Hannah Booth
@hannahbooth.bsky.social
Northumbrian in the Netherlands | Writes about connections between Britain & its North Sea neighbours | Historical linguist turned editor & communication coach
Writing: https://northseanexus.substack.com
Website: https://hannahmarybooth.com
Writing: https://northseanexus.substack.com
Website: https://hannahmarybooth.com
Pinned
Hannah Booth
@hannahbooth.bsky.social
· Jun 8
Navigating North Sea Nexus
Start here!
northseanexus.substack.com
Introducing North Sea Nexus, a Substack exploring Britain’s ties with our North Sea neighbours, past and present.
Click the link to browse by theme:
🖌️ Art, Words & Music
🌊 Coastal Lives & Livelihoods
🪵 Materials, Makers & Merchants
🌱 Nature & Landscape
🧳 Religion & Exile
🕊️ War, Peace & Diplomacy
Click the link to browse by theme:
🖌️ Art, Words & Music
🌊 Coastal Lives & Livelihoods
🪵 Materials, Makers & Merchants
🌱 Nature & Landscape
🧳 Religion & Exile
🕊️ War, Peace & Diplomacy
Day 7 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 skerry — a rocky islet covered by the sea at high water or in stormy weather
Perilous for mariners, as captured in the Norse saying "sigla milli skers ok báru" — 'to sail between skerry and wave‘ i.e. be in a difficult situation
🌊 skerry — a rocky islet covered by the sea at high water or in stormy weather
Perilous for mariners, as captured in the Norse saying "sigla milli skers ok báru" — 'to sail between skerry and wave‘ i.e. be in a difficult situation
December 7, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Day 7 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 skerry — a rocky islet covered by the sea at high water or in stormy weather
Perilous for mariners, as captured in the Norse saying "sigla milli skers ok báru" — 'to sail between skerry and wave‘ i.e. be in a difficult situation
🌊 skerry — a rocky islet covered by the sea at high water or in stormy weather
Perilous for mariners, as captured in the Norse saying "sigla milli skers ok báru" — 'to sail between skerry and wave‘ i.e. be in a difficult situation
Reposted by Hannah Booth
St Nicholas, Harwich, on his feast, seen from the sea. He was a popular dedication for medieval urban ports. In East Anglia alone Kings Lynn, Ipswich, Dunwich, Yarmouth, Salthouse, Wells and Blakeney also had churches dedicated to him, and there were chapels at Lowestoft, Southwold and Aldeburgh.
December 6, 2025 at 9:39 AM
St Nicholas, Harwich, on his feast, seen from the sea. He was a popular dedication for medieval urban ports. In East Anglia alone Kings Lynn, Ipswich, Dunwich, Yarmouth, Salthouse, Wells and Blakeney also had churches dedicated to him, and there were chapels at Lowestoft, Southwold and Aldeburgh.
Day 6 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 links — gently undulating, grass-covered ground near the shore, esp. along Scotland's east coast
Traditionally common ground, hosting fairs, gatherings, livestock grazing, archery, and of course: golf!
📸 Iain Lowe (CC BY-SA 4.0)
🌊 links — gently undulating, grass-covered ground near the shore, esp. along Scotland's east coast
Traditionally common ground, hosting fairs, gatherings, livestock grazing, archery, and of course: golf!
📸 Iain Lowe (CC BY-SA 4.0)
December 6, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Day 6 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 links — gently undulating, grass-covered ground near the shore, esp. along Scotland's east coast
Traditionally common ground, hosting fairs, gatherings, livestock grazing, archery, and of course: golf!
📸 Iain Lowe (CC BY-SA 4.0)
🌊 links — gently undulating, grass-covered ground near the shore, esp. along Scotland's east coast
Traditionally common ground, hosting fairs, gatherings, livestock grazing, archery, and of course: golf!
📸 Iain Lowe (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Reposted by Hannah Booth
The oldest surviving full deck of cards, known as the 'Flemish Hunting Deck' or 'Cloisters Deck', made ca. 1475-80 in the County of Flanders or the Duchy of Brabant (@metmuseum)
December 6, 2025 at 8:50 AM
The oldest surviving full deck of cards, known as the 'Flemish Hunting Deck' or 'Cloisters Deck', made ca. 1475-80 in the County of Flanders or the Duchy of Brabant (@metmuseum)
Day 5 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 the offing — the distant part of the sea visible from shore, where approaching ships would first appear
Whence in the offing — ‘nearby’, ‘at hand’, ‘imminent’
Photo: Rain in the offing, Dornoch, Julian Paren (CC BY-SA 2.0)
🌊 the offing — the distant part of the sea visible from shore, where approaching ships would first appear
Whence in the offing — ‘nearby’, ‘at hand’, ‘imminent’
Photo: Rain in the offing, Dornoch, Julian Paren (CC BY-SA 2.0)
December 5, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Day 5 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 the offing — the distant part of the sea visible from shore, where approaching ships would first appear
Whence in the offing — ‘nearby’, ‘at hand’, ‘imminent’
Photo: Rain in the offing, Dornoch, Julian Paren (CC BY-SA 2.0)
🌊 the offing — the distant part of the sea visible from shore, where approaching ships would first appear
Whence in the offing — ‘nearby’, ‘at hand’, ‘imminent’
Photo: Rain in the offing, Dornoch, Julian Paren (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Day 4 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 voe — ‘a bay, creek or inlet’
A Norse borrowing in Orkney & Shetland dialect, found in place names across the Northern Isles — including Hamnavoe, the old name for Stromness.
📸 Stromness waterfront, Mike Pennington (CC BY-SA 2.0)
🌊 voe — ‘a bay, creek or inlet’
A Norse borrowing in Orkney & Shetland dialect, found in place names across the Northern Isles — including Hamnavoe, the old name for Stromness.
📸 Stromness waterfront, Mike Pennington (CC BY-SA 2.0)
December 4, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Day 4 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 voe — ‘a bay, creek or inlet’
A Norse borrowing in Orkney & Shetland dialect, found in place names across the Northern Isles — including Hamnavoe, the old name for Stromness.
📸 Stromness waterfront, Mike Pennington (CC BY-SA 2.0)
🌊 voe — ‘a bay, creek or inlet’
A Norse borrowing in Orkney & Shetland dialect, found in place names across the Northern Isles — including Hamnavoe, the old name for Stromness.
📸 Stromness waterfront, Mike Pennington (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Reposted by Hannah Booth
Snooze time for these Bar-tailed Godwits at Seaton Point, #Northumberland. #nebirding #birdsoftheworld @webs-gsmp.bsky.social @wadertales.bsky.social
December 4, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Snooze time for these Bar-tailed Godwits at Seaton Point, #Northumberland. #nebirding #birdsoftheworld @webs-gsmp.bsky.social @wadertales.bsky.social
Reposted by Hannah Booth
Larkin's poem 'Here' talks of Hull's 'barge-crowded water'. To give an idea of what that meant, here's Neil Holmes' view up the River Hull as recently as 1984, the year before Larkin's death. The lower photo is my shot of the same view in 2024, just 40 years later.
December 3, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Larkin's poem 'Here' talks of Hull's 'barge-crowded water'. To give an idea of what that meant, here's Neil Holmes' view up the River Hull as recently as 1984, the year before Larkin's death. The lower photo is my shot of the same view in 2024, just 40 years later.
Reposted by Hannah Booth
The Dutch traded live eels to London starting in the mid-15th C., & quickly won a monopoly on eel sales in the city.
How do we know?
Well...by the 16th C., English regulations started calling ALL eel sellers in the city "palingmen" from the Dutch word for eel: paling. 1/2
🗃️🧪
How do we know?
Well...by the 16th C., English regulations started calling ALL eel sellers in the city "palingmen" from the Dutch word for eel: paling. 1/2
🗃️🧪
December 3, 2025 at 5:41 PM
The Dutch traded live eels to London starting in the mid-15th C., & quickly won a monopoly on eel sales in the city.
How do we know?
Well...by the 16th C., English regulations started calling ALL eel sellers in the city "palingmen" from the Dutch word for eel: paling. 1/2
🗃️🧪
How do we know?
Well...by the 16th C., English regulations started calling ALL eel sellers in the city "palingmen" from the Dutch word for eel: paling. 1/2
🗃️🧪
Day 3 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 haar — ‘a cold sea-fog’
Found especially along the east coast of Scotland and England, alongside "sea-fret", "sea-roke".
Photo: Sea fret, St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, hayley green (CC BY-SA 2.0)
🌊 haar — ‘a cold sea-fog’
Found especially along the east coast of Scotland and England, alongside "sea-fret", "sea-roke".
Photo: Sea fret, St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, hayley green (CC BY-SA 2.0)
December 3, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Day 3 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 haar — ‘a cold sea-fog’
Found especially along the east coast of Scotland and England, alongside "sea-fret", "sea-roke".
Photo: Sea fret, St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, hayley green (CC BY-SA 2.0)
🌊 haar — ‘a cold sea-fog’
Found especially along the east coast of Scotland and England, alongside "sea-fret", "sea-roke".
Photo: Sea fret, St Mary's Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, hayley green (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Day 2 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 marram — as in the "marram grass" which thrives in coastal dunes
A Scandinavian loan (< marr ‘sea’ + hálmr ‘straw/reed’), known as "marehalm" along Norwegian and Danish coasts.
Photo: Marram grass, Alan Hughes (CC BY-SA 2.0)
🌊 marram — as in the "marram grass" which thrives in coastal dunes
A Scandinavian loan (< marr ‘sea’ + hálmr ‘straw/reed’), known as "marehalm" along Norwegian and Danish coasts.
Photo: Marram grass, Alan Hughes (CC BY-SA 2.0)
December 2, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Day 2 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
🌊 marram — as in the "marram grass" which thrives in coastal dunes
A Scandinavian loan (< marr ‘sea’ + hálmr ‘straw/reed’), known as "marehalm" along Norwegian and Danish coasts.
Photo: Marram grass, Alan Hughes (CC BY-SA 2.0)
🌊 marram — as in the "marram grass" which thrives in coastal dunes
A Scandinavian loan (< marr ‘sea’ + hálmr ‘straw/reed’), known as "marehalm" along Norwegian and Danish coasts.
Photo: Marram grass, Alan Hughes (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Day 1 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
fleet — ‘an arm of the sea, inlet, run of water’
Found especially in the North Kent Marshes and also in the Low Countries as its Dutch cognate: vliet
Photo: Capel Fleet from Capel Gate, Isle of Sheppey, Penny Mayes (CC BY-SA 2.0)
fleet — ‘an arm of the sea, inlet, run of water’
Found especially in the North Kent Marshes and also in the Low Countries as its Dutch cognate: vliet
Photo: Capel Fleet from Capel Gate, Isle of Sheppey, Penny Mayes (CC BY-SA 2.0)
December 1, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Day 1 of the Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar and today’s word is:
fleet — ‘an arm of the sea, inlet, run of water’
Found especially in the North Kent Marshes and also in the Low Countries as its Dutch cognate: vliet
Photo: Capel Fleet from Capel Gate, Isle of Sheppey, Penny Mayes (CC BY-SA 2.0)
fleet — ‘an arm of the sea, inlet, run of water’
Found especially in the North Kent Marshes and also in the Low Countries as its Dutch cognate: vliet
Photo: Capel Fleet from Capel Gate, Isle of Sheppey, Penny Mayes (CC BY-SA 2.0)
"While established systems safeguard journal articles, books, and research data, no comparable infrastructures exist for scholarly blogs. As a result, an essential part of academic communication risks slipping out of the historical record..."
The case for preserving scholarly blogs 👇
The case for preserving scholarly blogs 👇
The case for preserving scholarly blogs - Impact of Social Sciences
Poor preservation threatens the scholarly blogging ecosystem. What makes scholarly blogs sustainable and how can these practices be promoted?
blogs.lse.ac.uk
December 1, 2025 at 8:11 AM
"While established systems safeguard journal articles, books, and research data, no comparable infrastructures exist for scholarly blogs. As a result, an essential part of academic communication risks slipping out of the historical record..."
The case for preserving scholarly blogs 👇
The case for preserving scholarly blogs 👇
Reposted by Hannah Booth
Dunwich was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having a population of 484 households 😲. Ipswich, by comparison, only had 322.
#Ozymandias
#Ozymandias
December 1, 2025 at 5:22 AM
Dunwich was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having a population of 484 households 😲. Ipswich, by comparison, only had 322.
#Ozymandias
#Ozymandias
November's North Sea dispatches from me
Early seascape photography, surprising scallop shells and Scandinavian flatpack homes
North Sea Dispatches #04
northseanexus.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 8:51 AM
November's North Sea dispatches from me
Reposted by Hannah Booth
November 28, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Reposted by Hannah Booth
27 Nov 1703 (O.S.) // The Great Storm of 1703 swept across southern England from the Bristol Channel to the Thames Estuary during the night of 26/27 November. Damage was widespread and many ships were lost, wrecked, and sunk, including the following 13 vessels of the #RoyalNavy. [1/9]
November 27, 2025 at 1:12 PM
27 Nov 1703 (O.S.) // The Great Storm of 1703 swept across southern England from the Bristol Channel to the Thames Estuary during the night of 26/27 November. Damage was widespread and many ships were lost, wrecked, and sunk, including the following 13 vessels of the #RoyalNavy. [1/9]
Reposted by Hannah Booth
November 27, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Hannah Booth
Map of the day:
Germany’s river basins, including the Rhine (gold), Danube (green) and Elbe (purple)
Germany’s river basins, including the Rhine (gold), Danube (green) and Elbe (purple)
November 26, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Map of the day:
Germany’s river basins, including the Rhine (gold), Danube (green) and Elbe (purple)
Germany’s river basins, including the Rhine (gold), Danube (green) and Elbe (purple)
Reposted by Hannah Booth
Today in 1944, at Roermond in the Netherlands, sound recordist Lt Peter Handford points his microphone at 6th Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers, and captures their singing at an open air church service. 🔊 #history #ww2
Full recording: IWM 7697 www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Full recording: IWM 7697 www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
November 26, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Today in 1944, at Roermond in the Netherlands, sound recordist Lt Peter Handford points his microphone at 6th Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers, and captures their singing at an open air church service. 🔊 #history #ww2
Full recording: IWM 7697 www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Full recording: IWM 7697 www.iwm.org.uk/collections/...
Reposted by Hannah Booth
'I crumbed together my research into North Sea fish species, North Atlantic trade, and late-medieval environmental crisis around the medieval North Sea basin with my embodied experience of walking in the fens south of Grimsby.'
Our latest MMM blog post by poet Becca Drake is out now! 👇
Our latest MMM blog post by poet Becca Drake is out now! 👇
Meet a Medievalist Maker: Becca Drake — The Guild of Medievalist Makers
“ Meet a Medievalist Maker ” is an ongoing series of blog posts introducing our members and the work they are doing. Each post is organized around our Four P’s: a project they are working on...
www.guildmedmak.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:32 PM
'I crumbed together my research into North Sea fish species, North Atlantic trade, and late-medieval environmental crisis around the medieval North Sea basin with my embodied experience of walking in the fens south of Grimsby.'
Our latest MMM blog post by poet Becca Drake is out now! 👇
Our latest MMM blog post by poet Becca Drake is out now! 👇
Reposted by Hannah Booth
Heather Jansch, British sculptor who was known for creating life-sized sculptures of horses from driftwood #womensart
November 25, 2025 at 6:07 AM
Heather Jansch, British sculptor who was known for creating life-sized sculptures of horses from driftwood #womensart
Reposted by Hannah Booth
View of the Fish Market at the Damsluis on Dam Square in Amsterdam, Claes Jansz. Visscher (II), 1611
(Rijksmuseum)
(Rijksmuseum)
November 24, 2025 at 10:39 PM
View of the Fish Market at the Damsluis on Dam Square in Amsterdam, Claes Jansz. Visscher (II), 1611
(Rijksmuseum)
(Rijksmuseum)
"It is in times of fog that the navigator must be given the greatest protection. As this is impossible to accomplish visually, appeal must be made to his ear." — Frederick A. Talbot writing in 1913.
From this week's post on gongs, bells and foghorns — the many lost sounds between shore and sea.
From this week's post on gongs, bells and foghorns — the many lost sounds between shore and sea.
Waves upon waves
Lost sounds between shore and sea
northseanexus.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:42 AM
"It is in times of fog that the navigator must be given the greatest protection. As this is impossible to accomplish visually, appeal must be made to his ear." — Frederick A. Talbot writing in 1913.
From this week's post on gongs, bells and foghorns — the many lost sounds between shore and sea.
From this week's post on gongs, bells and foghorns — the many lost sounds between shore and sea.