Gathering the Strands: A Gentle Introduction to the Pillars of This Site
Every now and then, even the most well‑meaning writer has to admit that things have got a little sprawling. What began as a modest attempt to explore a few historical curiosities has, over time, grown into something closer to a small cathedral library, shelves in unexpected places, alcoves full of saints, a Roman corridor you don’t quite remember building, and the occasional Isle of Wight breeze drifting in through a side door.
So, in the spirit of the helpful verger who appears at your elbow just as you’re about to wander into the wrong transept, this short guide offers a gentle pointing‑finger towards the main pillars of the site. Think of it as a map, or at least a reassurance that the apparent labyrinth does, in fact, have a plan behind it.
The Stuarts
This is where the site first found its voice: kings, queens, conspiracies, exiles, and the uneasy dance between power and principle. The Stuarts remain a central pillar, rich, dramatic, and full of human detail. If you enjoy political theatre with a whiff of gunpowder, this is your aisle.
The Lesser Saints
A vast and rather unruly treasury of medieval devotion. Here you’ll find saints obscure, local, forgotten, or simply peculiar, the sort of figures who once adorned parish calendars and roadside chapels. It’s the largest and most labyrinthine part of the site, and quite possibly the one that most resembles a verger’s private collection of curiosities.
The Roman World
Still substantial, though now politely sharing the stage with other themes. This pillar covers the empire’s sweep across Europe, the archaeology of daily life, and the long shadow Rome casts over everything from law to landscape. A solid, marble‑columned section for those who like their history with sandals and structure.
The Isle of Wight
The most human and atmospheric of the pillars, a place of memory, locality, and quiet observation. Here the site steps out of the archive and into the lane: churches, shrines, family names, coastal towns, and the peculiar charm of an island that always feels slightly out of time.
Burials and Material Culture
A newer but steadily growing wing, concerned with how we remember, how we mark the dead, and how stone, ritual and landscape carry meaning across centuries. From tombstones to catacombs, this pillar explores the material language of memory, the archaeology of grief, belief and commemoration.
The Posthumous Veneration of James II and VII
A focused but fascinating niche: the afterlife, political, religious, and symbolic, of a king who lost his throne but gained a curious kind of sanctity in exile. This section ties the Stuarts to the wider devotional world and shows how history and memory can entwine in unexpected ways.
The Shape of Now
As the name suggests this is a page for now, the little things that annoy or surprise or outrage. More the blog originally envisioned and a repository of ideas, thoughts and imagaination.
France & Monaco: Riviera Notes
Visits to Monaco and other parts of France that warm the soul and allow for some of the thoughts that don;t always come easily in England as well as ideas about Bonapart and Bonapartism.
Blessed John Finch: Solitary Courage, the ‘Saint Next Door’ in the English Reformation
The Blessed John Finch is one of those lesser saints that show the mechanics of martyrdom and how saints comes to be created. Often not in grand gestures and sometimes in small every day kindness resulting in a local cult.
And So, the Whole Cathedral
Taken together, along with a statement on UK Online Safety Act: Compliance, Privacy, Homepage,, Contents and Contact these pillars form the architecture of the site: varied, sometimes eccentric, but held together by a shared curiosity about how people lived, believed, ruled, rebelled, remembered and were remembered. If the place feels large, that’s only because history is large, and I’m merely doing my best to keep the candles lit and point visitors in roughly the right direction.
You’re welcome to wander, nd if you find yourself lost, well, that’s half the pleasure of a cathedral.