Old England: A Pictorial Museum (page 2/48)

43.—Harold’s Stones, Trelech, Monmouthshire

“It is stated by Rowland, the author of ‘Mona Antiqua,’ that wherever there are heaps of stones of great apparent antiquity, stone pillars are also found near them. This is probably too strong an assertion; but the existence of such memorials, which King says, “are, like the pyramids of Egypt, records of the highest antiquity in a dead language,” [...]circle. These are called Harold’s Stones (Fig. 43). Near Boroughbridge, in Yorkshire, are some remarkable stones of a similar character, called the Devil’s Arrows. The magnitude of these stones of memorial was probably sometimes regulated by the importance of the event which they were intended to celebrate; but their sacred character in many cases did not depend upon their size, and their form is sometimes unsuited to the notion that they were boundary-stones, or even monumental pillars.” (p. 11) [more...]

Old England: Photograph of the book

I put the book on an artist’s easel and photographed it. This is Old England, printed in 1845.

Colour Plate Inside the Front Cover

This plate is inside the front cover, before the title-page, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to call it a frontispiece: it doesn’t face the title page. [more...]

46.—Kilmarth Rocks, as seen from the South East.

“But there are some remains which have the appearance of works of art, which are, probably, nothing but irregular products of nature,—masses of stone thrown on a plane surface by some great convulsion, and wrought into fantastic shapes by agencies of dripping water and driving wind, which in the course of ages work as effectually in the changes of [...]sic] stones. Such is also a remarkable pile upon a lofty range called the Kilmarth Rocks, which is twenty-eight feet in height, and overhangs more than twelve feet towards the north (Fig. 46).” (p. 18) [more...]

Title Page for Volume I

OLD ENGLAND:
A Pictorial Museum of Regal, Ecclesiastical, Baronial, Municipal and POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. [more...]

Foliated initial capital letter “S”

This decorated drop cap “S” has vine leaves intertwined with the letter. [more...]

Foliated initial capital letter “S” (coloured version)

I coloured the initial letter S from the first page. The letter is red and the vine leaves are green; obviously you could change this. [more...]