Nobody really knows when or why a chalk horse was carved onto the side of Bratton Downs, below the iron age Bratton Camp. The current version has evolved over the past two centuries into its rather literal shape today. An 18th century engraving shows an earlier horse, smaller and facing the opposite direction. It’s believed […]
On the abandoned village of Port, in Donegal Ireland … wind swept, wet and wild, the folklore of Irish music and the ideal place to go drowning
The top of Glengesh Pass in Donegal, Ireland is breathtaking. You’re in one of the most remote corners of the country here, sparsely populated, windswept and wild. You’re as likely to hear Gaelic spoken as English, for life hasn’t changed a whole lot over the past hundred years. The land and sea and the weather […]
Old Wardour Castle … a splendidly haunted ruin in the British countryside
“On the south western border of Wiltshire about half between Salisbury and Shaftesbury and in the parish Tisbury stand the ivy crowned remains of the old castle Wardour.” The Antiquary, Volumes 3-4 Front Cover.W. Allen, 1873 Old Wardour Castle was built as an impressive fortified home for Lord Lovell in the late 14th Century. But before the end […]
Traveling back in time to explore the hauntings in Parsonage Woods, and the ghosts of Castle Combe
If you’re looking for the picture book English village, it’s hard to find better, at least in Wiltshire. Lacock is a bit more refined, with about twice the traffic from what I’ve seen. Then again, I’ve never been to Castle Combe in the summer. It was a winter stop. Technically we were there for a […]
Sunrise through the trees and the Southwest entrance stones to Avebury Circle and Henge
People are always going on about celestial alignments with the neolithic stone circles of Britain, Ireland and beyond. But it’s a simple fact, these are, more or less, circles. Stand in the middle and eventually there well be a solar or other celestial alignment for every stone. The solstices, the equinoxes will usually line up […]
Capturing a dream in the snow at Avebury
A lady stands upon the henge at Avebury in the snow, looking off into the distance where a man walks away. It’s impossible not to see the story there. She’s watching him leave, across a snowy, barren landscape, and it’s the hardest walk the man has ever undertaken. He doesn’t want to go, she doesn’t […]