This is what remains of the bastide – fortified village – of Larressingle in south-west France, just south of the strikingly-named town of Condom in what used to be called Gascony. Behind the dry moat and curtain walls there’s a fine church, a keep (on donjon in French), some stunning towers and, for today’s pilgrims
In Search of Gascony! Read More »
It feels like it’s the start of a new term for me too! On Monday I gave my latest u3a national talk by Zoom (600 people signed up, though they don’t all log in on the day) and next Tuesday I talk to the Wantage u3a. (Wantage being the birthplace of King Alfred, so they
Growing up between Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields in Liverpool 18, I used to visit Calderstones Park often, more obsessed at that age with playing on piles of old logs than the stones that gave it its name. Ten days ago I went back to savour the place and take a refreshing dose of Scouse
The Calder Stones – and other things Read More »
Although the book has been available for a few weeks, tomorrow, Tuesday 28 July, is the official publication date of my second history book, Conquest to Charter – The Resilience of England. As explained elsewhere on this website, this book follows up on the story of Ice to Athelstan – the Emergence of England with
Conquest to Charter hits the shelves! Read More »
This castle-like building is actually a Saxon fortified church at Viscri, in the heart of Transylvania, which we visited about three weeks ago. We were on a Distant Horizons small group tour of Romania, with several visits to painted and/ or fortified churches there, mainly in Moldavia in the north-east and Transylvania across the eastern
Another Angle on the Saxons? Read More »
This is the ‘Door of No Return’ on the Isle of Goree, a short boat ride from Dakar, the capital of Senegal in West Africa. The ray of sunshine is an illusion, as beyond the door used to lie the boats that would ferry the unfortunate captives to the ships lying at anchor, leading to
The Point of No Return Read More »
The 8 July talk mentioned in my last post is for The Wallingford History and Archaeological Society, not the Wallingford u3a.
The spring and summer months are starting to look quite lively. My next (quarterly) u3a national talk by Zoom is booked in for Tuesday 21 April at 2pm on the fascinating Anglo-Saxon period From the Dark Ages to the Viking Age. That will be sandwiched between a couple of trips abroad to new places for
February 2026 – A busy programme ahead! Read More »
After very positive feedback from earlier talks, on 15th January I’ll be giving my next u3a national talk by Zoom. This will follow the Roman ‘colonisation’ of Britain through to the next period, sometimes called ‘the Dark Ages’. I’ll unpick what we know happened, when, how, and possibly why. Whatever else, the immediate post-Roman period
Dark Ages to Magna Carta! Read More »
In Ice to Athelstan I mention the ancient hill fort at Crickley Hill in Gloucestershire as the site of an 4th millennium BCE massacre of the local tribe who had settled there. Having now visited the site, perched on the spur of a long ridge on the scarp slope of the Cotswolds near Birdlip, with
Crickley Hill – A view at a price! Read More »
