Dr Lizzie Swarbrick 🇵🇸

This archaeological research really captures the enchantment of trying to understand human life across the barriers of time and evidence. A warm July day, grief and sadness, colour, scent and precious things.

An image of my desk at the National Library of Scotland. You can see my laptop and notebook surrounded by several volumes including ‘Mythologising the Past’, ‘Whose Middle Ages’, ‘The Far Right Today’, and ‘From the Far Right to the Mainstream’.

Fun (not fun!) reading this week.

This is a really weird fantasia of Edinburgh (and its geography) as it never was and is *full* to the brim of the sorts of simple yet glaring errors and anachronisms you would never have gotten if you hadn't left it to a computer to just barf out an averagised slop answer.

Hi Emma, lovely to be in touch. I have some questions about paintings of sailors and ships from the brilliant community group trying to save Burntisland Old Parish Church. Could I email you and see if you have any thoughts?

Is there ever a situation in which a Le Guin quote isn’t relevant!?

The interior of Burntisland Old Parish Church with wooden galleries painted with naval scenes.

Hey! Does anyone know an expert in 18th century Scottish naval history? I have questions about some beautiful church panel paintings!

I wrote a thing with Mark Hall on the wonderful late medieval chandelier in St John’s, Perth.

Many simply do not know that Scotland has such ecclesiastical treasures and it’s more important than ever that we celebrate them at this time of mass church closures.

i genuinely think there's a PhD somewhere on flower arranging in churches and the incongruity between the respect it's afforded vs the actual significance of the role that it plays

A photo of the angle of the porch. A wee chunk of the historic finish can be seen. Part of the covering which originally gave this church its ‘White-Kirk’ name?

P.S. @limefinishes.bsky.social - @bobmarshall.co.uk and I found races of historic finishes in the corner of the porch but the rest had been well scrubbed.

Me in a bright purple dress standing in the porch of Whitekirk surrounded by people listening to my tour. The picture is taken through the doors of the church and you can see the lovely red sandstone of the porch.

Bloody love this photo of me in action this weekend giving tours at Whitekirk as part of the open day organised by @churchheritage.bsky.social. Thanks @scotchurchestrust.bsky.social for taking and posting it!

It's a @churchheritage.bsky.social open day at Whitekirk Church in East Lothian today.

Come along and find out more about the remarkable history of this amazing building and its connections to a medieval pope, Oliver Cromwell and the Suffragettes.
www.scotlandschurchestrust.org.uk/wp-content/u...

We are back again tomorrow with a FREE public open day from 11-3, with tours from Dr @lizzieswarbrick.bsky.social at 12pm, 1pm and 2pm and wonderful music in between.

If you haven't before visited this wonderful historic gem, or haven't been for a while, do come along. Everyone is welcome!

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An elevation drawing of the south side of St Mary’s Church, Whitekirk, in East Lothian, Scotland, showing red sandstone walls, and a white lime washed tower and south transept gable. Drawing by Bob Marshall 2026. Created using the Procreate app for iPad.

Having fun this evening on the tablet visualising St Mary’s Church, Whitekirk with a lime render.

#Procreate #iPad
#EastLothian

Seaweed and algae from ‘American card album’ manufactured by L. Prang & Co. Boston, Mass. patented April 5th, 1864.

I saw this beautiful album at Boston Athenæum.

#bostonathenaeum #naturalhistory #seamosses #sciart

I spent two delightful days filming a part of this with @profaliceroberts.bsky.social around Rosslyn and Temple. Excited to see that it will be out soon!

I should also mention that it’s me giving the guided tours! I’m excited to show everyone this beaut of a building.

If any of you lovelies have a connection to Whitekirk - have you visited/studied/worshipped/got married there/hid in the porch during a rain shower - whatever! Please do come along and share you stories about this amazing medieval pilgrimage site! You can contribute digitally as well as on the day.

I’m so sad to only hear about this happening now - do attend if you can, it looks AMAZING (+ then please tell me all about it).

In fact we have records of at least 65,000 immigrants in the late MEDIEVAL period. This means real numbers were significantly higher. In England more than 1% of the population was foreign born (never mind 2nd gen) with numbers as high as 1 in 10 in cities. There’s a database!

A special request for @matthew-blake.bsky.social and @shroomgirl.bsky.social
St Tredwell's chapel on a frozen in part loch.
Rain and low cloud stopped play.

#Papay #Orkney

A still from the film Jaws when Officer Brody has just seen the enormous shark for the first time and is backing into the forecastle/wheelhouse in blank horror to say the iconic line ‘we’re gonna need a bigger boat’.

Does anyone else get the ‘we’re gonna need a bigger book’ feeling when you get to a certain pivotal
moment in a story? When something so huge has just happened and you want to dive deeep into it?

Hi! Yes!

‘In conclusion, it was ancient aliens wot done it.’

Should have got this for my work on Rosslyn Chapel.

you know who's got some good book titles? The Council for the Care of Churches.
"It won't happen to us: a guide to church insurance"
"Sounds good! a guide to church organs"
"Widening the eye of the needle: a guide to church access"
"how not to do it: installing electricity in your church (1940)"

So cute! Reminds me of the brother in the monastery where I went to church as a kid who had ghostbusters socks on under his sandals (maybe he got them from a charity shop?) and was totally confused by us kids following him around and pretending to shoot him with our imaginary proton blasters.

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

In the UK, you could demolish a church VAT-free, but if you wanted to repair that church, you would have to pay VAT.