Dr James Alexander Cameron

Salle des Mariages on W end of la mairie, Limoges, a building that Wikipedians were edit-warring to put in the past tense the other day, with ceiling painting by Urbain Bourgeois. Some other painted rooms will not be so fortunate, but buildings don't just burn down "to the ground" and blow away

Some more pics of the main hall. quite honestly it doesn't look as bad as you'd expect a flaming tower collapsing onto it would be, and the floor held above the entrance hall. Since the superstructure fell eastwards towards le salle des mariages suspect le salon bleu other side is (relatively) fine.

Tony Iommi, promo shot for new solo album "From The Dark", released 23 Oct 2026. Taken at the 15thc great hall of Dorney Court, Buckinghamshire. Linenfold panelling is said to come from the abbot's lodgings at Faversham (although it must have been somewhere else before its installation c.1905-10)

Finally posted my bit about a canvas that features on a death metal album cover, and its place within Seicento painting in Bologna. I don't think it's by Elisabetta Sirani, but that makes it all the more important as witness to lost prototype by Guido Reni. stainedglassattitudes.com/2026/10/21/t...

Salle des Mariages on W end of la mairie, Limoges, a building that Wikipedians were edit-warring to put in the past tense the other day, with ceiling painting by Urbain Bourgeois. Some other painted rooms will not be so fortunate, but buildings don't just burn down "to the ground" and blow away

Main hall really isn't that interesting, so much it took me a while to find a pic of it. Big clunky corbel architrave under a plain coved ceiling. Really seems like most of the interior had a lucky escape! Will cost a fortune to put right and surely will be (but will hardly help cost of living...)

Salle des Mariages on W end of la mairie, Limoges, a building that Wikipedians were edit-warring to put in the past tense the other day, with ceiling painting by Urbain Bourgeois. Some other painted rooms will not be so fortunate, but buildings don't just burn down "to the ground" and blow away

Actually I got the floor plan wrong, it would seem, extraordinarily, the Salle des Mariages is, despite the plan I found, on the NW corner directly over the point of origin from the arson attack.

Salle des Mariages on W end of la mairie, Limoges, a building that Wikipedians were edit-warring to put in the past tense the other day, with ceiling painting by Urbain Bourgeois. Some other painted rooms will not be so fortunate, but buildings don't just burn down "to the ground" and blow away

This is really an appalling end to a chronically-neglected heritage asset. The reason the stained-class windows won't have come out is they would cost more to take out than they would sell for... but is that really "preservation first" as the City Council say?

Just because a building is built doesn't mean it ought to be there forever. but this was a long-serving parish with a lot of history in the Ancoats area, it could have made a great community space if it wasn't camped on for profit. and it would seem now that the camper played the long game and won.

Representing the Shuttleworth's motto, personifications of Prudence (with her snake) and Justice (with her... uh, name) oddly raising their skirts. Are they meant to be curtseying? Plaster overmantle of fireplace in 2nd-storey bedroom of Gawthorpe Hall, Lancashire, by the Gunton brothers, 1604-5.

This is really an appalling end to a chronically-neglected heritage asset. The reason the stained-class windows won't have come out is they would cost more to take out than they would sell for... but is that really "preservation first" as the City Council say?

I don't think this was a particularly great building: an 1830s Commissioners brick box, just atypically Neo-Norman. Pevsner naturally stuck some pejoratives in ("uncouth pinnacles") Maybe it shouldn't have been listed. Irony is, if it wasn't, it would probably have been repurposed and still be here.

This is really an appalling end to a chronically-neglected heritage asset. The reason the stained-class windows won't have come out is they would cost more to take out than they would sell for... but is that really "preservation first" as the City Council say?

You can see the make-shift (trying to avoid saying temporary... because well, it ended up being the ultimate solution) roof on the 3D view, on the interior photographs for the auctions (presumably it was the safest place to stand)

This is really an appalling end to a chronically-neglected heritage asset. The reason the stained-class windows won't have come out is they would cost more to take out than they would sell for... but is that really "preservation first" as the City Council say?

Then the Council made this statement on the most viral Instagram post (the only place I've been able to find demolition footage - sadly no long-form stuff on YouTube because it was so sudden).

This is really an appalling end to a chronically-neglected heritage asset. The reason the stained-class windows won't have come out is they would cost more to take out than they would sell for... but is that really "preservation first" as the City Council say?

The twelfth-century masonry keep of Clitheroe Castle is currently being unsheathed from its scaffold wrap after restoration work began in December last year, in case you are wondering about the current status of Clitheroe Castle's twelfth-century masonry keep

strange how Clitheroe is always called the "second smallest stone keep in England" yet nowhere claims the smallest. When is a tower house not a keep, I suppose. Go on Clitheroe, muscle in and call yourself the smallest already.

Been thinking about this since I was at Burghley House last month. N front (1587), featuring the Bow Room on 1st floor (decorated 1698) above the ground entrance hall (latter not open to public). The ceiling inside, right, it's so high that it means the 3rd storey windows aren't open to rooms?

I did get a little look inside one of the flanking quarter circle returns to rejoin to the line of the main wing. very interesting as it has a drainage downpipe and a convenience. But were these cut off as mere closets in the original late 16th fitting-out of the interior?

Been thinking about this since I was at Burghley House last month. N front (1587), featuring the Bow Room on 1st floor (decorated 1698) above the ground entrance hall (latter not open to public). The ceiling inside, right, it's so high that it means the 3rd storey windows aren't open to rooms?

listened to this since it's all there. it's exactly what you'd expect for a Radio 4 drama. yes "the old ways" are a bit of a plot point ("don't you remember the cakes for Eostre? the winter sacrifice?"), but it tells an imagined story in 45 minutes about the making of Bayeux Tapestry. it's fine.

i think the main thing here, other than the "Harold and his first wife were secret pagans" bit (I mean, didn't he refound Waltham as a serious college?), is Historical fiction writer have a drama set in a medieval nunnery where you don't have a naughty lesbian nun, difficultly:

Took a detour to Bourne Abbey on the way home the other week just to get a south aspect picture for my Pinchbeck fen map project. Of course the E arm is gone, and the site of the crossing replaced by a post-Dissolution banged-together chancel.

The BoE calls this "strengthening", but surely it was a rebuilding (presumably before the belfry went on) as the original major 13thc arch was deformed. Because the tower pier is made much smaller in profile, the first bay of the nave is made so much wider it has be rebuilt quite ridiculously long.

Took a detour to Bourne Abbey on the way home the other week just to get a south aspect picture for my Pinchbeck fen map project. Of course the E arm is gone, and the site of the crossing replaced by a post-Dissolution banged-together chancel.

importantly(!) you can see clearly that there was at least initially planned a Romanesque W block from the transverse arch springing from the other side of the Romanesque N arcade (it isn't vaulted, so this is arch into a W tower), and the new 13th tower was built outside of it.

Took a detour to Bourne Abbey on the way home the other week just to get a south aspect picture for my Pinchbeck fen map project. Of course the E arm is gone, and the site of the crossing replaced by a post-Dissolution banged-together chancel.

What does look suspect on the map depiction is the two W steeples. Yes it had two towers, but only the S seems to have ever been carried above clerestory height. The N has springers for an unbuilt vault. The later, slightly less elaborate S tower received another stage and then the Perp belfry.

Took a detour to Bourne Abbey on the way home the other week just to get a south aspect picture for my Pinchbeck fen map project. Of course the E arm is gone, and the site of the crossing replaced by a post-Dissolution banged-together chancel.