Data - Thematic Photography

I've reached an age when studying lots of data is boring. So I rarely look at equity prices in the newspaper and never online. Not even - 

London Commodities Prices

That's London, England, Carmi not Ontario. And anyway there's probably an app for data such as this.

However even with leisure activities it's impossible it seems for some people not to record data of what they do.

Watching birds that frequent our garden - over 5 years data.

I've played a lot of golf over the years and can tell you how many courses I have played at;  I even at one time recorded my scores - hole by hole for every game. I won't bore you with data like that.

However I know of players who go to pieces every time they see the data on it every time they pick up a card.

There's another nine holes of data on the other side.

All before they've hit a ball.

I just wonder how Harry Potter kept the Quidditch score when he played behind these walls.

Alnwick Castle (where the film was made)

Perhaps he stored his data in the clouds.

Like us these days he has plenty to chose from.

If you haven't had enough, you may explore more data at Thematic-photographic-367.

Magazines of Mine - Sepia Satuday

We have never been a family that subscribes to magazines. We may have dabbled with one or two related to cooking or to the art or writing, but now it's a case of a weekend magazine issued with the Saturday paper and in which i usually only scan the pictures.

However I do have a few back issues with which I have been associated. These have had an influence on many of my blog posts.

In 2008 my "Houses in Fiction" appeared in "The Lady." 

The article included photos chosen by the magazine - and I'm not sure where I stand with copyright so you will have to settle with these representing the houses I wrote about.

From Uncle Tom's cabin I jumped to:

followed by Green Gables on Prince Edward Island.

That triangle at the bottom left of the blurb was a picture of Pride and Predujice's Mr Darcy on the steps of Pemberley, aka:

Chatsworth House
(By Paul Collins - 2007)

The site for Brideshead Castle on TV and in a more recent film was here at Yorkshire's - 

Castle Howard

We have to move further north for the location of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the films of JK Rowling's Harry Potter Books.

Alnwick Castle, Northumberland

My second magazine is from a local Yorkshire town.

The piece that was my second blogspot post was about Gertrude Bell. You can read Al Khatun here. 

I hadn't discovered Sepia Saturday then or identified the source of photos I could have used. But here is two that would have been appropriate.

Gertrude Bell in Iraq in 1909
(From the Gertrude Bell Archive)

Rather unkindly the photo identifies the lady's age as 41.

The Al Khatun article also revers to the Theodore Roosevelt's famous African safari in 1909 where he shot his first lion.

(From African Game Trails, published in the USA 1910)

Sir Alfred Eward Pease (centre), is flanked by Kermit Roosevelt, Theodore's son, on the left and the former President Theodore Roosevelt on the Athi Plains in 1909.

As for the lion,  it is immortalised in the stained glass window in Guisborough's St Nicholas Church shown in the Al Khatun blog post.

You may browse through other magazines at Sepia-Saturday-248.

Cloudspotting - Thematic Photography

Leaden, grey skies and rain make cloudspotting a difficult exercise this week; there is little promise of improvement tomorrow either. That's why I have raided my 2007 archive..

OK - so the clouds were in the shots by accident in all but the first.

Storm clouds gathering - Michigan, September 2007

Alnwick Castle in Northumberland is a photogenic subject - the clouds enhance the effect.

Alnwick Castle - Northumberland, July 2007

But does Harry Potter playing quidditch behind its walls add to the magic?

Alnwick Castle walls

Sorry - you have to imagine him.

The next two pictures were taken from a little steam boat on the Fowey estuary in Cornwall. There must be thousands of pictures of the town - these were taken in May 2007 when we were attending the Daphne du Maurier festival in her centenary year,

Fowey - May 2007

To see the results of more cloudspotting check out the links at Carmi's Thematic-photographic-296.

Spofforth Castle and Half a Ghost

A-Z Challenge 2012 - S

Spofforth Castle

The Percy family have been an influential family in northern England since the days of the Norman Conquest, William de Percy, a favourite of William the Conqueror, built the manor house at Spofforth in what is now North Yorkshire. In 1215 Richard de Percy and insurgent Barons are reputed to have drawn up the Magna Carta there.

In 1224 Henry II granted a licence to a later William de Percy to hold a Friday market in the town. It was in 1308 that Edward II gave Henry de Percy a licence to fortify the manor house.

Spofforth Castle sits on a small rocky outcrop overlooking the town. Only the west range, which contained the principle apartments, still stands; earthworks and low walls are all that are left of the north south and east ranges.

Spofforth Castle - 2009

In 1403 Harry Hotspur (immortalised by Shakespeare), Baron of Spofforth and born at the castle, was killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury.

During the Wars of the Roses the Percys supported the House of Lancaster. After the Battle of Townton in 1461 the Yorkists burnt the castle and plundered the local countryside. The castle lay in ruins for nearly a hundred years before it was restored by Henry, Lord Percy. By this time it was Alnwick Castle that had become the Percys seat. [A for Alnwick in A-Z Challenge 2011 here]

Spofforth Castle - 2011

The last occupant of the castle was a steward who died in 1604. Spofforth Castle was finally reduced to a ruin during the Civil War.

But what of Spofforth’s ghost?

A bluish-white female appears for a moment on the top of the tower before plunging to the ground. The spectre is made even more gruesome by only the upper half of her body being visible. Who she was and why she killed herself has never been ascertained; she disappears at the moment of impact with the ground.

I toyed with the idea of using Scotney Castle in Kent for the letter S; instead you may check it out  here

Hilary Melton-Butcher’s castle for R  yesterday Raby Castle, County Durham

Attributions

• Spofforth Castle 2009; author TJ Blackwell; Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 unported license
• Spofforth Castle 2011; author Immanuel Giel; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 unported license.
• Video by Justin Chapman 2011

Alnwick

The River Aln skirts the northern side of the town of Alnwick in Northumberland, The remains of Alnwick Abbey with its well preserved 14^th century gatehouse is situated within Hulne Park on the river’s bank.

In the town the church of St Michael has Saxon origins but was rebuilt in the 14^th and 15^th centuries; the church has a battlemented tower with some of the finest 15^th century workmanship in the country. In addition to fine monuments inside, the church houses a carved 14^th century Flemish chest.

 But it is the castle that has dominated the life and times of Alnwick. The first parts of Alnwick Castle were erected in c1096 by Yves de Vescy, Baron of Alnwick. Its purpose was to protect England’s northern border against the Scots and the border reivers. In 1309 the castle was bought by Henry de Percy, 1^st Baron Percy. It has been owned by the Percy family, the Earls and the later Dukes of Northumberland ever since.

The eldest son of the 1^st Earl of Northumberland was also called Harry Hotspur. The nickname, Hotspur’ is suggestive of his impulsive behaviour. Sir Henry Percy, or Harry Hotspur, acquired a great reputation as a warrior fighting against the Scots and the French in the late 1300s. He helped depose Richard II in favour of Henry of Bolingbroke, who later became King Henry IV.

He led a rebellion against Henry in 1403; but before he could join forces with the Welsh rebel, Owain Glyndŵr, Hotspur was defeated and killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury. His body was displayed at Shrewsbury, impaled on a spear before being quartered and sent around England, his head exhibited on a pole at the gates of York.

Hotspur has famous lines in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I in which he is killed by Prince Hal (the future Henry V) – immediately after being stabbed he says, “O Harry, thou has robb’d me of my youth!” A later line is cut off in mid sentence by his death, “O Percy, thou art dust and food for -” and finished by Prince Hal: “For worms, brave Percy.”

In August 2010 a bronze statue of Harry was unveiled in the town of Alnwick. The statue commemorated the 700 year anniversary (in 2009) of the Percy family in Alnwick. There is an earlier statue of Harry Hotspur inside the courtyard of Alnwick Castle. 

 Since WWII parts of the castle have been used first as a High School for Girls, then as a teacher training college and since 1981 as a branch campus by the American St Cloud State University.

The Postern Tower houses an exhibition featuring the family’s interest in archaeology with frescoes from Pompeii and relics from Ancient Egypt. The Constable Tower contains military displays and the Abbot’s Tower the Regimental Museum of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers.

Today the castle is the second largest inhabited castle in England. Only Windsor is larger. Much of the castle is open to the public. There has been increased public interest after it was used in shots for the exterior and interior of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films and for the famous quidditch sequences.

The present Duchess of Northumberland has initiated the establishment of The Alnwick Garden, a formal garden set round a cascading fountain. 

The large ‘tree house’ complex includes a café; the poison garden grows plants such as cannabis and the opium poppy. The pavilion and visitor centre can hold up to 1000 people.

 In the town is the prominent Tenantry Column topped by the Percy Lion, the symbol of the Percy Family. The column was erected in 1816 by the tenants to the second Duke of Northumberland after he had reduced their rents in an agricultural depression.

[This was an A-Z post, April 2011 - A]

Yarm Writers Group

I have been a member of Yarm Writers Group (YWG) for just over 3 years.

 The group meets once a fortnight in the library at Yarm, in the North East of England. The group aims to be fun and I can vouch for the friendly atmosphere. It has been in existence for over 25 years

Doris Perley, who writes family and local history,chairs each meeting. Doris says we may not be the most talented writing group, we write because we enjoy it.

At each session a topic is set for members to write about and read  at the next meeting - it's not compulsory. Criticism is rarely harsh as the aim is to provide support and build confidence in what we write. If one person in the group enjoys the writing then that's a successful piece.

People visiting the library have been heard to say, "I go on a Thursday because of the laughter from the meeting room.

Each year there is an outing - my first visit was to Alnwick Castle in Northumberland.Later  we visited Eden Camp which claims to be the only modern history theme museum of its type in the world covering WWII and military history of the 20th century. The camp held Italian and German POWs during the war.

 

I intend to post pieces I have written for presentation to the group so look out for them in future posts. There are around 75 so far. Hope you will like some of them.