Alex Craven
@dralexcraven.bsky.social
1.5K followers 1.2K following 130 posts
FRHistS. Freelance historian, working mainly for the VCH in Gloucestershire and Somerset. Interested in the English republic, radicalism, religion, and Reading FC.
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dralexcraven.bsky.social
Working through the notes, just found that the church had a baptistry, and received oil and chrism from Heytesbury, so guessing this is no insurgency against the mother church.
dralexcraven.bsky.social
I keep meaning to buy a copy.
dralexcraven.bsky.social
You'll know whose notes I was relying upon. The visitor goes on to write 'sed stat ibi plumbum minus honestum loco fontium.' 'minus honestum' - of no virtue ('unadorned' in these notes), or of no use perhaps?

Also, do we see the lead font as the first attempt to exercise parochial rights there?
dralexcraven.bsky.social
I was relying upon the notes of a former (medievalist) colleague. As to the font, I suspect that there never had been one, the church was a chapel attached to a collegiate church. I wonder if the lead font was their first attempts to appropriate parochial rights to the chapel (still no burial yard).
dralexcraven.bsky.social
Non sunt ibi fontes ad baptizandum pueros... www.google.co.uk/books/editio... [p. 314]

Guessing pueros here means children, not boys?
Register of S. Osmund
www.google.co.uk
dralexcraven.bsky.social
I’m just searching for it now…
dralexcraven.bsky.social
Is 'boys' a mistranslation for children perhaps? Was the lead font just for times when there was no alternative, eg. if a newborn was close to death? Or could girls be baptised in the lead font but not boys?

Help!
dralexcraven.bsky.social
Medievalists! I'm writing about a church where it was said that in 1224 'there is no font to baptise boys, but one of unadorned lead in its place', and I have questions.
Reposted by Alex Craven
vch-home.bsky.social
This volume - one of three that @vchgloucester.bsky.social are currently working on - focuses on the town of Cirencester, a medieval town on a Roman site.

Work is also under way towards volumes on #Cheltenham, and on #Yate and the Sodburys - to learn more and support these projects:
Gloucestershire
Learn about the Victoria County History of Gloucestershire.
www.history.ac.uk
dralexcraven.bsky.social
Out in the field taking final illustrations for the book on Herriard, and the late evening sun is picking out the mass dials on the parish church perfectly.
Reposted by Alex Craven
reporterrwright.ft.com
But the fundamental point is that the rail network is far, far more crowded than 30 years ago. In the year to March 1996, there were 761mn passenger journeys on GB's mainline railways. In the year to March this year, there were 1.73bn, almost back to the 1.75bn peak in the year to March 2019.
dralexcraven.bsky.social
This surely is the stand-out statistic that needs to be known more widely.
dralexcraven.bsky.social
Looks great! Congratulations.
Reposted by Alex Craven
emilymayvine.bsky.social
Delighted that the print copies of my first book 'Birth, Death, and Domestic Religion in early modern London', just published with @universitypress.cambridge.org, have arrived! 📚📚📚
A photo of the author holding up a copy of her book, which has a red cover.
dralexcraven.bsky.social
I’ve finally found something referencing where they took a picture from - the Railway Times in 1905 - so it’s just a simple trip to the British Library. Thanks for your help.
dralexcraven.bsky.social
I'd found the SW Circle via another page recommended in the thread, but thanks. Hoping if I contact them, one of their members might have something.

But really, I was hoping there might be an obscure but amazing archive I was unaware of (like the bus archive).
dralexcraven.bsky.social
Thanks. I'm aware of the books, but not based in Hampshire. A colleague will check the books next time she's at the record office, but I was hoping they might have been reproduced from a collection somewhere. Online there are photos of Herriard station and of a L&SWR railmotor, so I'm hopeful...
dralexcraven.bsky.social
This is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for, thank you!
dralexcraven.bsky.social
I’ve found photos of both online, so they exist, but I need find images that I can reproduce in a book - so either in an archive collection or private collection. None of the online pictures both with any kind of references. Can anyone help?
dralexcraven.bsky.social
Railway historians/enthusiasts - can anyone suggest how/where I can find photos of obscure railways and trains? I would like photos of the L&SWR Basingstoke-Alton branch - ideally of Herriard station, and the railmotors that ran on the line.
dralexcraven.bsky.social
Ah, I hadn't noticed it wasn't in April. Thanks!