lighthouses

CA Letters 421 – March

Shining a light on Reedham I was delighted to read Mike Fulford’s article on Reedham (CA 420). In 2021, as part of a Diploma in Archaeology at Oxford University Department of Continuing Education, I wrote a long essay about the Roman…

The Chance Heritage Trust

Glassmaking was introduced to Smethwick by Thomas Shutt, who started making crown window-glass on a site alongside the Birmingham Canal in 1814. When he died in 1822, his company was sold to Robert Lucas Chance, the business later changing its…

Right The 1820s road and two lighthouses were the first structures to be built on the island since a permanent monastic presence ceased in the 13th century. The upper lighthouse (to the left) was decommissioned in 1870 and is now a ruin. It is linked by a meandering path to the lower lighthouse, which is now fully automated and requires only occasional maintenance visits. Both lighthouses and the adjacent accommodation for the keepers and their families were built from rock excavated to build the lighthouse road to the right of the picture.

At the edge of the world: exploring early medieval asceticism on the Skelligs

Skellig Michael – the larger of two rocky islets that lie 8 miles (13km) west of the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland – was the favoured retreat of early medieval monks seeking an escape from worldly temptations. Reading the newly published Book of the Skelligs, Chris Catling gains some insights into the conditions those hermits endured and the reasons why the islands were added to the list of World Heritage Sites in 1996.