Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Thursday 18 February 2021

Stonehenge in cultural context


The latest interpretations of Stonehenge continue to generate reports and commentary across the media. Therein lies part of the basis of a readable and interesting article in The Guardian which looks at the monument’s place in our national consciousness, and the ways it has influenced different generations.

I was particularly struck by the fact that Jaquetta Hawkes in A Land suggested seventy years ago the idea that appears to have now been demonstrated, that the blue stone circle was indeed once a separate monument that was moved such a distance because of its sacred character to its new site.



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