watercolour of Levington church by the architect Travers Pickmere shows it as it was on 25 July 1915. One big and one small buttress already in place, but more were to come, especially at the east end.
Levington: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/levington.html
Levington: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/levington.html
November 14, 2025 at 7:06 AM
2/3 A watercolour of Levington church by the architect Travers Pickmere shows it as it was on 25 July 1915. One big and one small buttress already in place, but more were to come, especially at the east end.
Levington: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/levington.html
Levington: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/levington.html
There are buttresses, and then there are buttresses... Levington church in Suffolk, on the soft sandy ground above the River Orwell, has needed a little support over the years.
Levington: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/levington.html
Levington: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/levington.html
November 14, 2025 at 7:03 AM
There are buttresses, and then there are buttresses... Levington church in Suffolk, on the soft sandy ground above the River Orwell, has needed a little support over the years.
Levington: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/levington.html
Levington: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/levington.html
A veritable wedding cake of a 14th Century font at Hemingstone, Suffolk for #FontsOnFriday. If it was made of icing sugar you'd want to break bits off and eat them.
Hemingstone: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/hemingstone....
Hemingstone: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/hemingstone....
November 14, 2025 at 6:38 AM
A veritable wedding cake of a 14th Century font at Hemingstone, Suffolk for #FontsOnFriday. If it was made of icing sugar you'd want to break bits off and eat them.
Hemingstone: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/hemingstone....
Hemingstone: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/hemingstone....
3/3 Four Pykett brothers on the war memorial at Ayston, Rutland, a tiny parish, as well as two Goodwin brothers. It must have been almost unbearable.
November 13, 2025 at 12:24 PM
3/3 Four Pykett brothers on the war memorial at Ayston, Rutland, a tiny parish, as well as two Goodwin brothers. It must have been almost unbearable.
2/3 Two more brothers killed on the same day. Frederick and Harold Sherwood died at Anzac, Gallipoli on 7 August 1915. They were serving with the 1st Australian Light Horse Regiment, and their memorial is at Playford, Suffolk.
November 13, 2025 at 10:07 AM
2/3 Two more brothers killed on the same day. Frederick and Harold Sherwood died at Anzac, Gallipoli on 7 August 1915. They were serving with the 1st Australian Light Horse Regiment, and their memorial is at Playford, Suffolk.
Two brothers killed on the same day, for this month of remembrance. Robert and Charles Pitcher of the 5th Norfolks both died on 19 April 1917 at the 2nd Battle of Gaza. Their memorial is in Shernborne church, Norfolk. 1/3
November 13, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Two brothers killed on the same day, for this month of remembrance. Robert and Charles Pitcher of the 5th Norfolks both died on 19 April 1917 at the 2nd Battle of Gaza. Their memorial is in Shernborne church, Norfolk. 1/3
3/3 Sweffling back in early spring, the churchyard about to burst into life for another year.
Sweffling: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/sweffling.htm
Sweffling: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/sweffling.htm
November 13, 2025 at 7:25 AM
3/3 Sweffling back in early spring, the churchyard about to burst into life for another year.
Sweffling: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/sweffling.htm
Sweffling: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/sweffling.htm
2/3 A close up of the wyvern (a two-legged dragon) and a woodwose (a wild man of the woods) in the spandrels of the 15th Century south porch at Sweffling. You can see them again a few miles off on the south porch at Badingham.
Sweffling: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/sweffling.htm
Sweffling: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/sweffling.htm
November 13, 2025 at 7:16 AM
2/3 A close up of the wyvern (a two-legged dragon) and a woodwose (a wild man of the woods) in the spandrels of the 15th Century south porch at Sweffling. You can see them again a few miles off on the south porch at Badingham.
Sweffling: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/sweffling.htm
Sweffling: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/sweffling.htm
Not much of a door, but a typically splendid late medieval Suffolk flushworked porch, albeit on a small scale, at Sweffling for #ADoorableThursday. A wyvern and a woodwose square up to each other in the spandrels, three crowned but empty image niches above.
www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/sweffling.htm
www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/sweffling.htm
November 13, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Not much of a door, but a typically splendid late medieval Suffolk flushworked porch, albeit on a small scale, at Sweffling for #ADoorableThursday. A wyvern and a woodwose square up to each other in the spandrels, three crowned but empty image niches above.
www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/sweffling.htm
www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/sweffling.htm
2/2 The 15th Century Blythburgh font, with pedestals for priest (behind stem) godmother and server. It's also one of the seven sacrament fonts, but its panels have been entirely erased, damaged at the Reformation and then tidied up, perhaps in the late 17th Century.
November 12, 2025 at 2:35 PM
2/2 The 15th Century Blythburgh font, with pedestals for priest (behind stem) godmother and server. It's also one of the seven sacrament fonts, but its panels have been entirely erased, damaged at the Reformation and then tidied up, perhaps in the late 17th Century.
'Baptism' on the seven sacrament font at Great Glemham, Suffolk. The priest behind the font reads from a book held by a server. The godparents are on the left, she holds the baby. Both godmother and server stand on pedestals, three of which which survive beside the font at nearby Blythburgh.
November 12, 2025 at 2:31 PM
'Baptism' on the seven sacrament font at Great Glemham, Suffolk. The priest behind the font reads from a book held by a server. The godparents are on the left, she holds the baby. Both godmother and server stand on pedestals, three of which which survive beside the font at nearby Blythburgh.
3/3 And here's the whole thing, a little ungainly perhaps.
November 12, 2025 at 1:50 PM
3/3 And here's the whole thing, a little ungainly perhaps.