It’s Michaelmas, the feast of St Michael the Archangel. Here he is on the astonishing doom painting in Wenhaston church, weighing souls in competition with the Devil!
Storyteller Fran
@storytellerfran.bsky.social
✨✨Lover of folklore, church history, stories, weird saints, cats, magic. Orkney dweller. Author of Folk Tales of Scottish Saints, published by The History Press 2027 ✨✨
Dolly Parton rose from poverty to stardom. She gave $500 to every student in her hometown who finished high school; she built hospitals & bald eagle preserves; her Imagination Library has gifted 300 million books to children. Roger Ebert met her and came away thinking she was a literal angel. RIP.
It’s a Jubilee year for St Francis, and I’m a Frances! Did a little pilgrimage today from @stmagnuscathedral.bsky.social to the Italian Chapel - the only two places in Orkney (AFAIK) where he is depicted. 😇🙏
Frank thinks this Black Cat Appreciation Day is all very well, but surely that’s every day? 🐈⬛🖤
It’s International Cat Day, and #caturday too! This pair bring joy every day 😻😻 Gracie is the tabby and Frank is the shiny black one 🐯🐈⬛
Given that we only entered two things in the show today, I’m chuffed that we won two prizes! Well done @nessbattery.bsky.social and me.
Just submitted these beauties for our local flower and produce show. Our gooseberries have won Best Fruit before, so…🤞🏻
As a churchcrawler myself, I fully endorse this lovely article! I expect that @g0blinegg.bsky.social also has a list on her phone of ‘interesting churches I’ve heard about and must visit’. You’ll never run out of medieval churches to visit - Suffolk is my favourite 💒
NearlyKnowledgeable@g0blinegg.bsky.social · 2mo ago✨️New Post ✨️ There is a new article over on the website! This one discusses some of my top tips for churchcrawling! There is a great joy to be found whilst visiting historic churches! nearlyknowledgeable.co.uk/guide-to-chu... #churches #history #heritage #churchcrawling
I’m a member of a Facebook group where clergy post things they don’t need and are trying to get rid of. Birthday/Christmas/Santa/Jesus turned up today and I love him.
Saints Alive!! 😇🙏 I had a good blether with my storytelling pal Tom Muir for the Orkneyology podcast! Strap in for miracles, murders, and puking wolves, with bonus illustrations by @howfartohitchin.bsky.social youtu.be/Y0xBBJjDCv8?...
Scotland's Strangest Saints | ep 32 ~ with St Magnus Cathedral Curator Fran Flett Hollinrake
YouTube video by Orkneyology
youtu.be
Larry laid his mouse in front of the press to be photographed. Lest you ask, this is a real photograph via the Press Association.
After a tip-off from @adrianholmes.bsky.social I sought out the Linn turntable at the National Museum of Scotland. Currently spinning - Feel No Fret by The Average White Band 🤘✨🎶😎🎷🎸
We have a beehive doocot here in Orkney - this is valuable information! Thank you 🪺🕊️
Architectural Heritage Education@archi-heritage.bsky.social · 3mo agoMost of us know what a Doocot / Dovecot is, but did you wonder how that collected the eggs, in the largest ones?
TFW a book arrives that you don’t remember ordering, but cool cool
Springwatch is Frank’s favourite programme 🖤🐈⬛🐦⬛
*Special Curator Tour: How to Read a Church* Why do churches look the way they do? Why are they east-west? What’s a piscina? Why is there a ladder in the big window? On Wed 3 June at 2pm the curator will lead a tour looking at the symbolism of features found in a church. £15.60, no need to book.
It’s the Feast of St Bede, revered for his writing & scholarship. The word bede/bead means ‘prayer’ or ‘request’ or ‘supplication’. It shares a linguistic root with ‘bid’ & the German ‘bitte’. Rosaries, with their ceramic or glass spheres, aid devotion, with each sphere being a prayer, or bead.
Today is the start of @cwgc.bsky.social War Graves Week. I researched & delivered a tour of the war graves in @stmagnuscathedral.bsky.social & those commemorated but buried elsewhere. Thanks to all who came - it’s important to tell these stories. Thanks to @nessbattery.bsky.social for the photos.
For War Graves Week (16-24 May) we are offering a FREE tour of the cathedral graveyard to tell the stories of the @cwgc.bsky.social graves, the local war memorial, and those mentioned on family gravestones but buried elsewhere. Saturday 16 May 12.30pm Starts Kirkwall war memorial No need to book.
#Thefolkloreofscottishsaints Currently wrestling with Mungo, founder and patron saint of Glasgow! 🐦⬛🌳🔔🐟
I think it's really underappreciated that a large chunk of people across the world are everyday being served images of the world's worst atrocities, essentially live as they happen, in ways previously only experienced by people on the frontline, who have historically had years of trauma as a result.
🌟😇 The Folklore of Scottish Saints 😇🌟 I’m writing this little book for The History Press, and I’m delighted to reveal the gorgeous cover art, by artist and illustrator Paul Dews. Put St Columba and a squirrel on the front - everyone will buy it, right?
Lovely to read and hear these words, Peter! Thank you for mentioning GMB and St Magnus too.
Peter Ross@peteralanross.bsky.social · 5mo ago"Writing, for me, is a chance to put something good into the world ... Life is hard. I like to soften it." I'm pleased to have been interviewed by @mathewlyons.bsky.social. Upon A White Horse: Journeys in Ancient Britain and Ireland is published in paperback tomorrow. substack.com/home/post/p-...