Mark Kirby

tickettailor.comBuy tickets – Online Lecture Series: Engines of Emotion or Opera House Fakery?: Giles Gilbert Scott's church and chapel designs – ZoomOnline Lecture Series: Engines of Emotion or Opera House Fakery?: Giles Gilbert Scott's church and chapel designs – Zoom, Mon 2 Nov 2026 - We are delighted to announce that we are initiating an annual...

Superb line-up for the @ecclsoc.bsky.social online lecture series this autumn. All of them experts in their field and gifted speakers. Topics from the C14 to C21. Starts on 2 Nov with David Lewis on Giles Gilbert Scott's church & chapel designs. www.tickettailor.com/events/theec...

tickettailor.comBuy tickets – Online Lecture Series: 'And through it all': Angels in royal chapels before and after the English Reformation – ZoomOnline Lecture Series: 'And through it all': Angels in royal chapels before and after the English Reformation – Zoom, Mon 30 Nov 2026 - We are delighted to announce that we are initiating an annual au...

Next is @oscarpatton.bsky.social on the fascinating subject of how royal chapels were effectively exempted from the Reformation policies & iconoclasm which affected parish churches. www.tickettailor.com/events/theec...

tickettailor.comBuy tickets – Online Lecture Series: Liturgy and Design in Times of Change: the Last Forty Years – ZoomOnline Lecture Series: Liturgy and Design in Times of Change: the Last Forty Years – Zoom, Mon 7 Dec 2026 - We are delighted to announce that we are initiating an annual autumn lecture series this yea...

And finally Paul Velluet looking at the liturgical changes of the last 40 years and their impact on church re-orderings. www.tickettailor.com/events/theec...

tickettailor.comBuy tickets – Online Lecture Series: The Sculptor-Architects of the Churches of Norwich, c.1300-1450 – ZoomOnline Lecture Series: The Sculptor-Architects of the Churches of Norwich, c.1300-1450 – Zoom, Mon 9 Nov 2026 - We are delighted to announce that we are initiating an annual autumn lecture series this...

Then Prof Sandy Heslop on the internationally important collection of medieval churches in Norwich & how they were influenced by the cathedral. www.tickettailor.com/events/theec...

Mark Kirby reposted

ecclsoc.bsky.social

@ecclsoc.bsky.social

Our second autumn online lecture will be delivered by Sandy Heslop on the topic of 'The Sculptor-Architects of the Churches of Norwich, c.1300-1450'. Book here: www.tickettailor.com/events/theec...

I hate Microsoft Teams with an everlasting hatred. It is the most user-hostile platform ever devised by mankind. Thank you for you attention to this matter.

instagram.comGeorge and the Dragon on Instagram: "Now for the complete song! Share and follow us for more antics!"878 likes, 28 comments - george_andthe_dragon on October 14, 2026: "Now for the complete song! Share and follow us for more antics!".

We have a new Flanders and Swann. www.instagram.com/reels/Dee1QS...

tickettailor.comThe Ecclesiological SocietyThe Ecclesiological Society – Welcome to the Ecclesiological Society's ticket website. Here, you can sign up for and buy tickets for all of our events. Almos...

The Friends of Friendless Churches is a truly wonderful organisation and the quality of their work is outstanding. If you don't already, please do join them.

Friends of Friendless Churches@friendlesschurches.bsky.social

After years of work, St Lawrence's, Gumfreston has reopened and we have been delighted by the wonderful comments left by visitors. 1/6

Mark Kirby reposted

cbnewham

@parishchurches.org

Beachamwell St Mary, Norfolk was destroyed by fire during conservation in 2022. Permission for full restoration has now been granted. I was fortunate to record this church in 2009 and it is in my Parish Churches app. www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/202... parishchurches.org/parishchurches.html

Mark Kirby reposted

ecclsoc.bsky.social

@ecclsoc.bsky.social

Delighted to announce that we are initiating an annual autumn lecture series. The lectures will be held on Monday evenings at 6.30pm via Zoom and will last between 45-50 mins, followed by questions. Full details and booking information here: www.tickettailor.com/events/theec...

SS Peter, Andrew, James & John at Lincoln's Inn Chapel. By Richard Butler, 1623. Fair bit of restoration work after 1915 zeppelin raid but still pretty good nick. Wonderful painterly brushwork in the armorials. I love St Peter's swaggering pose.

theguardian.comAbandoned, dismissed and gaslighted: there is no excuse for the way ME sufferers have been betrayed | George MonbiotChanges in guidance and science seem to have little impact on millions of devastated lives. It’s a social crisis playing out behind closed doors, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Please read this by @georgemonbiot.bsky.social ; it's not long. I was diagnosed with ME in 1998 and my life transformed completely, even though what I have is mild compared to many others. I was in bed for a year before beginning to recover a little ... 1/5 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I took part in a recent mass study which confirmed genetic abnormalities which leave some people's immune systems predisposed to over-react to viral infection. It was a huge relief to be able to point to something which shows I'm not making it up. 4/5

Mildly annoyed that ME sufferers had to wait for Long Covid to appear (which seems to be related to ME in its immune system features) before funding became available. So much more needs to be done. 5/5

... but I will never be back to normal. I led a study day in Cambridge 2 weeks ago. Got through it but still haven't recovered energy or brain clarity. For someone whose brain has been his living, brain fog is horrific & often embrassing. 2/5

The lowest point was when I was referred to a psychiatrist. I don't say this to demean those with genuine psychiatric illness but you wouldn't refer a broken leg to a psychiatrist. So why do so for an illness mainly characterised by fatigue & pain? 3/5

livinglondonhistory.comA Visit To Paddington's Jewel: St Mary Magdalene Church - Living London HistorySitting proudly next to the Grand Union Canal, today in its own grassy enclave, you can find the jewel of Paddington: St Mary Magdalene Church. It is a Gothic Revival masterpiece and filled with beau...

Nice & very well-illustrated piece about G E Street's St Mary Magdalen, Paddington. Posted here as I don't think Jack Chesher is on Blue Sky. Photo below is Comper's recently restored Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre in the crypt. livinglondonhistory.com/a-visit-to-p...

The long family history of arthritis has reached me and I've just had my second appointment with a physiotherapist. Various email exchanges confirming appointments etc and suddenly my Instagram feed (usually just church architecture) is full of posts about physiotherapy. Scary.

Padua University, Palazzo del Bo. A tale of two courtyards. C16 Cortile Antico, architect uncertain but possibly Andrea Moroni. Two storey loggia with walls and vault lined with arms of benefactors & students.

Not sure if this is heretical but I rather liked it.

The Rector's Staircase is made of different marbles quarried from all over Italy. Amazingly, Piero Fornasetti executed the the frescoes in 1942-43 in the middle of WW2. Priorities.

The colonnade shifts style for the 1934-42 Cortile Nuovo by Gio Ponti in the form of C20 neo-classical favoured by Mussolini's Fascists. Ponti was himself a dedicated Fascist whose business somehow survived the war.

Padua, Chiesa degil Eremitani, C13 Gothic with Venetian influences. All too easily overlooked because it is nextdoor to the Scrovegni Chapel and is much rebuilt after disastrous Allied bombing in WW2. Hull ceiling rebuilt after the war.

Partly original surviving frescoes in the apse and Ovetari Chapel. Apse frescoes are C14 by Guariento di Arpo; assorted New Testament and Patristic healings. Ovetari ones by Mantegna et al. I liked the way the restorers show the lost parts in a sort of grisaille.

Palazzo Te in Mantua, built by Giulio Romano (portrait on R) for Duke Federico Gonzaga (portrait on L), 1526-34. A pleasure palace just outside the city walls, built for entertaining and housing the Gonzaga stables. A delightful Mannerist building, breaking all the Renaissance rules.

The most grammatically correct part of the building is the sublime atrium, which opens out onto the moat and garden. Axial view back into the cortile in the other direction.

Romano also built a house for himself in Mantua. Here the asymmetry is due to a later extension rather than Romano himself. It is sort of the basement and piano nobile of a Florentine palazzo, but missing its upper storey.

Inside is more restrained (in terms of not breaking the rules). Seemingly all designed by Romano. Appropriate to one of its uses, there is a horse theme in the Sala dei Cavalli, & the usual array of mythological scenes in most of the other chambers.

The climax is the Sala dei Giganti, where the giants lie defeated after their failed attempt to invade Mount Olympus. Annoyingly, the lights went out after I took a couple of photos and we were ushered after when they didn't come back on again after a minute or two.

Asymmetrical spacing of pillars. Keystones which have dropped below the cornice. Random attic windows that don't align with what's below. Jokey rejection of Renaissance purity for the entertainment of the cognoscenti. How they laughed!

I do love the ruggedness of it, even though it's only painted stucco.

18 Sept

I had the pleasure of trialling this app. For any church crawler, church historian or ecclesiologist, it really is a must have.

cbnewham@parishchurches.org

Introducing the Parish Churches App: a photographic archive and guide to England's parish churches. Available on Android, Apple iOS, Windows and Apple Mac. parishchurches.org/parishchurch... 1/6

Mark Kirby reposted

SAVE Britain's Heritage

@savetoreuse.bsky.social

14 Sept

📣'Mentmore Towers is an astonishing building capable of modern use. There's no good reason why it should be allowed to fall down as it waits for a purpose' @countrylifemag.bsky.social on #Batman house. It praises @buckscouncil.bsky.social for its stand 👉 t.co/fiOoSLm2L1 📸 Jigsaw Aerial Imagery

Mark Kirby reposted

ecclsoc.bsky.social

@ecclsoc.bsky.social

14 Sept

The Fourth Brandwood Lecture: "English Churches in Switzerland" given by James Bettley Tuesday, 15th December 2026 at St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, London EC4 Book here: www.ecclsoc.org.uk/events/fourt...

youtu.beModern Day Typographer - Elle CordovaYouTube video by Elle Cordova

11 Sept

This.

Helen Czerski@helenczerski.bsky.social

I'd vote for the future where there's the option of a box that pops up when lazy nonsense appears and says "this looks like AI slop. Would you like me to find a piece written by a thoughtful human on this topic - something that's valued by other humans and is actually worth reading?"

Mark Kirby reposted

Elle Cordova

@ellecordova.bsky.social

8 Sept

I am the very model of a modern day typographer I know the type tonalities from elegant to jocular I am a master tracker and my kerning is harmonical I know the sacred swatches and can name the hues Pantonical (Full version of Modern Day Typographer now on my YouTube channel)

8 Sept

An excellent thread.

Robert Saunders@robertsaunders.bsky.social

90 years ago, Parliament responded to the rise of Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts by passing the Public Order Act, which banned political uniforms, private militias and the threat of force for political objects. The debates make very resonant reading today. Here's the Liberal Robert Bernays. (Short 🧵)

Mark Kirby reposted

The Victorian Society

@thevicsoc.bsky.social

4 Sept

📢 3 days to OBJECT to stop the adoption of part of the draft local plan for Buckinghamshire which proposes to build 7,450 new houses on the countryside around Grade I-listed Mentmore Towers & two surrounding villages🧵 Object to @buckscouncil.bsky.social Local Plan by 6th Sept tinyurl.com/4kujdeev 🧵

bbc.co.ukB&Q and Five Guys among firms which paid staff below minimum wageMore than 600 companies underpaid staff, with £4m returned to workers, according to the government.

3 Sept

Good to see the government naming and shaming firms who failed to pay staff even the paltry, de-humanising minimum wage. That 5 of the top 10 offenders are heal care providers is an indictment of where those firms (and we) place our values. Shameful. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

3 Sept

Paying someone less than living wage tells the employee "I don't care that you don't earn enough to live on; market share, executive bonuses, and dividends are more important".

25 Aug

Visited the Carshalton Water Tower on Sunday. Built c.1719-20, possibly by Henry Joynes, who was Vanbrugh's Comptroller of Works at Blenheim & seems to have applied some Blenheim features here. Not bad for a bath house & pumping station. The house is now a school.

you.38degrees.org.ukStop Palantir taking over our public services!Our public services aren’t for a secretive profit-hungry US tech firm. Sign the petition to tell the Government to scrap all contracts with secretive US tech firm Palantir.

25 Aug

Our public services aren’t for a secretive profit-hungry US tech firm. Sign the petition to tell the Government to scrap all contracts with secretive US tech firm Palantir. you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/st...

youtube.comSlow Horses — Season 6 Official Trailer | Apple TVYouTube video by Apple TV

18 Aug

Wow. High Octane return of Slow Horses. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZbJ...

Mark Kirby reposted

Greg Jenner (Historian)

@gregjenner.bsky.social

28 July

Please sign this UK government petition to compel AI companies to reveal whose books they used to train their data petition.parliament.uk/petitions/76...

petition.parliament.ukPetition: Protect creators' rights: require AI firms to disclose training dataWe ask the Government to introduce a statutory duty requiring AI developers to disclose the copyrighted works used to train generative AI in enough detail for creators to identify use of their work, e...

15 July

One of my proudest achievements is working on the Bank of England's CREST Project - to build a new securities settlement system for the UK. I headed the legal work & designed the stock borrowing & lending functionality. Today is the 30th anniversary of CREST's launch.

15 July

Since 1996 it has settled 1,943,229,641 transactions, as of yesterday. These days it settles transactions to the value of the equivalent of the GDP of the UK every 4 days. That's not far off £1 trillion per day.

15 July

CREST is a critical piece of UK infrastructure without which the UK economy would not function. And a curious point of pride is that you almost certainly have never heard of it, which is exactly as it should be.

13 July

Not sure what it says about the Bluesky UK demographic that The Archers ranks No. 3 in Bluesky's global trending list.