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Part of my 'Duffus Castle through the seasons' project.
The castle is situated on the Laich of Moray, a fertile plain that was once the swampy foreshore of Spynie Loch. This was originally a more defensive position than it appears today, long after the loch was drained.
The motte is a huge man-made mound, with steep sides and a wide ditch separating it from the bailey. The whole site is enclosed by a water-filled ditch, which is more a mark of its boundary than it is a serious defensive measure.
Duffus Castle was built by a Flemish man named Freskin, who came to Scotland in the first half of the 1100s. After an uprising by the ‘men of Moray’ against David I in 1130, the king sent Freskin north as a representative of royal authority.
He was given the estate of Duffus, and here he built an earthwork-and-timber castle. Freskin’s son William adopted the title of ‘de Moravia’ – of Moray. By 1200, the family had become the most influential noble family in northern Scotland, giving rise to the earls of Sutherland and Clan Murray.
In about 1270, the castle passed to Sir Reginald Cheyne the Elder, Lord of Inverugie. He probably built the square stone keep on top of the motte, and the curtain wall encircling the bailey. In 1305, the invading King Edward I of England gave him a grant of 200 oaks from the royal forests of Darnaway and Longmorn, which were probably used for the castle’s floors and roofs.
By 1350, the castle had passed to a younger son of the Earl of Sutherland through marriage. It may have been then that the keep was abandoned, possibly because it was beginning to slip down the mound, and a new residence established at the north of the bailey.
Viscount Dundee, leader of the first Jacobite Rising, dined in the castle as a guest of James, Lord Duffus in 1689, prior to his victory against King William II’s government forces at Killiecrankie. Soon after, Lord Duffus moved to the nearby Duffus House. The castle quickly fell into decay.
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Fishing boats waiting on the shingle shore at Aldeburgh in suffolk. From a great workshop I attended one on one with Justin Minns
#appicoftheweek
When I was driving down Snake Pass I saw the fog moving through Lady Clough Forest and had to pull over into a lay-by to grab a shot.
From a day out at Paradise Wildlife Park, Broxbourne, UK taken from the walkway above the new lion enclosure.
Here's the thing with roses. You plant them (under your wife's supervision in my case), nurture them, then wait. And watch. And even though it's your garden and you should remember where everything is you still get surprises...
10 of my rose shots are printed and adorn our walls. Now we're gonna need to find another space...
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I pretty much nailed the exposure SOOC. There were some blemishes and little background distractions removed, then a small shadows adjustment. And there’s a faint vignette, all to better reflect what you’re now looking at.
A view through one of the tiny windows at one end of the shipping container to the other... sounds accompany the display (sirens and voices) and the lights flicker and and intensify from time to time... quite eerie but fascinating.
Happy Saturday!
Don't know if this activity was down to Storm Ciara but it got quite wild off the northern coast of Tenerife yesterday. Even had to put a jumper on.
In God We Trust…
1976 USA Bicentennial 2 dollar bill. I was living in that wonderful country back then.
Experimentation in handheld lighting and WB, sort of a sepia effect? Well, kind of… A green glow certainly which doesn’t trouble me at all.
From the Richard Harvey Studio One.
A modification of an earlier image - mycena (bonnets) festooning a dead beech stump in Epping Forest.
Experimenting with birds in flight (not having much luck) then this swan took a major interest in me (possibly in search of bread!)
A visit to the Air Forces Memorial in Runnymede is a humbling experience. The memorial commemorates more than 20,000 airmen and women who were lost in the Second World War during operations from bases in the United Kingdom and North and Western Europe who have no known grave.
But Gate 2 is where it's at. So they tell me...
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(Streets of Corringham)
DP World, London Gateway Port Logistics Park development.
The Manorway, Corringham Essex UK.
Still having problems uploading to flickr direct from Lightroom.
A lovely late August afternoon, temperature just about right, not too warm.
The first week of my seventh 52/52 Project and t's back to the Row Ponds at Hardwick. An if'y afternoon with frequent short showers. This shot of the fourth Row Pond was taken from the top of the Ice House. Both halls can just be seen in the top right.
Not been for years, good to see things not changed much.
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Caltha palustris polypetala beside the pond with footbridge in the background in the morning light at Elsea Meadows.
This is the stark, slabular goodness of one of the entrances to Norman Foster's Canary Wharf station on the Jubilee Line.
As The Observer said 'It’s like a cross between Canterbury cathedral and the set of Aliens.'
This is an update of a view I last attempted to capture back in 2014, still with the Canon 6D, but this time with the benefit of the 17mm tilt shift lens. As challenging as framing the scene was finding a moment when the escalators are people-free ...