Some of our early pictures were located in an area that used to be known as Barnsdale, or to be more accurate they were taken around the outskirts, as Barnsdale was a massive forested area that was larger than Sherwood, and was so dense that the abbeys and castles were build around it, not in it. Selby Abbey is at the Northern end and Roche Abbey, Conisbrough and Tickhill Castles at the South, Pontefract Castle to the West.
The earliest written tales of Robin Hood all place him in Barnsdale,...

Recently photographed the original fourth form classroom at Harrow School. If you look at the third panel to the right of the fireplace, you can see where the poet Byron and the playwright/poet Sheridan carved their names before they left the school. It was a tradition to allow the graduating pupils to carve their own names on the wooden panelling in this particular classroom. This room has been used in many films, including the original Harry Potter. It was extremely difficult to photograph due...

Had a flying visit to Spofforth Castle to day to scout for a possible picture. Actually it is not a castle at all, and never was, being originally a Saxon manor house which was given to William de Percy in 1097. It is reputedly where the Northern Barons drew up the Magna Carta in 1215. It became fortified in 1308, but it seems a strange place to have this type of building as it is built into the side of the rocky outcrop rather than on top of it, and would be difficult to defend, something which...

Rievaulx Abbey is a wonderful place to visit, with extensive ruins as can be seen in our pictures of it at http://www.buildingpanoramics.com/project/rievaulx-abbey/ The picture taken from inside the chancel is looking out towards Reivaulx Bridge over the river Rye. When you go to Rievaulx is is well taking time to travel further down the road South to the abbey bridge. This is where Turner sketched two views of the abbey in 1816, and went on the paint the famous water colour of 1825 which is done...

Visited Howden minster to day which is quite local to me, in fact I seem to live in the “minster triangle” of the North ! In places around the outside of the building there has been some restoration work done in new limestone. The stone is so white, and the edges and angles so crisp it is amazing. I always assumed that the skirt around the base of this and other similar buildings was always rounded, yet the restoration blocks demonstrate that these actually came to a sharp edge, it is the weathering...