Bob Marshall
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bobmarshall.co.uk
Bob Marshall
@bobmarshall.co.uk
1.1K followers 470 following 490 posts
Edinburgh-based architectural illustrator and 3D reconstruction artist. #Blender3D Pro. Member: Society of Architectural Illustrators, Scottish Castles Association, and the Caithness Broch Project. https://bobmarshall.co.uk
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bobmarshall.co.uk
Bob Marshall @bobmarshall.co.uk · Oct 14
Hi #PortfolioDay!

I'm an Architectural Illustrator from Edinburgh. I visually reconstruct heritage buildings and monuments in #Blender3D guided by archaeology, measured survey data, and by working in collaboration with historians and archaeologists.

Website: bobmarshall.co.uk
ALT: A speculative digital reconstruction of the Bass of Inverurie - a late twelfth-century timber and earthwork castle held by the Earls of Garioch (pronounced "Geary" in the local tongue)- members of the extended royal family of Scotland and the ancestors of King Robert the Bruce. Personal project © Bob Marshall 2017. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Speculative digital reconstruction of Tor Alvie hillfort near Aviemore, Scottish Highlands. The site was identified as a hillfort in 2010-11 (Historic Environment Record: MHG55341). The reconstruction model was created in Blender 3D using a combination of high-resolution digital terrain data obtained from Ordnance Survey, which I used to create my backdrop of the Cairngorm Mountains. Although the fort has never been excavated, the line of its rampart walls can broadly be determined by a stony bank that encloses an area of roughly 85m x 30m, bearing immediate similarities in size and shape to Craig Phadrig hillfort near Inverness. However, unlike Craig Phadrig, there is no evidence that Torr Alvie was vitrified. It is difficult to know how thick the ramparts were, whether there were timber palisades, and how many entrances the fort had, so imagination plays a large part in this visualisation. With grateful thanks to Eve Boyle and Adam Welfare of Historic Environment Scotland and Professor Gordon Noble of the University of Aberdeen for their input and assistance. © Bob Marshall / badenochstorylands.com 2020. A speculative digital reconstruction of the early sixteenth-century chancel screen of St Mary's parish church in Youghal, Ireland. Using survey measurements, I developed a computer model to help me work out a possible design for the screen and its loft. Its form is guided by the information written in historical documents and from a single piece of decorated timber, which may have been part of this original screen, found underneath the church floor during recent archaeological investigations. I have combined influences from some surviving medieval screens found in churches in several English counties. The depiction of the Last Judgement painted above the chancel arch is imaginary, and also influenced by similar mural paintings found in several medieval English churches. The Last Judgement, sometimes also referred to as a ‘Doom’, was a common feature of medieval churches. It was an instrument for highlighting the contrasts between the rewards of heaven and the agony of hell, intended to guide Christians away from sin and misbehaviour. A digital reconstruction of Brougham Castle shows how it may have looked in 1388 following the additions and alterations made by Roger Clifford, 5th Baron of Westmoreland. This view of the castle in wintertime is from the northwest. Artist: Bob Marshall. © Historic England / English Heritage Trust. Contact Historic England Archives for Licensing enquiries.
bobmarshall.co.uk
Can’t believe I made all these yesterday and I only got one before the others vanished quickly. Recipe courtesy of @meganfoodhistorian.bsky.social
Freshly baked scones
November 24, 2025 at 5:58 PM
bobmarshall.co.uk
Attenborough o’clock!

Essential Sunday TV viewing for 🐈. #Kingdom
A domestic cat watches a television programme featuring big cats in the wild.
November 23, 2025 at 6:45 PM
bobmarshall.co.uk
Comfort food season. Vegetable soup.
A large cast iron pot of vegetable soup on a stove.
November 23, 2025 at 8:27 AM
bobmarshall.co.uk
I'm heading off on a voyage this weekend....

An absolutely stunning book, @ianmcque.bsky.social 👏
The front cover of 'Mileships', an art book by Ian McQue.
November 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM
bobmarshall.co.uk
So many great new features!
blender.org Blender @blender.org · 6d
Blender Foundation and the online developer community proudly present Blender 5.0!

ACES, Adaptive Subdivision, HDR, Storyboarding, Geometry Nodes, 588 bugs fixed, and so much more.

📖 Changelog & Download: blender.org/download/rel...

📺 Video Recap: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wEq... #b3d
blender.org
November 18, 2025 at 7:02 PM
bobmarshall.co.uk
Grateful to be busy again only a few months after resuming freelance work, but I feel far more stressed than I did before. With me, every project has to be better than my last one, and raising the bar a little higher each time is hard when faced with ever diminishing budgets and punishing deadlines.
November 17, 2025 at 7:03 PM
bobmarshall.co.uk
Too cloudy here last night to enjoy the northern lights, but it looks like Shetland got the best view of the 'Mirrie Dancers' again. Image credit: www.shetlandwebcams.com
A view of the "Mirrie Dancers", from Sumburgh Head Lighthouse in Shetland. The "Mirrie Dancers" are the Shetland name for the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. Image credit: www.shetlandwebcams.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Bob Marshall
sarahmay1.bsky.social
Please, archaeology & heritage folks, add alt text to your images. It's just describing the photo so that people who can't see it can still engage with the post. Describing things is a key skill in archaeology & heritage.
I'm tired of seeing lovely images that I can't share
November 13, 2025 at 8:18 AM
bobmarshall.co.uk
You simply don't get a sense of the hidden architecture lurking beneath Edinburgh's South Bridge from street level until you look at the cross-sectional view.

retrospectjournal.com/2024/11/10/a...
November 12, 2025 at 12:04 PM
bobmarshall.co.uk
Game designers bring Scotland's mysterious Picts to life.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Game designers bring to life to Scotland's mysterious Picts
Writers and archaeologists also worked on a new guide to a lost early medieval Scottish society.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 7:23 AM
bobmarshall.co.uk
The Radical Road needs a radical plan.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Why has one of Edinburgh's best views been off-limits for seven years?
The historic Radical Road path was closed in 2018 due to rockfall but a plan for its full reopening has still to be agreed.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 2:50 AM
bobmarshall.co.uk
The new #SirDavidAttenborough series #Kingdom is a BIG hit with my cat tonight. He’s been glued to the TV right since the start. 🐅
A domestic cat watching a television program featuring big cats in the wild. A domestic cat watching a television program featuring big cats in the wild.
November 9, 2025 at 7:10 PM
bobmarshall.co.uk
I've just seen the Baltersan Castle reconstruction (I won't share it on here, go check it on Faecebook) that's clearly been made with gen AI. Bartizan is entirely out of proportion to its true dimensions on the present ruin, central chimney width wrong, roof tiles wrong, crowsteps wrong. It hurts! 🤦
November 5, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Bob Marshall
socantscot.bsky.social
HELP US PRINT: ‘Rhynie, A Powerful Place of Pictland’

This nationally important monograph by Professor Gordon Noble FSAScot will only be printed if we hit our crowdfunding target by 6 December.

Please support the campaign by registering your interest: www.kickstarter.com/projects/soc...
Aerial view of a hillfort with the words Help Us Print Our New Book overlaid
November 4, 2025 at 9:15 AM
bobmarshall.co.uk
I am unable to comprehend numbers and dates unless I can visualise them as patterns, shapes, or points in a sequence. This condition is called Spatial-Sequence Synesthesia or SSS. It affects my mental arithmetic. I'm interested to hear from others who have it.

synesthesia-test.com/spatial-sequ...
Spatial-sequence synesthesia
synesthesia-test.com
November 1, 2025 at 10:11 PM
bobmarshall.co.uk
My reconstruction of Allen Smelt Mill (2017) is a good contender for being among my most challenging visualisation projects. It required months of effort, research, and problem-solving with the aid of 3D models. I wrote an article about the experience.... bob-marshall.blogspot.com/2018/01/reco...
Illustrated reconstruction drawing showing a cutaway view of Allendale Smelt Mill in Northumberland, as it might have looked in the 1800s. A central water wheel drives mechanical bellows, which feed a supply of air to the factory's ore hearths. Fumes from the furnaces that burn off sulphur and other impurities in the lead ore are carried away from the factory by a complex network of flues. The Smelting Mill was demolished in the 1950s and 1970s. All that remains are flue openings, the ore hearths, the wheel pit, and the foundations of the roasting furnaces. The flues can be described as long horizontal chimneys, which end at chimneys high up on the moors above Allendale, over two miles away. The flue system here is the best preserved in England. A reconstruction drawing of Allenheads Mine Yard in Northumberland. Teams of men and boys operated 'jiggers' and 'buddles' to sift and wash the mined minerals to extract every available ounce of lead ore. The process required vast quantities of water. The ore was then taken from here to the smelting mill at Allendale on the backs of small, rugged horses known as Galloways, then deposited into storage bays here called bingsteads, where the material would then await refinement. This is the only plan drawing we have of Allen Smelt Mill in the 1800s, showing the layout of its buildings and the route of its horizontal flues. A 3D computer model of 'Brunton Buddles'. This equipment was used for washing the iron ore of unwanted material. The material was loaded through a hopper at the top and then passed on to a canvas belt, where water washed away the unwanted material, leaving lead-rich ore to drop into a large tank for collection.
November 1, 2025 at 8:02 AM
bobmarshall.co.uk
Yes! 👇
lnrmodels.bsky.social LNRModels @lnrmodels.bsky.social · 24d
Proud to be finally able to share the secret project I’ve been involved with

The Marvellous Miniature Workshop is coming soon to BBC One and BBC iPlayer :
@bbciplayer 

#TheMarvellousMiniatureWorkshop #SaraCox #iPlayer
October 31, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Bob Marshall
koreformacion.com
¡Últimas plazas! El próximo lunes 3 de noviembre comenzamos un nuevo curso online y práctico que os permitirá aprender a recrear en 3D ciudades históricas con Blender. ¿Te lo vas a perder?
October 31, 2025 at 5:30 PM
bobmarshall.co.uk
Castle Gloom, a.k.a. Castle Campbell, Clackmannanshire. 🏰
📷 My own.

Happy All Hallows' Eve, folks.
An eerie silhouette of Castle Campbell looming in the fog, framed by bare trees. Clackmannanshire, Scotland. Photo © Bob Marshall 2017
October 31, 2025 at 4:55 PM
bobmarshall.co.uk
Post a perfect album from 1989. A perfect music year.
The album cover of '3 Feet High and Rising' by De La Soul. By Toby Mott - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, ttps://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=129689563
October 31, 2025 at 1:24 PM
bobmarshall.co.uk
Good morning. Caught an early ferry from Inverclyde over to Dunoon for a few castle visits today. ☀️🏰
A view of Dunoon Castle in the early morning sunshine. Argyllshire, Scotland. A panoramic view of the Firth of Clyde from Dunoon Castle, Argyllshire, Scotland. Early morning sunshine.
October 30, 2025 at 8:40 AM
bobmarshall.co.uk
Couldn't resist sharing this because CBP don't have a Bluesky account yet.

Isn't this just completely AWESOME?!!!

I feel obliged to point out that authentic Iron Age Brochs didn't have car parking, however. 🤣

#Brochs
A local planning application summary (Highland) showing the successful application to build the first replica Iron Age Broch in over 2000 years near Latheron in Caithness, Scotland.
October 22, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Bob Marshall
northernstudies.bsky.social
Some great news coming out of Caithness!
Plan approved to build Scotland's first broch for 2,000 years
The tall, double-walled drystone towers have only been found in Scotland.
www.bbc.com
October 22, 2025 at 11:02 AM
bobmarshall.co.uk
#HillfortsWednesday #DogsAtHillforts My much-adored, and greatly missed Jack Russell terrier inspects Traprain Law Hillfort in #EastLothian back in 2008.

Remote sensing data, imported into Blender 3D, shows the hillfort's topography and quarried-out northeast slopes.

#RemoteSensingData #Digital3D
A Jack Russell terrier dog poses at the summit of Traprain law, an Iron Age hillfort in East Lothian, Scotland. 50cm LIDAR topographical data showing Traprain Law, an Iron Age hillfort in East Lothian, Scotland. The image shows a deep quarry on the hillfort's northeast slope. Image reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland. CC-BY A digital 3D model of Traprain Law, an Iron Age hillfort in East Lothian, Scotland. Created using the Blender 3D open-source software. A digital 3D model of Traprain Law, an Iron Age hillfort in East Lothian, Scotland. Created using the Blender 3D open-source software. The image shows a deep quarry on the northeast slope of the hillfort.
October 22, 2025 at 10:27 AM
bobmarshall.co.uk
Needed some good news today. Absolutely elated.
scotnational.bsky.social The National @scotnational.bsky.social · Oct 21
Planning permission has been granted for the first broch in 2000 years to be constructed in the Highlands
First Iron Age broch 'in 2000 years' approved for Highlands
www.thenational.scot
October 21, 2025 at 8:36 PM