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Dr Sally Spong

@drsalspong.bsky.social

1.2K followers 1.5K following 420 posts

Medievalist. First gen. Obsessed with all things 1050-1250. Political, cultural, social history, England & France. Currently researching women and rebellion. #churchcrawling. Annoyed by (VERY) Long Covid. Owned by a mini wire-haired Dachshun

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Reposted by Dr Sally Spong

Archaeology Data Service @ads-update.bsky.social · 1d

⭐ The ADS Data Catalogue is Live!⭐

Explore hundreds of thousands of archaeological resources including over 100,000 reports and 5,000 archive collections.

👉To find out more and start exploring visit buff.ly/BMulYqQ

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Dr Sally Spong @drsalspong.bsky.social · 1d

Nature doing what nature does. Autumnal churchyard bench #woodensday 📷 my own

Part of a wooden bench covered in vigorously growing moss and lichens.

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Dr Sally Spong @drsalspong.bsky.social · 3d

Exquisite. 2 of 4 semi-circular enamels depicting the evangelists. End of 12th beginning of 13th century. Troyes cathedral treasury. 📷 my own #medievalMonday more info in alt text

Set together to form a circle, each enamel is set in gold and surrounded by precious stones (including, I think, citrines and an amethyst), with floral and filigree gold decorative work surrounding them. Some of the other stones appear to be intaglios, though it's hard to make out what they show. Even though there wasn't any information on the display, my guess is that they are probably re-used Roman intaglios. The left semi-circle depicts Matthew as an angel, while the right is an eagle to represent John.

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Dr Sally Spong @drsalspong.bsky.social · 3d

Congrats Leonie!

Dr Sally Spong @drsalspong.bsky.social · 3d

I love Harris & Harris. Not only do they have great new books, but their second hand selection has a great history section.

Dr Sally Spong @drsalspong.bsky.social · 7d

That’s fabulous! I love the carvings.

Reposted by Dr Sally Spong

John McCafferty @jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 8d

The "Vienna" model or sample book, c. 1410-20. An aid for workshops and travelling artists so that they had a stock of motifs & shapes. Silverpoint drawing on paper, maple wood, leather. Dimensions: 9.5 cm × 9 cm. A small thing. (Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien)

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Dr Sally Spong @drsalspong.bsky.social · 9d

Norwich
1) Dragon Hall
2) depending upon what's currently in them, one of the churches looked after by www.nhct-norwich.org/our-churches/
3) Norwich Cathedral Refectory cathedral.org.uk/the-refector...

OUR CHURCHES | Norwich Historic Churches Trust

www.nhct-norwich.org

Dr Sally Spong @drsalspong.bsky.social · 9d

Heard it this morning. Astonishing.

Dr Sally Spong @drsalspong.bsky.social · 9d

Lovely people of Suffolk (and nearby bits of Cambs & Essex). Happening on Oct 11th in Suffolk's smallest town to fundraise for the school. Bar, Food, and laughs!
claredoescustardcomedy.eventbrite.co.uk

Dr Sally Spong @drsalspong.bsky.social · 10d

#medievalMonday Laon Cathedral 📷 my own

Image of cathedral nave, with aisles visible through early gothic arches. At the far end is a massive rose window filled with medieval stained glass, with three lancet windows underneath it, also filled with medieval stained glass. The nave does not have much seating, giving it a much more authentic medieval feel.

Dr Sally Spong @drsalspong.bsky.social · 10d

One of my favourite parts of the cathedral.

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Reposted by Dr Sally Spong

Dr Tess Machling @tessmachling.bsky.social · 10d

Meanwhile, in 'ya don't f*king say' land, Reform discover that governing ain't quite so easy...

' "Everyone thought we'd come in and there were going to be these huge costs we could cut away but there just aren't," said a third senior Reform cabinet member in Kent. '

Reform poised to raise Kent council tax as Musk-inspired attack on costs falters

ANNA GROSS - KENT

Kent's local authority will probably raise council tax rates next year as Reform UK struggles to find big savings under an Elon Musk-inspired cost-cutting drive.

Kent was one of 10 councils that Nigel Farage's rightwing populist party seized in a swath of local election victories in May. He vowed to save "a lot of money" by abolishing "wasteful" spending.

But Diane Morton, Reform's cabinet member for adult social care on Kent county council, told the Financial Times that services were already "down to the bare bones". an

"We've got more demand than ever before and it's growing," she said, stress-ing she did not believe access to those services should be limited. "We just want more money." As with many local

authorities in England, the bulk of Kent's budget went on adult and chil-dren's social care, as well as on children with special educational needs, which together accounted for about 50 per cent of its £2.5bn annual expenditure.

All councils have a legal duty to bal-ance their books and will set next year's budgets in February or March. Ahead of that, most councils in England are expected to increase council tax by 5 per cent, the maximum allowed.

"I think it's going to be 5 per cent," Morton said of where Kent would land on tax rises, adding that every 1 per cent increase equated to an extra £10mn.

Council leader Linden Kemkaran, a former BBC journalist, said Kent was a test bed for the party's national policies and the "shop window through which everybody is going to see what a Reform government might look like". She

declined to say whether council tax would be raised but other Reform coun-cillors said they wanted to avoid hitting the full 5 per cent.

Reform's experience highlights some of the obstacles it may face in national government if it won the next general election and pursued its pledge to slash taxes and spending. "Everyone thought we'd come …

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Dr Sally Spong @drsalspong.bsky.social · 10d

What lies beneath. #ceilingsonSunday #alwayslookup Église Saint-Pantaléon, Troyes. Repairs ongoing... 📷 my own More info in alt text

The wooden ceiling of the church - which should be covered and decorated - can be seen exposed. The planks have the remnants of plaster on them, so are off-white in colour. The ceiling bosses can clearly be seen at the intersections. The ceiling is supported by pillars which have been seriously baroqued in the middle and upper sections. The church itself is a total mash-up of architectural styles, all slamming into each other, but is crazily appealing. It wins the prize for the most plastic flowers and lace doilies around an altar I have ever seen, and desperately needs a lot of money to stop more bits of it falling into the nave and aisles.

Dr Sally Spong @drsalspong.bsky.social · 13d

Ooh! This looks excellent.

Rebekah Higgitt @rhiggitt.bsky.social · 14d

Now I know what to do with my free morning in Cambridge later this month 📜 www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Cats, coffins and sick notes: discovering Egypt’s forgotten workers in broken pottery

Cambridge exhibition showcases the lives of skilled workers who built some of the most famous sites in ancient Egypt

www.theguardian.com

Dr Sally Spong @drsalspong.bsky.social · 14d

A bit of late 17th century woodwork for #adoorableThursday Chapelle Notre-Dame de Compassion, Bulle, Switzerland

Carved, wooden doors into the church. The wood is light coloured (it looked like walnut), and decorated with scrolls, arches, pillars, cherub-heads, and flowers. The date 1688 is on the surrounding stonework.

Dr Sally Spong @drsalspong.bsky.social · 15d

Magnificent moustache #woodensday Bench end at St Peter's, Coton

Carved, wooden bench end of a man's head with a full, droopy moustache and long, curling beard.

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Reposted by Dr Sally Spong

Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 15d

This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important

Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 17d

⚠️ Chinese researchers have invented bone glue that mimics how oysters stick to surfaces underwater.

The adhesive can reportedly repair orthopedic fractures in 2-3 minutes, even in blood-rich environments, and is bioabsorbable.

interestingengineering.com/science/chin...