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Helen J

@helgaj

Community arts, heritage and archaeology. Was on the Thames, now in Cumbria. She/her.

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Latest posts by Helen J @helgaj

This is Low Fell erasure and I don't like it.

(Admittedly Low Fell lacks a stile with a view.)

11.03.2026 21:14 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Some nice details like the mass dials incorporated into an outside window.

07.03.2026 06:41 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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St Michael’s and All Angels, Isel near Cockermouth dates from 1130 and probably stands on an earlier foundation. A Norman chancel arch, windows and door remain and other additions were made in medieval times. A reordering took place in 1878 observing the Norman core of the building.

07.03.2026 06:35 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

You can watch the stream on YouTube if you aren't in London...

05.03.2026 18:36 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Of course!

04.03.2026 20:36 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

One of the highlights of lockdown on our street was when a John Lewis lorry got stuck in a flower bed for several days.

04.03.2026 13:38 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Still annoyed they didn't find the ring I lost in 1997...

04.03.2026 13:22 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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So proud to be part of the Uncovering Roman Carlisle team as we won the award for research project of the year at @CurrentArchaeo live today #Carlisle #Archaeology

28.02.2026 21:50 πŸ‘ 32 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I've had a man mansplain mansplaining to me...

28.02.2026 22:32 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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After 2 days of non-stop rain, water, water everywhere on today's walk around Buttermere

27.02.2026 15:43 πŸ‘ 73 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 2

In an attempt to improve my French I listen to a weekly podcast called L'Entretien ArchΓ©ologique which is broadcast on Radio France, with interviews about the lastest research and excavations. Would be so great to have something like that on the BBC.

27.02.2026 12:00 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

It's this on top of the vacuuming, he's living in horrendous conditions right now.

25.02.2026 16:07 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
A large black cat sits next to a line of food bowls looking plaintively up at the camera person. For the sake of transparency, from left to right, the first bowl is a water bowl, the second is empty but has clear signs that it once contained breakfast which has been eaten. The next one has an admittedly small amount of biscuits in the bottom, as they have been mostly eaten. The final bowl has the leftover remains of about half a packet of wet food, it was turkey flavour, which is not the worst flavour (that would be tuna), but it's not his favourite.

A large black cat sits next to a line of food bowls looking plaintively up at the camera person. For the sake of transparency, from left to right, the first bowl is a water bowl, the second is empty but has clear signs that it once contained breakfast which has been eaten. The next one has an admittedly small amount of biscuits in the bottom, as they have been mostly eaten. The final bowl has the leftover remains of about half a packet of wet food, it was turkey flavour, which is not the worst flavour (that would be tuna), but it's not his favourite.

Please, won't somebody think of this poor cat and how perilously empty his food bowls are? How will he survive the next 2 - 2.5 hours before he is fed again?

25.02.2026 15:57 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

My cats loved this, not sure what that says about your musical ability!

24.02.2026 23:34 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
A large broken blue glass bead, with ridges.

A large broken blue glass bead, with ridges.

A granite quern stone with a depression and hole in the top and a hole in the side for a handle to turn it.

A granite quern stone with a depression and hole in the top and a hole in the side for a handle to turn it.

More lovely finds!

20.02.2026 22:08 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
An open archaeology excavation of a large cobbled surface sitting over a series of ditches and wall slots.

An open archaeology excavation of a large cobbled surface sitting over a series of ditches and wall slots.

Trays of Roman pottery and glass drying in a wooden hut

Trays of Roman pottery and glass drying in a wooden hut

A very worn broken piece of a decorated Samian ware bowl, with what looks like a running hare

A very worn broken piece of a decorated Samian ware bowl, with what looks like a running hare

The broken base of a Samian ware vessel, with scratched marks that might be a name.

The broken base of a Samian ware vessel, with scratched marks that might be a name.

Been back looking for the Roman fort at Drumburgh on the Solway with Grampus Heritage. Did we find it? No! But it's definitely here somewhere, we found bits of the vicus settlement next to the fort.
So many lovely finds despite the mud, ice and freezing east wind

#archaeology #cumbria #hadrianswall

20.02.2026 22:08 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I love it when they ask it for your parents when you were 14.

20.02.2026 21:27 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

You've picked a great week to visit!

19.02.2026 23:29 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Some of us over 40s remember Diana.

We might also know about Kenya....

19.02.2026 10:58 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I particularly like this one.

15.02.2026 22:59 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Or just ring them up and ask! It's almost unbelievable nowadays.

The penpal section had so many young, lonely stay-at-home mums. I hope they found friends in the end.

14.02.2026 20:57 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I was looking through some 1990s embroidery magazines (national, glossy ones that would've been in newsagents), with penpal sections including people's full addresses. And a section to help people (also with addresses!) track down patterns, which shows how hard it was to find things pre internet.

14.02.2026 20:43 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
View from a fell over looking Keswick and Derwent water. The sky is clear bright blue, and the distant fells have snow on their tops

View from a fell over looking Keswick and Derwent water. The sky is clear bright blue, and the distant fells have snow on their tops

Looking across a snowy fellside towards Skiddaw which has a line of snow on its top

Looking across a snowy fellside towards Skiddaw which has a line of snow on its top

Sheep grazing on a fellside with snow covered high fells in the distance

Sheep grazing on a fellside with snow covered high fells in the distance

Looking across the fellside towards Great Dodd and Helvellyn in the distance, covered in deep snow.

Looking across the fellside towards Great Dodd and Helvellyn in the distance, covered in deep snow.

Snowy fells from Latrigg today #cumbria #lakedistrict

14.02.2026 20:35 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The grounds used to be accessible, lots of older people have stories of playing in there as children. But I'm not sure if that was more because of a relaxed custodian than a deliberate policy.

14.02.2026 19:01 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Cockermouth Castle is privately owned but they let the Civic Trust run ticketed public tours 2 weekends a year, and have unticketed concerts there during the Cockermouth Live festival.

14.02.2026 18:59 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

No judgement, I skipped yoga and had a chippy tea.

12.02.2026 19:34 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I tried Veganuary a few years ago. It didn't go well, then i discovered pot noodles are vegan and had my first one for 25 years. It was about then i decided being vegetarian was good enough...

12.02.2026 18:00 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Map from online database linked

Map from online database linked

Interesting map of ownership of enslaved people - currently dipping into involvement in slave trade in the Irish Sea in the 18th century, especially #Cumbria #blackhistory #history will do a few posts in coming days www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/maps/bri...

12.02.2026 05:21 πŸ‘ 31 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

#Blackhistory #History #Cumbria Here is a useful summary from the archives relating to Whitehaven as a port involved in the slave trade and highlighting the presence of a black community in Cumbria in the 18th century cumbria.gov.uk/eLibrary/Con...

12.02.2026 14:59 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
Archaeological excavation in Shoreditch Park, London. Image shows open trench, very shallow, with outlines of buildings revealed in brick foundations and concrete garden paths. Fence around site, trees in background in front of former location of Gainsborough Film Studios. A collection of buckets and hand tools in the centre of the trench.

Archaeological excavation in Shoreditch Park, London. Image shows open trench, very shallow, with outlines of buildings revealed in brick foundations and concrete garden paths. Fence around site, trees in background in front of former location of Gainsborough Film Studios. A collection of buckets and hand tools in the centre of the trench.

In 2005 a Museum of London community archaeology project excavated a WW2 bombsite beneath Shoreditch Park in Hackney. I volunteered on the dig and recorded interviews with local residents about their memories of the area in wartime.

12.02.2026 08:22 πŸ‘ 36 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0