Pedilavium

 

Another stone head from Lichfield Cathedral Pedilavium (foot washing arcade). I like the 13th century headscarf...I think it's called a wimple!

Lichfield Angel

Sketching Anglo-Saxon sculpture, on display in Lichfield Cathedral Chapter House 

29th Dec 2014

 

"Excavation within the Gothic nave of Lichfield Cathedral in 2003 revealed three phases of masonry building ante-dating the Norman period. These are likely to relate to the church of St Peter, which Bede described in 731 as housing the timber shrine to St Chad, fifth bishop of Mercia (d 672). A rectangular, timber-lined pit found on the central axis of the building might represent a crypt or burial chamber beneath the shrine. Buried in a small pit alongside this were three fragments of a bas-relief panel of Ancaster limestone, carved with the figure of an angel. They comprise half of the left-hand end of a hollow, box-like structure that had a low-coped lid. This is interpreted as a shrine chest associated with the cult of St Chad. The sculpture, which was broken and buried in, or before, the tenth century, is in remarkably fresh condition, allowing for an in-depth analysis of its original painted embellishment and for an assessment of the monument in terms of its iconography and stylistic affinities, and thus the possible conditions of its production. It is argued that the surviving portion of the panel represents the archangel Gabriel, and that it is one half of an Annunciation scene.

 

Extract: The Lichfield Angel: A Spectacular Anglo-Saxon Painted Sculpture

• Article author query
• rodwell w [Google Scholar]
• hawkes j [Google Scholar]
• howe e [Google Scholar]
• cramp r [Google Scholar]

Warwick Rodwell, Jane Hawkes, Emily Howe and Rosemary Cramp

 

http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003581500001359

Pick 'em, lick 'em, roll 'em, stick 'em

Stony Batter Home Brewery....bottle labelling room

Here's some I stuck earlier, Christmas parcels



Let's Fly Away

Offski....offpiste. Ski Slope bound amigos get stuck on  runway snow at Liverpool airport

Bird Ear

 

Another Stone Head from Lichfield cathedral...with birds for ears

Pedilavium

 

Visit to the Pedilavium (Footwashing arcade) inside Lichfield Cathedral's  13th Century Chapter House. Pilgrims visiting the shrine to St Chad would have had their feet washed before  entering the cathedral. This bearded stone head was above one of the 13 stone archways.....one of which was bricked up (= 12 apostles - Judas). There were quite a few of these beardy heads, probably a selfie by the stone mason.....

Staffordshire Hoarding

 

More Saxon gold in Lichfield Cathedral. The eagle headed gold mount is smaller than I've drawn it...inlaid with tiny gold wire spirals..

Erasmas Darwin's Window

This plaster face scared the life out of me earlier in the year, peeping out of the window  at  Erasmus Darwin's House.....

 

 

Timbers, chimneys and buckled roof, Cathedral Close, Lichfield. I drew this a fair few times as a teenager....

Kath's Gone Grass Heading Mad!!

Another Grass Head Creation....

Grow Your Own Head of Service (for a  retiring comrade of mine from the days of Community Development Work)

Buy one...get one free (or just ask me to make you one)

Grow Your Own Rod Stewart

Here's one I made earlier....

In celebration of Rod's forthcoming 70th Year....a chance to recreate some of his iconic hairstyles from the last 8 decades. Kath's gone Grass Heading Mad!!

 

Umbrella Protest

The 2014 Hong Kong protests, also called the Umbrella Movement (Chinese: 雨傘運動) or Umbrella Revolution (Chinese: 雨傘革命), began in September 2014 ...(Cheers, Wikipedia)

Roll Out The Barrel

Stony Batter Home Brewing

Ticking Clocks

See Shabang's Countdown to Christmas

Barnacle Bill

See Shabang's Countdown to Christmas

http://marktravisinfo.uberflip.com/i/401332/8

Handbaggin'

More Bag Lady illustrations.

Bag Lady

New Shabang Book out soon...Bag Lady, with my illustrations. How uplifting to be involved with National Diversity Award Winning Theatre. Hats off for Kim, Russ, Ruben & Co.... See: https://www.shabang.org.uk/characters.

http://twicsy.com/i/T7iHDg

 

Established 1983

More Robin Homebrew being bottled shortly 



Hooray for Shabang Theatre's Countdown to Christmas

 

National Diversity Award Winning Shabang Theatre have launched  an Advent Calendar with a difference: see https://www.shabang.org.uk/ and then wait for my next link. For now though, here's Gordon the Garden Gnome with his friend Rudolph.....

Mammoth Sale, Black Friday

 

18 foot high Woolly Mammoth skeleton was sold in an auction for £150,000 today...."to a telephone bidder"... Found in the ice somewhere in Eastern Europe, its skull took 4 people to lift. There was an odd and slightly macabre programme on TV where they attempted to extract DNA from a well-preserved mammoth from Siberia. A private company in Korea is attempting to clone a mammoth....slightly disturbing......

Put 'em Up!

The 75 year old costume form the Wizard of Oz has been sold at auction for $3 Million

Grouse House

 

Robin swears he saw a grouse on our roof this morning......

Festive Ninja Grassheads

 

Creations for the D of E Christmas Fayre at Shepley Bridge Marina, Mirfield  on Saturday 29th Nov. How much more fun can you have with sawdust and a pair of tights??

Omnibus

 

Bus related day out in sunny Ravensthorpe, home to Dewsbury Bus Museum, West Riding Omnibus Museum Trust............

On The Buses

 

A great day out on the buses with Marcus at the Dewsbury Bus Museum....

Clanger's Comet Impact

 

The Clangers meet Rosetta.....European Space Agency First!!  Comet lander Philae is currently balanced precariously on a comet after 10 years comet chasing with the Rosetta Mission...

Thanks to Brigid for this one!

Linthwaite Free School Stone

 

Engraving above door of old school in Slaithwaite

Shark House

 

Fancy a  shark on your roof?  Apparently plummeting onto 2 New High Street, Headington,Oxford, the rooftop sculpture (and attached house) is up for rent

Nearly ready- Robin's Milestone Stout

Sup up! Barrel needed!

To H 6M

 

Other side of the milestone. 6 Miles to Huddersfield

To A 19 M

 

Found this afternoon...18th century milestone. That's 19 miles to Austerlands (Oldham)

 

Chain Cottage

 

Date stone on Chain Cottage, near Marsden, on Meltham Road, once known as the "Chain Road" (there was a chain instead of a toll bar). Blind Jack Metcalfe built the  First Turnpike, the Chain Road in the 1760s....
 See: http://www.crossingthepennines.co.uk/routedetails.html

Olive Branch

Out on the Turnpike trail again....found a great website and walk. The route went along packhorse trails and up from the canalside near Marsden to the Olive Branch restaurant on Manchester Road- this is the date stone from the original inn. " A trade route between Liverpool and Hull passed this way; the inn’s name comes from a settlement with America made by Lord Lewisham, who owned the Dartmouth Estate which covers much of the area. After being Prime Minister during the Napoleonic wars, he was Home Secretary at the time of the Peterloo Massacre in 1819."
See: http://www.crossingthepennines.co.uk/routedetails.html

Up In Smoke

There goes Rolf.....going

 

...going...

...gone!