View allAll Photos Tagged Matters
Black Lives Matter shuts down Eglinton Ave W and Allen Rd.
#BLMTOshutitdown #justiceforjermainecarby #justiceforandrewloku #blacklivesmatter
Iris Mauss, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, USA, during the Session "Mental Health Matters" at the Open Forum Swiss Alpine High School at the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 20, 2017. Copyright by World Economic Forum / Valeriano Di Domenico.
This was a photo in which I wanted to test just how thoroughly I could turn reality into what I imagined. The couple who owned the mansion had donated the entire property for tours, and it was an extensive plantation home. As we toured the house, I could see the evidence of those who had lived there, and I was able to imagine their lives as they walked through the house. So, I created the house in my imagination, using this image as the base of my creation.
µCon 2016: The Microservices Conference. skillsmatter.com/conferences/7412-con-2016-the-microservi.... Images copyright www.edtelling.com
Flickr Friends,
Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda hit Tacloban city, in Leyte province, central Philippines.It has left many communities with no power and no communication, shattered homes and washed-out roads.Worst of all thousands of lives have been lost. They need our help. Even the smallest amount that we give would be a big help to them. Please donate. www.worldvision.org/
P3X - People, Product & Process eXchange 2019
skillsmatter.com/conferences/11839-p3x-people-product-and...
Images www.tellingphotography.com
Agile Testing & BDD eXchange 10th-11th November 2016, Code Node, London. skillsmatter.com/conferences/7428-agile-testing-and-bdd-e.... Images copyright www.edtelling.com
IR HDR. IR converted Canon Rebel XTi. AEB +/-2 total of 3 exposures processed with Photomatix. Levels adjusted in PSE.
High Dynamic Range (HDR)
High-dynamic-range imaging (HDRI) is a high dynamic range (HDR) technique used in imaging and photography to reproduce a greater dynamic range of luminosity than is possible with standard digital imaging or photographic techniques. The aim is to present a similar range of luminance to that experienced through the human visual system. The human eye, through adaptation of the iris and other methods, adjusts constantly to adapt to a broad range of luminance present in the environment. The brain continuously interprets this information so that a viewer can see in a wide range of light conditions.
HDR images can represent a greater range of luminance levels than can be achieved using more 'traditional' methods, such as many real-world scenes containing very bright, direct sunlight to extreme shade, or very faint nebulae. This is often achieved by capturing and then combining several different, narrower range, exposures of the same subject matter. Non-HDR cameras take photographs with a limited exposure range, referred to as LDR, resulting in the loss of detail in highlights or shadows.
The two primary types of HDR images are computer renderings and images resulting from merging multiple low-dynamic-range (LDR) or standard-dynamic-range (SDR) photographs. HDR images can also be acquired using special image sensors, such as an oversampled binary image sensor.
Due to the limitations of printing and display contrast, the extended luminosity range of an HDR image has to be compressed to be made visible. The method of rendering an HDR image to a standard monitor or printing device is called tone mapping. This method reduces the overall contrast of an HDR image to facilitate display on devices or printouts with lower dynamic range, and can be applied to produce images with preserved local contrast (or exaggerated for artistic effect).
In photography, dynamic range is measured in exposure value (EV) differences (known as stops). An increase of one EV, or 'one stop', represents a doubling of the amount of light. Conversely, a decrease of one EV represents a halving of the amount of light. Therefore, revealing detail in the darkest of shadows requires high exposures, while preserving detail in very bright situations requires very low exposures. Most cameras cannot provide this range of exposure values within a single exposure, due to their low dynamic range. High-dynamic-range photographs are generally achieved by capturing multiple standard-exposure images, often using exposure bracketing, and then later merging them into a single HDR image, usually within a photo manipulation program). Digital images are often encoded in a camera's raw image format, because 8-bit JPEG encoding does not offer a wide enough range of values to allow fine transitions (and regarding HDR, later introduces undesirable effects due to lossy compression).
Any camera that allows manual exposure control can make images for HDR work, although one equipped with auto exposure bracketing (AEB) is far better suited. Images from film cameras are less suitable as they often must first be digitized, so that they can later be processed using software HDR methods.
In most imaging devices, the degree of exposure to light applied to the active element (be it film or CCD) can be altered in one of two ways: by either increasing/decreasing the size of the aperture or by increasing/decreasing the time of each exposure. Exposure variation in an HDR set is only done by altering the exposure time and not the aperture size; this is because altering the aperture size also affects the depth of field and so the resultant multiple images would be quite different, preventing their final combination into a single HDR image.
An important limitation for HDR photography is that any movement between successive images will impede or prevent success in combining them afterwards. Also, as one must create several images (often three or five and sometimes more) to obtain the desired luminance range, such a full 'set' of images takes extra time. HDR photographers have developed calculation methods and techniques to partially overcome these problems, but the use of a sturdy tripod is, at least, advised.
Some cameras have an auto exposure bracketing (AEB) feature with a far greater dynamic range than others, from the 3 EV of the Canon EOS 40D, to the 18 EV of the Canon EOS-1D Mark II. As the popularity of this imaging method grows, several camera manufactures are now offering built-in HDR features. For example, the Pentax K-7 DSLR has an HDR mode that captures an HDR image and outputs (only) a tone mapped JPEG file. The Canon PowerShot G12, Canon PowerShot S95 and Canon PowerShot S100 offer similar features in a smaller format.. Nikon's approach is called 'Active D-Lighting' which applies exposure compensation and tone mapping to the image as it comes from the sensor, with the accent being on retaing a realistic effect . Some smartphones provide HDR modes, and most mobile platforms have apps that provide HDR picture taking.
Camera characteristics such as gamma curves, sensor resolution, noise, photometric calibration and color calibration affect resulting high-dynamic-range images.
Color film negatives and slides consist of multiple film layers that respond to light differently. As a consequence, transparent originals (especially positive slides) feature a very high dynamic range
Tone mapping
Tone mapping reduces the dynamic range, or contrast ratio, of an entire image while retaining localized contrast. Although it is a distinct operation, tone mapping is often applied to HDRI files by the same software package.
Several software applications are available on the PC, Mac and Linux platforms for producing HDR files and tone mapped images. Notable titles include
Adobe Photoshop
Aurora HDR
Dynamic Photo HDR
HDR Efex Pro
HDR PhotoStudio
Luminance HDR
MagicRaw
Oloneo PhotoEngine
Photomatix Pro
PTGui
Information stored in high-dynamic-range images typically corresponds to the physical values of luminance or radiance that can be observed in the real world. This is different from traditional digital images, which represent colors as they should appear on a monitor or a paper print. Therefore, HDR image formats are often called scene-referred, in contrast to traditional digital images, which are device-referred or output-referred. Furthermore, traditional images are usually encoded for the human visual system (maximizing the visual information stored in the fixed number of bits), which is usually called gamma encoding or gamma correction. The values stored for HDR images are often gamma compressed (power law) or logarithmically encoded, or floating-point linear values, since fixed-point linear encodings are increasingly inefficient over higher dynamic ranges.
HDR images often don't use fixed ranges per color channel—other than traditional images—to represent many more colors over a much wider dynamic range. For that purpose, they don't use integer values to represent the single color channels (e.g., 0-255 in an 8 bit per pixel interval for red, green and blue) but instead use a floating point representation. Common are 16-bit (half precision) or 32-bit floating point numbers to represent HDR pixels. However, when the appropriate transfer function is used, HDR pixels for some applications can be represented with a color depth that has as few as 10–12 bits for luminance and 8 bits for chrominance without introducing any visible quantization artifacts.
History of HDR photography
The idea of using several exposures to adequately reproduce a too-extreme range of luminance was pioneered as early as the 1850s by Gustave Le Gray to render seascapes showing both the sky and the sea. Such rendering was impossible at the time using standard methods, as the luminosity range was too extreme. Le Gray used one negative for the sky, and another one with a longer exposure for the sea, and combined the two into one picture in positive.
Mid 20th century
Manual tone mapping was accomplished by dodging and burning – selectively increasing or decreasing the exposure of regions of the photograph to yield better tonality reproduction. This was effective because the dynamic range of the negative is significantly higher than would be available on the finished positive paper print when that is exposed via the negative in a uniform manner. An excellent example is the photograph Schweitzer at the Lamp by W. Eugene Smith, from his 1954 photo essay A Man of Mercy on Dr. Albert Schweitzer and his humanitarian work in French Equatorial Africa. The image took 5 days to reproduce the tonal range of the scene, which ranges from a bright lamp (relative to the scene) to a dark shadow.
Ansel Adams elevated dodging and burning to an art form. Many of his famous prints were manipulated in the darkroom with these two methods. Adams wrote a comprehensive book on producing prints called The Print, which prominently features dodging and burning, in the context of his Zone System.
With the advent of color photography, tone mapping in the darkroom was no longer possible due to the specific timing needed during the developing process of color film. Photographers looked to film manufacturers to design new film stocks with improved response, or continued to shoot in black and white to use tone mapping methods.
Color film capable of directly recording high-dynamic-range images was developed by Charles Wyckoff and EG&G "in the course of a contract with the Department of the Air Force". This XR film had three emulsion layers, an upper layer having an ASA speed rating of 400, a middle layer with an intermediate rating, and a lower layer with an ASA rating of 0.004. The film was processed in a manner similar to color films, and each layer produced a different color. The dynamic range of this extended range film has been estimated as 1:108. It has been used to photograph nuclear explosions, for astronomical photography, for spectrographic research, and for medical imaging. Wyckoff's detailed pictures of nuclear explosions appeared on the cover of Life magazine in the mid-1950s.
Late 20th century
Georges Cornuéjols and licensees of his patents (Brdi, Hymatom) introduced the principle of HDR video image, in 1986, by interposing a matricial LCD screen in front of the camera's image sensor, increasing the sensors dynamic by five stops. The concept of neighborhood tone mapping was applied to video cameras by a group from the Technion in Israel led by Dr. Oliver Hilsenrath and Prof. Y.Y.Zeevi who filed for a patent on this concept in 1988.
In February and April 1990, Georges Cornuéjols introduced the first real-time HDR camera that combined two images captured by a sensor3435 or simultaneously3637 by two sensors of the camera. This process is known as bracketing used for a video stream.
In 1991, the first commercial video camera was introduced that performed real-time capturing of multiple images with different exposures, and producing an HDR video image, by Hymatom, licensee of Georges Cornuéjols.
Also in 1991, Georges Cornuéjols introduced the HDR+ image principle by non-linear accumulation of images to increase the sensitivity of the camera: for low-light environments, several successive images are accumulated, thus increasing the signal to noise ratio.
In 1993, another commercial medical camera producing an HDR video image, by the Technion.
Modern HDR imaging uses a completely different approach, based on making a high-dynamic-range luminance or light map using only global image operations (across the entire image), and then tone mapping the result. Global HDR was first introduced in 19931 resulting in a mathematical theory of differently exposed pictures of the same subject matter that was published in 1995 by Steve Mann and Rosalind Picard.
On October 28, 1998, Ben Sarao created one of the first nighttime HDR+G (High Dynamic Range + Graphic image)of STS-95 on the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. It consisted of four film images of the shuttle at night that were digitally composited with additional digital graphic elements. The image was first exhibited at NASA Headquarters Great Hall, Washington DC in 1999 and then published in Hasselblad Forum, Issue 3 1993, Volume 35 ISSN 0282-5449.
The advent of consumer digital cameras produced a new demand for HDR imaging to improve the light response of digital camera sensors, which had a much smaller dynamic range than film. Steve Mann developed and patented the global-HDR method for producing digital images having extended dynamic range at the MIT Media Laboratory. Mann's method involved a two-step procedure: (1) generate one floating point image array by global-only image operations (operations that affect all pixels identically, without regard to their local neighborhoods); and then (2) convert this image array, using local neighborhood processing (tone-remapping, etc.), into an HDR image. The image array generated by the first step of Mann's process is called a lightspace image, lightspace picture, or radiance map. Another benefit of global-HDR imaging is that it provides access to the intermediate light or radiance map, which has been used for computer vision, and other image processing operations.
21st century
In 2005, Adobe Systems introduced several new features in Photoshop CS2 including Merge to HDR, 32 bit floating point image support, and HDR tone mapping.
On June 30, 2016, Microsoft added support for the digital compositing of HDR images to Windows 10 using the Universal Windows Platform.
HDR sensors
Modern CMOS image sensors can often capture a high dynamic range from a single exposure. The wide dynamic range of the captured image is non-linearly compressed into a smaller dynamic range electronic representation. However, with proper processing, the information from a single exposure can be used to create an HDR image.
Such HDR imaging is used in extreme dynamic range applications like welding or automotive work. Some other cameras designed for use in security applications can automatically provide two or more images for each frame, with changing exposure. For example, a sensor for 30fps video will give out 60fps with the odd frames at a short exposure time and the even frames at a longer exposure time. Some of the sensor may even combine the two images on-chip so that a wider dynamic range without in-pixel compression is directly available to the user for display or processing.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_imaging
Infrared Photography
In infrared photography, the film or image sensor used is sensitive to infrared light. The part of the spectrum used is referred to as near-infrared to distinguish it from far-infrared, which is the domain of thermal imaging. Wavelengths used for photography range from about 700 nm to about 900 nm. Film is usually sensitive to visible light too, so an infrared-passing filter is used; this lets infrared (IR) light pass through to the camera, but blocks all or most of the visible light spectrum (the filter thus looks black or deep red). ("Infrared filter" may refer either to this type of filter or to one that blocks infrared but passes other wavelengths.)
When these filters are used together with infrared-sensitive film or sensors, "in-camera effects" can be obtained; false-color or black-and-white images with a dreamlike or sometimes lurid appearance known as the "Wood Effect," an effect mainly caused by foliage (such as tree leaves and grass) strongly reflecting in the same way visible light is reflected from snow. There is a small contribution from chlorophyll fluorescence, but this is marginal and is not the real cause of the brightness seen in infrared photographs. The effect is named after the infrared photography pioneer Robert W. Wood, and not after the material wood, which does not strongly reflect infrared.
The other attributes of infrared photographs include very dark skies and penetration of atmospheric haze, caused by reduced Rayleigh scattering and Mie scattering, respectively, compared to visible light. The dark skies, in turn, result in less infrared light in shadows and dark reflections of those skies from water, and clouds will stand out strongly. These wavelengths also penetrate a few millimeters into skin and give a milky look to portraits, although eyes often look black.
Until the early 20th century, infrared photography was not possible because silver halide emulsions are not sensitive to longer wavelengths than that of blue light (and to a lesser extent, green light) without the addition of a dye to act as a color sensitizer. The first infrared photographs (as distinct from spectrographs) to be published appeared in the February 1910 edition of The Century Magazine and in the October 1910 edition of the Royal Photographic Society Journal to illustrate papers by Robert W. Wood, who discovered the unusual effects that now bear his name. The RPS co-ordinated events to celebrate the centenary of this event in 2010. Wood's photographs were taken on experimental film that required very long exposures; thus, most of his work focused on landscapes. A further set of infrared landscapes taken by Wood in Italy in 1911 used plates provided for him by CEK Mees at Wratten & Wainwright. Mees also took a few infrared photographs in Portugal in 1910, which are now in the Kodak archives.
Infrared-sensitive photographic plates were developed in the United States during World War I for spectroscopic analysis, and infrared sensitizing dyes were investigated for improved haze penetration in aerial photography. After 1930, new emulsions from Kodak and other manufacturers became useful to infrared astronomy.
Infrared photography became popular with photography enthusiasts in the 1930s when suitable film was introduced commercially. The Times regularly published landscape and aerial photographs taken by their staff photographers using Ilford infrared film. By 1937 33 kinds of infrared film were available from five manufacturers including Agfa, Kodak and Ilford. Infrared movie film was also available and was used to create day-for-night effects in motion pictures, a notable example being the pseudo-night aerial sequences in the James Cagney/Bette Davis movie The Bride Came COD.
False-color infrared photography became widely practiced with the introduction of Kodak Ektachrome Infrared Aero Film and Ektachrome Infrared EIR. The first version of this, known as Kodacolor Aero-Reversal-Film, was developed by Clark and others at the Kodak for camouflage detection in the 1940s. The film became more widely available in 35mm form in the 1960s but KODAK AEROCHROME III Infrared Film 1443 has been discontinued.
Infrared photography became popular with a number of 1960s recording artists, because of the unusual results; Jimi Hendrix, Donovan, Frank and a slow shutter speed without focus compensation, however wider apertures like f/2.0 can produce sharp photos only if the lens is meticulously refocused to the infrared index mark, and only if this index mark is the correct one for the filter and film in use. However, it should be noted that diffraction effects inside a camera are greater at infrared wavelengths so that stopping down the lens too far may actually reduce sharpness.
Most apochromatic ('APO') lenses do not have an Infrared index mark and do not need to be refocused for the infrared spectrum because they are already optically corrected into the near-infrared spectrum. Catadioptric lenses do not often require this adjustment because their mirror containing elements do not suffer from chromatic aberration and so the overall aberration is comparably less. Catadioptric lenses do, of course, still contain lenses, and these lenses do still have a dispersive property.
Infrared black-and-white films require special development times but development is usually achieved with standard black-and-white film developers and chemicals (like D-76). Kodak HIE film has a polyester film base that is very stable but extremely easy to scratch, therefore special care must be used in the handling of Kodak HIE throughout the development and printing/scanning process to avoid damage to the film. The Kodak HIE film was sensitive to 900 nm.
As of November 2, 2007, "KODAK is preannouncing the discontinuance" of HIE Infrared 35 mm film stating the reasons that, "Demand for these products has been declining significantly in recent years, and it is no longer practical to continue to manufacture given the low volume, the age of the product formulations and the complexity of the processes involved." At the time of this notice, HIE Infrared 135-36 was available at a street price of around $12.00 a roll at US mail order outlets.
Arguably the greatest obstacle to infrared film photography has been the increasing difficulty of obtaining infrared-sensitive film. However, despite the discontinuance of HIE, other newer infrared sensitive emulsions from EFKE, ROLLEI, and ILFORD are still available, but these formulations have differing sensitivity and specifications from the venerable KODAK HIE that has been around for at least two decades. Some of these infrared films are available in 120 and larger formats as well as 35 mm, which adds flexibility to their application. With the discontinuance of Kodak HIE, Efke's IR820 film has become the only IR film on the marketneeds update with good sensitivity beyond 750 nm, the Rollei film does extend beyond 750 nm but IR sensitivity falls off very rapidly.
Color infrared transparency films have three sensitized layers that, because of the way the dyes are coupled to these layers, reproduce infrared as red, red as green, and green as blue. All three layers are sensitive to blue so the film must be used with a yellow filter, since this will block blue light but allow the remaining colors to reach the film. The health of foliage can be determined from the relative strengths of green and infrared light reflected; this shows in color infrared as a shift from red (healthy) towards magenta (unhealthy). Early color infrared films were developed in the older E-4 process, but Kodak later manufactured a color transparency film that could be developed in standard E-6 chemistry, although more accurate results were obtained by developing using the AR-5 process. In general, color infrared does not need to be refocused to the infrared index mark on the lens.
In 2007 Kodak announced that production of the 35 mm version of their color infrared film (Ektachrome Professional Infrared/EIR) would cease as there was insufficient demand. Since 2011, all formats of color infrared film have been discontinued. Specifically, Aerochrome 1443 and SO-734.
There is no currently available digital camera that will produce the same results as Kodak color infrared film although the equivalent images can be produced by taking two exposures, one infrared and the other full-color, and combining in post-production. The color images produced by digital still cameras using infrared-pass filters are not equivalent to those produced on color infrared film. The colors result from varying amounts of infrared passing through the color filters on the photo sites, further amended by the Bayer filtering. While this makes such images unsuitable for the kind of applications for which the film was used, such as remote sensing of plant health, the resulting color tonality has proved popular artistically.
Color digital infrared, as part of full spectrum photography is gaining popularity. The ease of creating a softly colored photo with infrared characteristics has found interest among hobbyists and professionals.
In 2008, Los Angeles photographer, Dean Bennici started cutting and hand rolling Aerochrome color Infrared film. All Aerochrome medium and large format which exists today came directly from his lab. The trend in infrared photography continues to gain momentum with the success of photographer Richard Mosse and multiple users all around the world.
Digital camera sensors are inherently sensitive to infrared light, which would interfere with the normal photography by confusing the autofocus calculations or softening the image (because infrared light is focused differently from visible light), or oversaturating the red channel. Also, some clothing is transparent in the infrared, leading to unintended (at least to the manufacturer) uses of video cameras. Thus, to improve image quality and protect privacy, many digital cameras employ infrared blockers. Depending on the subject matter, infrared photography may not be practical with these cameras because the exposure times become overly long, often in the range of 30 seconds, creating noise and motion blur in the final image. However, for some subject matter the long exposure does not matter or the motion blur effects actually add to the image. Some lenses will also show a 'hot spot' in the centre of the image as their coatings are optimised for visible light and not for IR.
An alternative method of DSLR infrared photography is to remove the infrared blocker in front of the sensor and replace it with a filter that removes visible light. This filter is behind the mirror, so the camera can be used normally - handheld, normal shutter speeds, normal composition through the viewfinder, and focus, all work like a normal camera. Metering works but is not always accurate because of the difference between visible and infrared refraction. When the IR blocker is removed, many lenses which did display a hotspot cease to do so, and become perfectly usable for infrared photography. Additionally, because the red, green and blue micro-filters remain and have transmissions not only in their respective color but also in the infrared, enhanced infrared color may be recorded.
Since the Bayer filters in most digital cameras absorb a significant fraction of the infrared light, these cameras are sometimes not very sensitive as infrared cameras and can sometimes produce false colors in the images. An alternative approach is to use a Foveon X3 sensor, which does not have absorptive filters on it; the Sigma SD10 DSLR has a removable IR blocking filter and dust protector, which can be simply omitted or replaced by a deep red or complete visible light blocking filter. The Sigma SD14 has an IR/UV blocking filter that can be removed/installed without tools. The result is a very sensitive digital IR camera.
While it is common to use a filter that blocks almost all visible light, the wavelength sensitivity of a digital camera without internal infrared blocking is such that a variety of artistic results can be obtained with more conventional filtration. For example, a very dark neutral density filter can be used (such as the Hoya ND400) which passes a very small amount of visible light compared to the near-infrared it allows through. Wider filtration permits an SLR viewfinder to be used and also passes more varied color information to the sensor without necessarily reducing the Wood effect. Wider filtration is however likely to reduce other infrared artefacts such as haze penetration and darkened skies. This technique mirrors the methods used by infrared film photographers where black-and-white infrared film was often used with a deep red filter rather than a visually opaque one.
Another common technique with near-infrared filters is to swap blue and red channels in software (e.g. photoshop) which retains much of the characteristic 'white foliage' while rendering skies a glorious blue.
Several Sony cameras had the so-called Night Shot facility, which physically moves the blocking filter away from the light path, which makes the cameras very sensitive to infrared light. Soon after its development, this facility was 'restricted' by Sony to make it difficult for people to take photos that saw through clothing. To do this the iris is opened fully and exposure duration is limited to long times of more than 1/30 second or so. It is possible to shoot infrared but neutral density filters must be used to reduce the camera's sensitivity and the long exposure times mean that care must be taken to avoid camera-shake artifacts.
Fuji have produced digital cameras for use in forensic criminology and medicine which have no infrared blocking filter. The first camera, designated the S3 PRO UVIR, also had extended ultraviolet sensitivity (digital sensors are usually less sensitive to UV than to IR). Optimum UV sensitivity requires special lenses, but ordinary lenses usually work well for IR. In 2007, FujiFilm introduced a new version of this camera, based on the Nikon D200/ FujiFilm S5 called the IS Pro, also able to take Nikon lenses. Fuji had earlier introduced a non-SLR infrared camera, the IS-1, a modified version of the FujiFilm FinePix S9100. Unlike the S3 PRO UVIR, the IS-1 does not offer UV sensitivity. FujiFilm restricts the sale of these cameras to professional users with their EULA specifically prohibiting "unethical photographic conduct".
Phase One digital camera backs can be ordered in an infrared modified form.
Remote sensing and thermographic cameras are sensitive to longer wavelengths of infrared (see Infrared spectrum#Commonly used sub-division scheme). They may be multispectral and use a variety of technologies which may not resemble common camera or filter designs. Cameras sensitive to longer infrared wavelengths including those used in infrared astronomy often require cooling to reduce thermally induced dark currents in the sensor (see Dark current (physics)). Lower cost uncooled thermographic digital cameras operate in the Long Wave infrared band (see Thermographic camera#Uncooled infrared detectors). These cameras are generally used for building inspection or preventative maintenance but can be used for artistic pursuits as well.
In a nationwide study, researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of hundreds of participants in the National Institutes of Health’s Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) and found that intensively controlling a person’s blood pressure was more effective at slowing the accumulation of white matter lesions than standard treatment of high blood pressure. The results complement a previous study published by the same research group which showed that intensive treatment significantly lowered the chances that participants developed mild cognitive impairment.
Read more: www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/intensive-blood-pre...
Credit: SPRINT MIND Investigators, NIH
Matteo Renzi al Salone del libro di Torino. Oltre la rottamazione. L'articolo su www.retroonline.it/2013/05/19/matteo-renzi-al-salone-del-...
At the top of rather a steep climb out of Alnwick and I wasn't the only one that had stopped to catch their breath.
Probably the hottest day of the year so far, in this area, and the pain and discomfort didn't matter to this MIND champion.
Scala eXchange 2016, Thursday, 8th - Friday, 9th December at Business Design Centre, London. skillsmatter.com/conferences/7432-scala-exchange-2016#pro.... Images copyright www.edtelling.com
Award of Excellence | Middle School Division | Mears Middle School PTSA, Alaska
Back in Japan where I lived most of my life so far, I used to get bullied all the time because of how I looked. It made me feel like I didn't matter. Once we moved away from that, I tried to make myself into someone I wanted to be, someone I could be proud of when I looked in the mirror. Instead of telling myself I don't matter, I am telling myself I matter because I put something good into the world. This picture is old me telling now me that I matter no matter how I look.
"My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.
I give Pirrip as my father’s family name, on the authority of his tombstone and my sister — Mrs. Joe Gargery, who married the blacksmith. As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like, were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my father’s, gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair. From the character and turn of the inscription, “Also Georgiana Wife of the Above,” I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly. To five little stone lozenges, each about a foot and a half long, which were arranged in a neat row beside their grave, and were sacred to the memory of five little brothers of mine — who gave up trying to get a living, exceedingly early in that universal struggle — I am indebted for a belief I religiously entertained that they had all been born on their backs with their hands in their trousers—pockets, and had never taken them out in this state of existence.
Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things, seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening. At such a time I found out for certain, that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond, was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing, was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip."
So opens Great Expectations. And it is this very churchyard, although at night, and misty that those first lines were set. In the next paragraph, the criminal, Magwitch, appears.
St Mary now lies at the end of a dead end lane, leading out towards the banks of the nearby River Thames, with the freight only line to Grain passing a field length's away. In short, you don't pass this way by accident, and will be lucky to find it, as some of the locals have been spinning the road signs round.
It is yet another wonderful bright winters day here in The Garden of England, and I was out here with Jools re-doing some shots I had messed up last time was here, and anyway, on that day the church was full of scarecrows for a festival.
As we were the first ones here today, the ancient carved door was closed, so we eased it open and went inside.
--------------------------------------------
Difficult to find, but more than worth the effort. It consists of a Norman nave and chancel to which a south aisle and chapel were added in the mid-fourteenth century. The aisle and chapel are now laid out as the main nave and chancel. The exterior has wonderful striped walls, like a smaller version of nearby Cliffe, whilst the fourteenth-century south door is the highly carved original. Inside the contemporary pulpit is one of the earliest in the county with six carved traceried panels. Behind it is a fifteenth-century rood screen, which, despite the loss of its loft, is a surprising survival. In the north-east corner of the Lady Chapel is a table tomb whose top is made up from the original stone altar slab, or mensa, with its five consecration crosses showing prominently. In the south wall of the same chapel is a medieval aumbry with its original hinged door. The stained glass is all nineteenth and twentieth century - the excellent south chancel window showing the Agony in the Garden is dated 1863 unfortunately by an unidentified artist. Of the same date is the tortoise stove in the north aisle, which displays on its lid the motto 'Slow but sure combustion'. The church is excellently maintained by The Churches Conservation Trust - the congregation worshipping in a replacement church in the village, built in 1860 by E.W. Stephens of Maidstone.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Higham+1
-----------------------------------------------
THE next parish northward from Merston is HIGHAM, which in antient records is variously written Hecham, Hegham, and Heabham.
It was from the reign of king Stephen till about the reign of king Edward III. frequently called Lillechurch, alias Higham; the former of which names it took from a manor or ville in this parish, where a priory was built, but in later times it seems to have been called by its former name of Higham only, that of Lillechurch being entirely omitted.
THIS PARISH is situated on the north side of the London high road, nearly opposite to Shorne. It lies low adjoining to the marshes, the river Thames being its northern boundary, of course the air is very unhealthy, and much subject to intermittents, a satality which attends in general all those parishes, which lie on the north side of the high London road as far as Canterbury, and thence again to the uplands of the Isle of Thanet. Higham is about four miles in extent from north-west to south-east, and but little more than a mile in breadth. The surface is slat, and the soil in general very fertile, excepting towards the eastern part of it, where it is high ground and light land. The village and church stand close to, and entirely exposed to the marshes, which comprehend nearly one half of the parish. The nunnery, now called the Abbey, was situated not far from the east end of the church, where the farm-house, of which the sides and back part are built of stone, with windows of a gothic orm, discovers marks of some antiquity, and seems to have been a part of the abbey, but it is supposed to have been only a part of some of the offices, (fn. 1) there being in the field on the south side many appearances of foundations, and contiguous to the farm-yard there remains some part of the thick stone wall covered with ivy, being the inclosure of the abbey, and was carried quite round the yard. About a mile from the church, near the road to Cliff, is Lillechurch-house, where the priory or abbey of Higham, as it is now called, is supposed to have been first erected; behind the garden of which, in a field called Church-place, many human bones have been found. At the east end of the parish, in the road from Frindsbury to Cliff, is the estate of Mockbeggar, and on the submit of the hill southward, The mansion of Hermitage, below which, in the flat country, at an equal distance from the church, is the manor and hamlet of Higham-ridgeway, a name plainly derived from the antient causeway through it, leading towards the river. Plautius, the Roman general, under the emperor Claudius, in the year of Christ, 43, is said to have passed the river Thames from Essex into Kent, near the mouth of it, with his army, in pursuit of the flying Britons, who being acquainted with the firm and fordable places of the river, passed it easily. (fn. 2) This passage is considered to have been from East Tilbury, in Essex, across the river to Higham. (fn. 3) Between these places there was a ferry on the river for many ages after, the method of intercourse between the two counties of Kent and Essex for all these parts, and it continued so till the dissolution of the abbey here; before which time, Higham was likewise the place for shipping and unshipping corn and goods in great quantities from this part of the county to and from London and elsewhere. The probability of this having been a frequented ford or passage in the time of the Romans, is strengthened by the visible remains of the raised causeway, or road, near thirty feet wide, leading from the Thames side through the marshes by Higham, southward to this ridgeway before-mentioned, and thence across the London high road on Gads-hill to Shorne ridgeway, about half a mile beyond which it joins the Roman Watling-street-road, near the entrance into Cobham park.
In the pleas of the crown in the 21st year of king Edward I. the prioress of the nunnery of Higham was found liable to maintain a bridge and causeway that led from Higham down to the river Thames, in order to give the better and easter passage to such as would ferry from hence over into Essex.
This parish, among others in this neighbourhood, was antiently bound to contribute to the repair of the ninth pier of Rochester bridge, as the manor of Okely was to the fourth pier of it. (fn. 4)
In queen Elizabeth's reign there was a fort or bulwark at Higham for the defence of the river Thames, under the direction of a captain, soldiers, &c. (fn. 5)
HIGHAM was part of the possessions with which William the Conqueror enriched his half-brother, Odo, bishop of Baieux and earl of Kent, under the general title of whose lands, it is thus entered in the book of Domesday, taken in the year 1080.
The same Adam holds Hecham of the bishop (of Baieux). It was taxed at 5 sulings. The arable land is 12 carucates. In demesne there are 3 carucates, and 24 villeins, with 12 borderers having 6 carucates and an half. There are 20 servants, and 30 acres of meadow. There is a church, and 1 mill of 10 shillings, and a fishery of 3 shillings, and in Exesle pasture for 200 sheep. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, it was worth 12 pounds, and afterwards 6 pounds, now 15 pounds.
In the time of king Edward, Goduin, the son of Carli and Toli, held this land for two manors.
These were the two manors of Higham and Lillechurch, which on the disgrace of bishop Odo, about four years afterwards, were with the rest of his estates, consiscated to the crown, where they remained till king Stephen, together with Matilda his queen, in the 14th year of his reign, gave them by the name of the manor of Lillechurch, with its appurtenances, under which name both manors seem then to have been comprehended, being part of her inheritance, with other premises, to William de Ipre, in exchange for the manor for Fauresham.
KING STEPHEN afterwards founded a NUNNERY, of the Benedictine order, at Lillechurch in Higham, (fn. 6) to which his daughter, the princess Mary, as is mentioned in a deed, retired cum monialibus suis quas tanquam in proprietate sua recepit. (fn. 7) She afterwards became abbess of Rumsey.
After the death of king Stephen, William de Ipre above mentioned, earl of Kent, was, with the rest of the Flemish, of whom he was principal, forced to abandon this kingdom, and their estates were all seized, by which this manor came again to the crown; but in the 6th year of king John, the nuns gave the king one hundred pounds for his grant of the manor of Lille cherche; after which, king Henry III. in his 11th year, granted and confirmed to the abbey of St. Mary of Sulpice, in Bourges, and to the prioress and nuns of Lillecherche, that manor, in pure and perpetual alms, with all its appurtenances, and all liberties and free customs belonging to it, by which it should seem that this house had then some dependence on that abbey; and he further granted to the prioress and nuns, to have one fair at Lillecherche for three days yearly, on the day of St. Michael, and two days afterwards; and that they should possess them, and in like manner as the grant, which they had of his father, king John, plainly testified. (fn. 8)
King Henry, in his 50th year, granted to the prioress and nuns of Lillechurch an exemption from the suit they were yearly used to make at his court of the honor of Boloigne, at St. Martin the Great in London, for their demesne lands in the manor of Lillecherche. King Edward I. in his 16th year, confirmed the above fair to the prioress and nuns there.
This monastery was subject to the visitation of the bishops of Rochester; and accordingly Hamo de Heth, bishop of Rochester, in 1320, visited it, and professed eight nuns here; as he did again in 1328, when he buried Joane de Hadloe, prioress of this house, and he afterwards confirmed Maud de Colcestre prioress in her place, at Greenwich. At what time this priory was removed from Lillechurch, where it was certainly first built, to where the ruins are still visible, near the present church of Higham, is no where mentioned, nor is there any clue leading to discover it. That it was so those ruins, as well as the change of the name of it, are convincing proofs; nor is there any thing further worth mentioning relating to it till king Henry VII's reign, at which time the manors of Higham and Lillecherche, with their lands and appurtenances, conti nued in the possession of the prioress; in the 17th year of which reign, this house was become almost deserted, for it appeared then, on the election of a prioress, that there were only a sub-prioress and two nuns belonging to it, though there had been in former times sixteen belonging to it. Soon after which, in 1548, Margaret, countess of Richmond and Derby, having begun the foundation of St. John's college, in Cambridge, died, and left her executors to carry on the design; one of these was John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, who being himself a learned man, and greatly anxious for the increase of learning, obtained licence of king Henry VIII. to dissolve this monastery with that of Bromhall, in Berkshire, that the lands and revenues of them might be annexed towards the better support and maintenance of the above college. (fn. 9) Accordingly, about the year 1521, these nunneries were dissolved, (fn. 10) and, with their revenues, were surrendered into the hands of the crown; three years after which, the master and fellows of that college obtained, at the instance of bishop Fisher, of the king and pope Clement VII. these priories, with their appurtenances, to be transferred and confirmed for ever to their college, (fn. 11) where the inheritance of the scite of this priory, or abbey as it is now called, the manor and church of Higham, with the manor of Lillichurch, and the rest of the lands and revenues belonging to it here and elsewhere, continue at this time. The lease of these manors, with the scite of the abbey, and the lands in this parish belonging to it, were some years ago purchased by Mr. Rich. Hornsby, of Horton Kirkby in this county, of Mr. Tho. Peake. Mr. Hornsby died possessed of it within these few years, since which his interest in this estate has been sold to Mr. Thomas Williams and Mr. Thomas Smith, gent. of Dartford, the former of whom sold it to Mr. John Prebble, who is the present lessee of them.
Prioresses of Higham.
MARY, daughter of king Stephen, first prioress. (fn. 12)
ALICIA, JOANE, Named in several charters.
ACELINA, anno 50 king Henry III. (fn. 13)
AMPHELICIA, anno 16 king Edward I.
MATILDA, succeeded anno 17 king Edward I.
JOANE DE HADLOE, obt. anno 3 king Edward III. (fn. 14)
MAUD DE COLCESTRE, chosen in her room. (fn. 15)
ELIZABETH, or ISABEL, anno 18 and 31 king Edward III
CECILIA, anno 38 and 52 of the same reign.
JOANE DE COBEHAM, anno 15 and 18 of king Richard II
JOANE SOANE, succeeded anno 19 of the same reign.
ALICE PECKHAM, anno 7 king Henry V.
ISABEL, anno 25 king Henry VI.
ELIZABETA BRADFORTH, resig. anno 17 king Henry VII. (fn. 16)
AGNES SWAINE, succeeded. (fn. 17)
MARGARET HILDERDEN, anno 4 king Henry VIII.
ANCHORET UNGOTHORPE, alias OWGLETHORPE, anno 6 king Henry VIII. She died Jan. 31, anno 12 of the same reign, after which there was not another prioress elected.
GREAT and LITTLE OKELY are two reputed manors in this parish, which derive their name from ac, or ake, an oak, and ley, a field, in Saxon, Aclea, a place in which there is plenty of oaks. In the reign of king John, John le Brun held half a knight's fee in Acle, of William de Clovile, as he did of Warine de Montchensie. (fn. 18)
In the 7th year of Edward I. both these estates were in the possession of William de St. Clere, (fn. 19) the former being held, as half a knight's fee, of Warine de Montchensie, as of his manor of Swanescombe; and the latter, as half a knight's fee, of the bishop of Rochester. Soon after which these estates were possessed by two different branches of this family: Great Okeley descended to Nicholas de St. Clere, from whom it passed to Walter Neile, who, as well as his descendants, were lessess to the abbey of Higham, for great part of their possessions in this parish. One of his descendants, in the reign of king Henry VII. alienated it to John Sedley, esq. of Southfleet, in this county, one of the auditors of the exchequer to that prince, whose descendant, Sir Charles Sedley, (fn. 20) bart. in the reign of king Charles II. passed away this manor by sale to Mr. Shales, of Portsmouth, who not long afterwards sold it to Peter Burrell, esq. of Beckenham, in this county, whose descendant the Right Hon. Peter lord Gwydir is the present possessor of it.
LITTLE OKELEY manor descended from William de St. Clere, who possessed it, as has been beforementioned, in the 7th year of king Edward I. to Nicholas de Clere, and from him to John de St. Clere, who paid respective aid for it in the 20th year of king Edward III. at making the Black Prince a knight, as half a knight's fee, held of the bishop of Rochester. From this family it passed, after some intermission, to that of Cholmeley; one of whom, Sir Roger Cholmeley of London, died possessed of this manor, and left it to one of his daughters and coheirs, among other premises. She married Mr. Beckwith, by whom she had one son, Roger, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Frances, She afterwards married Christopher Kenne, esq. of Kenne, in Somersetshire, who was possessed of it in her right, anno 22 queen Elizabeth; and then, having levied a fine of it, sold it to Thompson; and he, in the reign of king Charles I. alienated it to Best, who passed it away by sale to Sir Charles Sedley, bart. from whom it went the same way to Farnham Aldersey, one of whose descendants sold it to Mr. Wm. Gates, gent. of Rochester, on whose death, in 1768, it came to his son of the same name, and his eldest son, Mr. George Gates, attorney at law and town clerk of Rochester, died possessed of it s.p. in 1792, and his sisters are now entitled to it.
There are no courts held for either Great or Little Okeley manors.
THE HERMITAGE is a pleasant seat in this parish, situated at almost the south-east extremity of it, about a mile northward from the London road to Dover. It stands on a hill, and commands a most extensive prospect both of the Medway and Thames, the Channel below the Nore, and a vast tract of country both in Kent and Essex.
This seat was new built by Sir Francis Head, bart. who inclosed a park round it (since disparked) and greatly improved the adjoining grounds. He resided here, and died possessed of it, with the manor of Higham Ridgway, and other estates in this parish, in 1768, and was buried in a vault in Higham church. He was descended from Richard Head, of Rochester, who by Anne, daughter of William Hartridge, of Cranbrooke, in this county, had issue four sons; of whom Richard, the second, was advanced to the dignity of a baronet, on June 19, 1676. He had three wives, first, Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Francis Merrick, alderman of Rochester, by whom he had three sons; Francis, of whom hereafter; Henry, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Summers, esq. and Merrick, D. D. who married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Dixon, D. D. prebendary of Rochester, by whom he left a daughter, Elizabeth, married to Theophilus Delangle; Dr. Head was rector of Leyborne and Ulcombe, in this county, and died in 1686, and lies buried in Leyborne church—And also one daughter, Elizabeth, married to Sir Robert Faunce, of Maidstone, in this county. Secondly, Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Mr. Willey, of Wrotham, by whom he had one son, Henry, who married the daughter and coheir of John Dawes, merchant, of London, by whom he had Dawes Head, ancestor of the present baronet, now in Virginia; and also two daughters, Jane, first married to Herbert Price, esq. and afterwards to John Boys, esq. of Hode; and Frances, first married to Thomas Poley, esq. and afterwards to Adam Lawry, of Rochester. Thirdly, Anne, daughter of William Kingsley, D. D. archdeacon of Canterbury, and relict of John Boys, esq. by whom he had no issue.
Sir Richard Head above mentioned, served several times in parliament for the city of Rochester. He died in 1689, and lies buried in Rochester cathedral, having been a good benefactor to the poor of St. Nicholas's parish, in that city.
Francis Head, esq. barrister at law, eldest son of Sir Richard, married Sarah, only daughter of Sir Geo. Ent, of London, M. D. who afterwards married Sir Paul Barrett, by whom he had six children. He died in his father's life time, in 1678, and was buried in the chancel of St. Margaret's church, Rochester; and by his will gave his house, pleasantly situated in St. Margaret's, to that see, for the residence of the bishop and his successors. Only two of his children survived him, viz. Sarah, married to John Lynch, esq. of Groves; and a son, Francis, who succeeded his grandfather in titles and estate, and resided at Canterbury, He married Margaret, daughter and coheir of James Smithbye, esq. by whom he had six sons and three daughters; he died, and was buried in St. Mildred's church, in Canterbury, in 1716. Of the above children, only four sons and one daughter survived him, viz. Sir Richard, his successor, who died unmarried, in 1721; Sir Francis, of whom hereafter; James Head, esq. barrister at law, who died unmarried in 1727, and was buried at Ickham, in this county; and Sir John Head, bart. who was D.D. and prebendary and archdeacon of Canterbury, and succeeded his brother, Sir Francis, but died in 1769, without surviving issue, though he was twice married; first, to Jane, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Peter Leigh, by whom he had several children, who all died before him; secondly, in 1751, Jane, sister of Wm. Geekie, D.D. prebendary of Canterbury, who survived him, but by whom he had no issue.
Anne, the surviving daughter of Sir Francis Head, married William Egerton, LL.D. prebendary of Canterbury, and grandson of the earl of Bridgewater.
Sir Francis Head, bart. the son, succeeded his brother Richard in title and in this estate, and having new built the seat, resided here, as above mentioned.
The arms borne by the family of Head were, Argent, a chevron ermines, between three unicorns heads, couped sable. (fn. 21)
Sir Francis last mentioned, married Mary, daughter and sole heir of Sir William Boys, M.D. (by Anne his wife, daughter of Sir Paul Barrett, sergeant at law, who married the widow of Francis Head, esq. the eldest son of the first baronet) by whom he had three daughters and coheirs; Mary Wilhelmina, married in 1753, to the Hon. Harry Roper, eldest son of Henry lord Teynham, and died, s.p. in 1758; Anne Gabriel, married first to Moses Mendez, esq. by whom she had two sons, Francis and James, who both took the name of Head, and will be hereafter noticed; and a daughter, who became a nun prossessed in France; and secondly, in 1760, to the Hon. John Roper, next brother to Harry Roper above mentioned, by whom she had no issue, and died in 1771; and Eliza beth Campbell, married to the Rev. Dr. Lill, of Ireland, since deceased, by whom she had one son, Francis, and three daughters.
On the death of Sir Francis, this seat, with the manor of Higham, Ridgway, and other estates in this parish, devolved, by settlement, to his widow, lady Head, who died in 1792, and was buried in the same vault with her late husband; and this seat, and the manor and estates above mentioned, descended by settlement, one fourth part to the widow of Francis Head, seq. (daughter of Mr. Egerton) re-married to colonel Andrew Cowell, of the Guards, as guardian to her only daughter by Mr. Head; another fourth part to James Roper Head, esq. his younger brother, who married Miss Burgess, and now resides at the Hermitage; and the remaining half part, or moiety, to Elizabeth Campbell, the widow of Dr. Lill; in which divisions the property of these estates remain vested at this time.
SIR ANTHONY ST. LEGER, in the reign of king Edward VI. was possessed of an estate, called the BROOKES, being marsh lands, with other lands in Higham; all which, in the 4th year of that reign, he conveyed to the king. This estate afterwards came into the possession of the Stuarts, dukes of Richmond, from whom it is now come, in like manner as Cobham hall, to the Right Hon. John earl of Darnley, the present possessor of it.
Charities.
THIS PARISH of Higham has a right of nomination to one place in the New College of Cobham, for one poor person, inhabitant of this parish, to be chosen and presented so, and by such as the ordinances of the college have powder to present and elect for this parish; and if the parish of Halling make default in their turn, then the benefit of election devolves on this parish.
THOMAS SHAVE gave by will, in 1655, two dozen of bread to the poor of this parish, to be disposed of every Sunday; for which purpose he settled the Sun-house, with the yard, and three acres and three roods of land, now vested in the minister and churchwardens, feoffees in trust, and of the annual produce of 7l.
HIGHAM is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese and deanry of Rochester. The church is dedicated to St. Mary, and consists of two isles and two chancels, with a slat tower, having two bells.
Among other monuments and memorials in it are the following: In the chancel, a stone with a bend voided between six escallops for William Inglett, B.D. vicar of this parish, ob. Jan. 4, 1659; another, with a chevron between three leaves slipped, for Mr. Richard Pearson, forty-four years vicar here, obt. Ap. 14, 1710; under an arch, in the south wall, an altar monument for Anne, wife of Samuel Cordwell, and daughter of Richard Machan, esq. obt. 1642. In the north chancel, by the north wall, on an altar monument, a brass plate, having three cups covered, impaling on a chevron three birds heads erased, for Elizabeth Boteler, obt. 1615, wife of Wm. Boteler, esq. of Rochester, daughter of Sir William Crayford, leaving two sons and two daughters, Henry, Thomas, Anne, and Elizabeth; another like for Robert Hylton, late yeoman of the Guards to king Henry VIII. obt. 1529. A memorial for Elizabeth, wife of Robert Parker, of Shinglewell, who left two sons, Richard and Robert, ob. 1670. (fn. 22)
The church, with its appurtenances, once belonged to the Benedictine abbey of St. John, in Colchester, and was granted at the instance of queen Matilda, wife of king Stephen (that king and his son, earl Eustace, confirming it) by Hugh, abbot, and the convent of that abbey, to the convent of the nuns of Lillechirche, in exchange for land, of one hundred shillings value, at East Doniland, in Essex. (fn. 23) Not withstanding which great disputes afterwards arose between them concerning this church, which was settled by agreement in the beginning of Edward II.'s reign, when Walter, abbot of Colchester, and his convent, gave up to the nuns all their right and title to it. In consideration of which they granted to the abbot and convent certain land in Lillecherche, belonging to this church, of the yearly value of thirty shillings; and if the land, called Blunteshale, should be made over to them by the nuns, on the same terms as the above land was granted to them, then they agreed to restore the lands of thirty shillings value to the nuns, and to receive the lands of Blunteshale in exchange for it of them, which was then confirmed by Gilbert, bishop of London, and S . . . . . . . . . abbot of St. Alban's, and the abbot of Colchester above mentioned and his convent, having, for the purpose of this exchange, resigned this church into the hands of Walter, bishop of Rochester, and quitted all kind of claim to it, he granted and gave the same in alms to Mary, daughter of king Stephen, and her nuns at Lillechurch, with all its appurtenances, in as ample and full a manner as any of their predecessors ever possessed it; and at the same time, with the consent and good will of Amselice, then prioress here, endowed the vicarage of this church as follows: viz. that the chaplain ministering in it should have all obventions of the altar, exceptiog twenty-four candles, which the nuns should receive on the day of the purification of the Blessed Virgin, of the better ones made on that day; and all legacies, made as well to himself as to the church, except it was a horse, ox, or cow, which the prioress and nuns should take; and that he should have all small tithes arising from the parish, excepting those from the demesnes of the nuns, and from the food of their cattle, and except the tithe of wool arising from the parish; and that he should have yearly six seams of corn from the nuns, viz. two of wheat, two of barley, and two of oats; of which, two should be paid to him at the feast of St. Michael, two at the Nativity, and two at the feast of Easter, and forage and herbage for one horse; and that he should sustain the burthen of clerks necessary to administer in the church, of whom one should daily be present at the greater mass before the said nuns; that the prioress should pay the synodals, and sustain the other episcopal burthens, saving, nevertheless, in all matters episcopal, the right to the bishop; all which was confirmed by him.
The prioress and convent, in the reign of king Edward III. having begun the repair of this church, pope Alexander IV. in his 4th year, anno 1357, granted an indulgence of forty days remission of penance to all who should contribute to it, by his bull for that purpose, which was to continue in force for five years.
This church remained with the nunnery till the dissolution of it, about the year 1521, when it was, with the other possessions of it, surrendered into the hands of king Henry VIII. three years after which, the priory and church, together with all the rents and revenues belonging to them, were granted by the king, with the pope's consent, to the master and sellows of St. John's college, in Cambridge; the church, with its appurtenances, to be held by them in like manner as it was held before by the prioress and convent, and paying yearly to the bishop of Rochester, and his successors, 13s. 4d. as an annual pension; and to the archdeacon and his successors, 7s. 6d. yearly for ever, as had been accoustomed; and on the vacancy of the see of Rochester, to the archbishop and his successors, four shillings for procurations, &c. and also out of the revenues of the priory twelve pence yearly on Michaelmas day, in the priory, to the poor people dwelling and being there for ever. The instrument of the commissary of the bishop of Rochester, for the above union and appropriation of the priory and church of Higham, to the master and fellows of St. John's college, Cambridge, (fn. 24) is dated in 1523; and with them the inheritance of the appropriation and advowson of the vicarage of the church of Higham continues at this time.
The yearly rent paid by the lessee of this parsonage to the master and fellows of St. John's, is 5l. 6s. 8d. in money, six quarters of wheat, three quarters of malt, and six couple of capons.
About the time of the restoration of king Charles II. colonel Goodyer was lessee of it, and he sold his interest in it to one Page, who alienated it to Richard Pearson, A. M. vicar of this parish, who possessed the lease of it for forty years, and died in 1710, and de vised his term in it to his nephew, John Pearson, who by his will devised it to his executors, Richard Pearson and John Till, of Essex, who, in 1738, for one thousand pounds, sold it to Mr. Tho. Harris, gent. of Sutton-at-Home. He died possessed of it in 1769, and by his will devised his interest in the term of this parsonage to Stephen Dilly, yeoman, whose widow is the present lessee of it.
The vicarage of Higham is valued in the king's books at 8l. 10s. and the yearly tenths at 17s. In the year 1650, this vicarage was valued at 60l. per annum. (fn. 25) The vicar receives all tithes arising within this parish, excepting corn.
THERE ARE certain lands in Higham, in Okeleyfarm, of which the impropriator of the parsonage takes but half the tithes (the other half being part of the portion of tithes belonging to the dean and chapter of Rochester, of which a further account will be given) These lands are now called dominical lands, and are thus described:
The orchard, below the house, five acres; Barnfield, eight acres; Downefield, elevan acres; Cookfield, eighteen acres; in the whole, forty-two acres. The impropriator takes the whole tithes of all the rest of Okeley-farm, as well as of the rest of the parish, excepting one field, called the Homestal, which belongs to the vicar, and is compounded for at three pounds and some shillings yearly.
The portion of tithes above mentioned was part of the antient possessions of the priory of Rochester. William de Cloeville gave for ever two parts of his tithe of Acle, now Okeley, to the monks of St. Andrew's, Rochester, in consideration of their having made his son a monk there; which gift he made with the consent of Gosfrid Talbot, chief lord of the see. (fn. 26) Gundulph, bishop of Rochester, who was consecrated in 1077, confirmed this donation, as did several of the succeeding bishops of Rochester, and others. (fn. 27) On the dissolution of the priory of Rochester, in the reign of king Henry VIII. this portion of tithes was, together with the rest of the possessions of that monastery, surrendered into the king's hands in the 32d year of his reign; who presently after, in his 33d year, settled it, by his dotation charter, on his new founded dean and chapter of Rochester, part of whose inheritance it continues at this time.
¶It appears by the survey of this portion of tithes, called Odeley portion, taken by order of the state in 1650; on the dissolution of deans and chapters, &c. that the same was then valued at ten pounds per ann. improved rent, and was let, anno 6 queen Elizabeth, by the dean and chapter, to John Sedley, esq. for ninety nine years, at the yearly rent of 13s. 4d. (fn. 28) Peter Burrell, esq. of Beckenham, died possessed of the lease of these tithes this year, 1775, and his descendant, the Right Hon. lord Gwydir, is the present lessee of them.
It's the Burning Matter texture created in the Filter Forge plugin. It can be seamless tiled and rendered in any resolution without loosing details.
You can see the presets and download this texture for free on the Filter Forge site here — www.filterforge.com/filters/8402.html (created by Skybase)
To use this texture download Filter Forge 30-day trial version for free here — www.filterforge.com/download/
Scala eXchange 2016, Thursday, 8th - Friday, 9th December at Business Design Centre, London. skillsmatter.com/conferences/7432-scala-exchange-2016#pro.... Images copyright www.edtelling.com
Photo: The end of the new track, view from test train.
On March 21, Phase 2 of Wilson Station Reconstruction begins, with the opening of a new track west of a new platform, and the closure of the existing Red Line track toward 95th.
On Sunday, March 13, CTA engineers, operations personnel and project contractors operated a live 8-car "test train" of CTA 5000-series cars over new the track--a standard procedure we employ as part of an extensive array of checks, tests, measurements and other proving work that's done before putting a new track into service.
Both Loop-bound Purple Line Express and 95th -bound Red Line trains will use the new track and platform starting Monday, March 21. Howard-bound Red Line trains will continue using the old platform. The new platform will also come with its own direct, temporary entrances (and both platforms will be connected by a covered bridge for convenient access between the two, no matter how you enter the station).
Here are some photos from the test train operation, with regular service operating over the other tracks (which have remained in service through the project thus far).
I have decided to join in the fun and do the Everyday Matter challenges. I have done the first one but I am really struggling to get my pencil sketches to show up on the scan and this is the best I could do. You still can't see all the pencil lines! Think I will have to do the next sketches either in pen or colored pencils.