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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 4h

There's a local story that the stairs reused in the Earl's Wytham house were those down which Amy Robsart fell. Scandal stopped Robert Dudley, her spouse,marrying Elizabeth I. Allegedly,Amy's ghost also came to Wytham,(riding in the cart?)! Denied by historians, an irresistible myth!

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 4h

If you were the Earl of Abingdon, in 1810, you could pull down both your house AND the church in Wytham. The new church would acquire an alien bagpipe player, as you cheerfully added bits & pieces from your other dwellings... And a legend arose...

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 5h

Yes, I did put the washing out... It's only slightly damp & resentful! I think the wind will come to my aid. Good luck with cloud-reading!

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 1d

The local vans used to do a rather jaunty version of 'Greensleeves'! But yesterday's was so brief & distant that I'm not sure... I hurried in pursuit & found it loitering silently on a corner! I will look out for the Tune of 2026! Very best musical wishes!

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 1d

'The things you remember.
My last act before closing the tap
to take the hose by the neck and drink,
taste the cathedral's rock and temperature,
the water hard and the table high.
The water then, you could still drink it.'
Karen Solie:poem & book,'Wellwater'.Eloquent in memory! Highly recommended.

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 1d

Yesterday was a good day.... the ice cream van came! You can see how much maturity my 72 years have given me... The (modestly-sized) cornet was very good! What (respectable) small happening would make yours a good day, please?

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 1d

How elusive the English Celts are! Enemies created their written history. I only discovered recently that my Lincolnshire villagers spoke a Celtic language until the Saxons came. I wonder, in my recently published book, 'Village', what happened. Not a single Celtic placename survives in the area..

Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 1d

In 'Elegy for Geraint' from @jimcausley.bsky.social 'The Georgic', a Welsh tune of grave beauty accompanies words from the Black Book of Camarthen. Devon's last king falls to the Saxons.... in a tribute sung with great restraint & dignity.

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 1d

CD Review! @jimcausley.bsky.social in fantastic voice, with, on his heart-warming wassails,much of the West Country! Jim's superb songs don't gloss over problems...like meetings in lanes with large 4 wheel drives apparently with no reverse gear. (Cheers from audience. I, too, have met those!)

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 2d

Fascinating! Thank you. There are so many forgotten elements of British history now coming to light!

Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you! A remarkable story. Thank you for posting the striking portrait. George Stubbs did a sensitive portrait of the family of Charlotte Thelwall,whose husband would later bring his black servant, Isaac Tisdale,to the Lincolnshire village she owned. If only Stubbs had painted Isaac!Many thanks!

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you! Delighted that this excellent issue can be downloaded. I was fascinated by Andrew Walker's article, especially his account of the popularity of black speakers in Lincolnshire. I found evidence of public readings from 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', long after its publication.. Grateful best wishes!

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 2d

Excellent! Some clergymen were meticulous keepers of records. But I think one clergyman omitted the middle name of our black villager's father - the name of a S.Carolina plantation. If the normal vicar had been equally perfunctory, a vital clue would be lost! Very best of luck in your searches!

seem.to

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 2d

'I have little or no inspiration or imagination...' 'Imagination is memory.' James Joyce, quoted by Seamus Perry in @lrb.co.uk . Does anyone else find this extraordinarily encouraging ( while harbouring no ambitions to write an epic novel)?

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 3d

But here are the survivors: his radiant sister Nell who looked after this orphaned family; his brothers Fred, my earnest shepherd grandfather & handsome Walter who always recalled their pre-War village Christmas play. They & Jack are celebrated in my book 'Village' on Amazon... #31DaysofGraves

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 3d

'J.Brackenbury' is John Brackenbury- to his family, Jack: champion runner in his N. Lincolnshire village, Kirmington. He won the Military Medal before he was sent home wounded & buried in Lincoln, where he died. I think poverty would have stopped a village burial.My great-uncle! #31DaysofGraves

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you, Steve! Much appreciated. Very best wishes!

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 8d

An enemy of literature (or of very amateur literary criticism)! I was peacefully reviewing when startled by a sinister scratching, apparently INSIDE the room. A squirrel, up to no good near our flimsy extension,is now in hiding along the fence. And the review is taking a distinctly Gothic turn..

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 10d

From the windy West, I wish you a safe Saturday!

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 11d

Here are the poets...and the North Sea, under endless sky...
www.poetryinaldeburgh.org

Poetry in Aldeburgh | poetry festival | Aldeburgh, UK

Poetry in Aldeburgh runs an annual festival of contemporary poetry each November in Suffolk

www.poetryinaldeburgh.org

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 11d

Very much looking forward to Poetry in Aldeburgh, 6-9 November! A Festival that's especially precious to me. Meetings with friends old & new - & the North Sea! Especially keen to hear @poetclare.bsky.social again after a long gap.. Thanks to all who keep this Festival alive! LINK IN COMMENTS!

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 11d

I must, belatedly, apologise for the imperfect typing which introduced my grandfather's 3 perfect sheep. I don't drink alcohol, but clearly should not be in charge of a phone keyboard after mid-afternoon! Luckily I write poems with a pencil stub, & drafted the prose of 'Village' on an ageing laptop!

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 11d

Thank you! You have made my deciduous day... Together with a video of 2 crows delicately levering up most of the turf squares just laid by the poor groundskeepers at the University of Glasgow... But I'm sure you can tackle that! 'Couplets for Crows'? Grateful best wishes for National Poetry Evening!

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Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 12d

I am really grateful for this!The words 'comfort zone' or 'challenge' always make me want to disappear into the far corner of my small garden with the robin for a few hours! I do think I should experiment more technically,but the barrier to that isn't fear but sheer laziness! Thank you for your art!

Alison Brackenbury @abrackenbury.bsky.social · 12d

I'm fascinated by houses-there are 6, from cramped cottage to draughty Manor in my book 'Village'
The Lost Farmhouse(gone,I think) haunts us in good ways: traditions of generous coping,a desk I write on, cooking samphire!Here's 1 of Eliza's wedding plates from 1840s!
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0FF...

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