Indigenous boy watching Dancestry on Sand Circle.

He's got a twin brother but I failed to get a good shot of him.

NAIDOC in the City, Hyde Park, Sydney, Australia (Monday 8 July 2013 @ 1:31pm)

Texture courtesy of Skeletal Mess

Ellicia McDonald.

A close-up after her impressive performance.

Salsa performance by Latin Dance Australia.

22nd Fiesta Festival, Harbourside, Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia (Saturday 12 October 2013 @ 1:37pm)

Texture courtesy of Skeletal Mess

To view more of my images, taken at Hambleden, please click "here" ! Click any image to view large!

The village has often been used as a location for films, such as The Captive Heart (1950), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Witches, The Legacy, Dance with a Stranger and the opening scenes of the remake of The Avengers starring Ralph Fiennes and also some scenes in 101 Dalmatians. Hambleden was also used in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers to depict Easy Company's training in England. Also, the Tim Burton film Sleepy Hollow, starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci, included a month-long location shoot at Lime Tree Valley, in Hambleden. There is only one Shop/Post Office in the centre of the village. Other properties have facades that are more in keeping with a traditional country village. In 1979 Hambleden church was the setting for a programme featuring Harry Secombe called "Cross on the Donkey's Back". It was an Easter programme by Thames Television and also featured a group of school children from Hambleden C of E School. The 2010 film Nanny McPhee Returns also used parts of the village in some of their scenes. The church was used in Agatha Christie's Poirot's episode Sad Cypress.

Hambleden is a small village and civil parish within Wycombe district in the south of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about four miles west of Marlow, and about three miles north east of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.

The civil parish also includes the villages of Fingest and Frieth, and the hamlets of Colstrope, Mill End, Moor End, Parmoor, Pheasant's Hill and Skirmett. The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'crooked or irregularly-shaped hill'. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Hanbledene, though previously in 1015 it was known as Hamelan dene. St Thomas Cantilupe, the Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Hereford, was born in Hambleden in 1218. In 1315 a Royal charter was granted to hold a market in the village, and a fair on St Bartholomew's Day (24 August) every year. The charter was reconfirmed in 1321, though appears to have not lasted much longer than this.

The village was a base for USA soldiers during the buildup to D-Day in 1944. The brick and flint cottages in the centre of the village conform to a similar design and have dormer windows topped with red tiles. St Mary's church dates from the 14th century and includes a conspicuous memorial to Cope D'Oyley (who died in 1633) and his family. The tower contains eight bells and the ceiling is quite intricately decorated in parts. The post office in the village serves also as the local shop and cafe. The Elizabethan manor house opposite the church, now the home of Maria Carmela Viscountess Hambleden, was built in 1603 of flint and brick for Emanuel 11th Baron Scrope who became Earl of Sunderland. Charles I stayed there overnight in 1646 while fleeing from Oxford. The Manor House, Hambleden is also the former home of Lord Cardigan who led the ill-fated charge of the Light Brigade. Another notable (Listed Grade II*) building is Kenricks which overlooks the cricket ground and was the previous manor house and the home of Philadelphia Carey Lady Scrope, a cousin and Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth I. On her death in 1627 it became The Rectory and was altered in 1724 by the Rector Rev Dr Scawen Kenrick. It ceased to be The Rectory in 1938 and was acquired by the 3rd Viscount Hambleden and renamed Kenricks. Roman remains were unearthed to the south of the village in 1912. A contested theory was put forward in 2010 that a military brothel might have formed part of the Yewden villa site, after archaeologists discovered skeletal remains of what appeared to be 97 newborn babies. Saint Thomas Cantilupe was born in the old Manor House (now Kenricks) in 1218. He became Chancellor of Oxford University, Bishop of Hereford and Lord Chancellor of England. He was canonised by Pope John XXII in 1320 and was the last Englishman to be canonised before the Reformation. The Hambleden Estate was held by the Scrope family from 1365 to 1627. Philadelphia Carey, 10th Lady Scrope was a granddaughter of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Queen Anne who was executed by Henry VIII in 1536. The Estate was acquired in 1925 by Frederick Smith, 2nd Viscount Hambleden who owned the adjoining Greenlands Estate. The Smith family sold the western part of the Estate in 2008 to the Swiss financier Urs Schwarzenbach. Major General Miles Fitzalan-Howard 17th Duke of Norfolk lived in the parish until his death in 2002 and his widow Anne continues to live there. Lord Cardigan, famous for his role in leading the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade, was born in the Manor House in 1797. The sea chest that he took to the Crimea can be seen in the church. Roger Marquis, 2nd Earl of Woolton lived at Kenricks in the 1960s. Phil Vickery, Rugby Union London Wasps player and England 2003 World Cup Winner, lived in Hambleden.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

CAGLIARI - 1° Maggio 2013 - 357^ Festa di Sant'Efisio

To view more of my images, of Ripon Cathedral, please click "here"

Ripon Cathedral is a seat of the Bishop of Leeds and one of three co-equal mother churches of the Diocese of Leeds, situated in the small North Yorkshire city of Ripon, England.

There has been a stone church on the site since 672 when Saint Wilfrid replaced the previous timber church of the monastery at Ripon (a daughter house of Aiden's monastery at Melrose) with one in the Roman style. This is one of the earliest stone buildings erected in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria. The crypt dates from this period.

People have been coming to worship and pray at Ripon for more than 1,350 years. The Cathedral building itself is part of this continuing act of worship, begun in the 7th century when Saint Wilfrid built one of England's first stone churches on this site, and still renewed every day. Within the nave and choir, you can see the evidence of 800 years in which master craftsmen have expressed their faith in wood and stone.

Today's church is the fourth to have stood on this site. Saint Wilfrid brought stonemasons, plasterers and glaziers from France and Italy to build his great basilica in AD 672. A contemporary account by Eddius Stephanus tells us:

"In Ripon, Saint Wilfrid built and completed from the foundations to the roof a church of dressed stone, supported by various columns and side-aisles to a great height and many windows, arched vaults and a winding cloister."

Saint Wilfrid was buried in this church near the high altar. Devastated by the English king in AD 948 as a warning to the Archbishop of York, only the crypt of Wilfrid's church survived but today this tiny 7th-century chapel rests complete beneath the later grandeur of Archbishop Roger de Pont l’Evêque’s 12th century minster. A second minster soon arose at Ripon, but it too perished – this time in 1069 at the hands of William the Conqueror. Thomas of Bayeux, first Norman Archbishop of York, then instigated the construction of a third church, traces of which were incorporated into the later chapter house of Roger's minster.

The Early English west front was added in 1220, its twin towers originally crowned with wooden spires and lead. Major rebuilding had to be postponed due to the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses but resumed after the accession of Henry VII and the restoration of peace in 1485. The nave was widened and the central tower partially rebuilt. The church's thirty five misericords were carved between 1489 and 1494. It is worth noting that the same (Ripon) school of carvers also carved the misericords at Beverley Minster and Manchester Cathedral. But in 1547, before this work was finished, Edward VI dissolved Ripon's college of canons. All revenues were appropriated by the Crown and the tower never received its last Perpendicular arches. It was not until 1604 that James I issued his Charter of Restoration.

The cathedral has a fine organ by Harrison and Harrison dating from 1926. The organ is on the screen and has casework by Gilbert Scott. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register. The organ was refurbished in 2013. These works included a thorough cleaning and repair of all pipe work; selective re-leathering of reservoirs and drawstop motors; reconstruction/rationalisation of the wind distribution system; refurbishment and updating of the screen console and cleaning of the case. The only minor tonal changes during these works were the replacement of Great Larigot 1 1/3 (1972) by a Flûte harmonique 8 (in Lewis style) and the recasting of Choir Cimbel III at a lower pitch.

A ring of 12 bells with an additional 'flat sixth' bell is hung in the south-west tower. A diatonic ring of ten bells was cast in 1932, and three additional bells were installed in 2008 with two new trebles being added to give a diatonic ring of twelve, and an additional 'flat sixth' bell to give a light ring of eight.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zoomed in on dancer at the far right in previous posting.

Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia (Sunday 15 September 2013 @ 11:09am)

Texture courtesy of Skeletal Mess

Einstein 640 @ f/5.6 Paul C. Buff softbox up and behind spoon

1/320s @ f/5.6

Triggered with CyberCommander

Going to shoot again tomorrow on black.

Inspired by Christopher McKenney's work.

She is another one of her younger siblings. All with curly hair.

NAIDOC in the City, Hyde Park, Sydney, Australia (Mon 7 Jul 2014)

Taken with: Canon A-1 SLR

Taken on: Kodak Portra 800

Scanned with: Epson V500 (EpsonScan;PhotoShopCS6)

I little late, but these are the photos from the 2013 Bicentennial Re-Enactment of The Battle of Fort George in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

Princesses Anna and Elsa, Frozen (a 2013 Disney 3D animated film).

Supanova Expo, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, Australia (Sunday 15 Jun 2014)

A really nice Harley Davidson I noticed as I was driving around Clinton, CT, very early in the morning. 1/50 sec. at 100 ISO. Should have used a higher shutter speed, at 82mm. But the Shake Reduction was turned on. Just another nice Summer shot while visiting friends at the beach.

July 05, 2015 - PENTAX K-x- smc PENTAX-DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL - ./ 6:13:40 a.m. / - 1/50 sec at f - 5.6 - ISO 100 - Aperture priority-55 mm-(82 mm).

Fantastisch optreden van het Boris van der Lek kwartet in het @openluchttheater.leidsehout | Fantastic performance by Dutch saxophone virtuoso Boris van der Lek and his quartet @openluchttheater.leidsehout

Canon EOS R6 | RF70-200mm F4.0

CaptureOne Pro 22 | Photoshop CS6 Mac

For best view: Press L

©2022 Leon Harting | Credit MUST be given AT ALL TIMES

Once upon a time she was little.

I asked her why she had an axe.

She replied Because I fought back (and killed the Big Bad Wolf).

Kino Halloween Fest 2013, Kinokuniya Bookstore, Sydney, Australia (Saturday 26 October 2013 @ 1:53pm)

Texture courtesy of Skeletal Mess

These two ladies were posing in tandem for a lady photographer friend.

She was standing further from the photographer.

Fifties Fair, Rose Seidler House, Wahroonga, Sydney, Australia (Sunday 25 August 2013 @ 12:17pm)

Texture courtesy of Skeletal Mess

A pink tricycle in the streets of Pomorie, Bulgaria. Taken with Canon EOS 550d and the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II.

A very rear moment in my life, My 16 year old son swinging with his 6 year old sister.

Topaz and photoshop elements was used for effects and framing.

To view more of my images, of Basildon Park, please click "here" !

The elegant 18th-century interiors of Basildon Park in Berkshire lit up the small screen in the Downton Abbey Christmas special. Starring as Grantham House, the Crawleys’ London residence, Basildon Park was at the heart of the unfolding story as the family and their servants enjoy the social whirl of the summer season. The characters have always talked about it (Grantham House) but this was the first time it was show on screen. Basildon Park is a country house situated 2 miles south of Goring-on-Thames and Streatley in Berkshire, between the villages of Upper Basildon and Lower Basildon. It is owned by the National Trust and is a Grade I listed building. The house was built between 1776 and 1783 for Sir Francis Sykes and designed by John Carr in the Palladian style at a time when Palladianism was giving way to the newly fashionable neoclassicism. Thus, the interiors are in a neoclassical "Adamesque" style. Never fully completed, the house passed through a succession of owners. In 1910 it was standing empty and in 1914, it was requisitioned by the British Government as an army convalescent hospital. It was again sold in 1928 and quickly sold again. In 1929, following a failed attempt to dismantle and rebuild the house in the USA, it was stripped of many of its fixtures and fittings and all but abandoned. During World War II, the house was again requisitioned and served as a barracks, a training ground for tanks, and finally a prisoner of war camp—all activities unsuited to the preservation of an already semi-derelict building. In 1952, a time when hundreds of British country houses were being demolished, it was said of Basildon Park "to say it was derelict, is hardly good enough, no window was left intact and most were repaired with cardboard or plywood." Today, Basildon Park is as notable for its mid-twentieth-century renaissance and restoration, by Lord and Lady Iliffe, as it is for its architecture. In 1978, the Iliffes gave the house, together with its park and a large endowment for its upkeep, to the National Trust in the hope that "The National Trust will protect it and its park for future generations to enjoy." Basildon is first documented in 1311 when it was granted by the crown to Elias de Colleshull. During the 16th and early 17th centuries, the manor of Basildon was held by the Yonge family. In 1654, the Basildon estate was purchased probably on behalf of Royalist Colonel George Fane by his brother-in-law the 5th Earl of Bath who died the same year (confusion as to for whom bought caused the political state of the country at the time and by George Fane's premature death). Lord Bath's widow, the former Lady Rachael Fane, bequeathed the estate to her nephew Sir Henry Fane, George Fane's son. Little is known of Basildon during the Fane ownership, but a mansion house was built with Gothic lodges. These lodges survive and serve the present house. The manor remained a Fane possession until it was offered for sale in 1766 by the heirs of the 2nd Viscount Fane, essentially, his two married sisters Dorothy Montagu and Mary de Salis. The estate was purchased in 1771 by Sir Francis Sykes. Having made a fortune in India, Sykes returned to England to realise his social and political ambitions. For these to be fulfilled, Sykes required a grand estate conveniently close to London; he built Basildon Park to serve that purpose.

Mostly from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia !

Fantastisch optreden van het Boris van der Lek kwartet in het @openluchttheater.leidsehout | Fantastic performance by Dutch saxophone virtuoso Boris van der Lek and his quartet @openluchttheater.leidsehout

Canon EOS R6 | RF70-200mm F4.0

CaptureOne Pro 22 | Photoshop CS6 Mac

For best view: Press L

©2022 Leon Harting | Credit MUST be given AT ALL TIMES

"Hira's Collection brings you the latest fashion from the heart of Lahore. We design everything according to the current fashion in the market and try to be innovative and come up with new trends."

Nikon D90 + AF-S Nikkor 55-200mm VR, hand-held.

Caucasian squirrel - Kaukasisches Eichhörnchen, Mountain Zoo Halle

The artist who did the paint job.

2014 Sydney Tattoo & Body Art Expo.

Royal Hall of Industries, Moore Park Precinct, Sydney, Australia (Saturday 8 Mar 2014 @ 4:19pm)

Texture courtesy of Skeletal Mess

To view more of my images, Bury St Edmunds, please click "here" !

Bury St Edmunds is a market town in the county of Suffolk, England, and formerly the county town of West Suffolk. It is the main town in the borough of St Edmundsbury and known for the ruined abbey near the town centre. Bury is the seat of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, with the episcopal see at St Edmundsbury Cathedral. The town, originally called Beodericsworth, is known for brewing and malting (with the large Greene King brewery) and for a British Sugar processing factory, where Silver Spoon sugar, one of Britain's biggest brands, is produced. Many large and small businesses are located in Bury, which traditionally has given Bury an affluent economy with low unemployment, with the town being the main cultural and retail centre for West Suffolk. Tourism is also a major part of the economy, plus local government.

Bury St Edmunds (Beodericsworth, Bedrichesworth, St Edmund's Bury), supposed by some to have been the Villa Faustina of the Romans, was one of the royal towns of the Saxons. Sigebert, king of the East Angles, founded a monastery here about 633, which in 903 became the burial place of King Edmund, who was slain by the Danes in 869, and owed most of its early celebrity to the reputed miracles performed at the shrine of the martyr king. The town grew around Bury St Edmunds Abbey, a site of pilgrimage. By 925 the fame of St Edmund had spread far and wide, and the name of the town was changed to St Edmund's Bury. In 942 or 945 King Edmund had granted to the abbot and convent jurisdiction over the whole town, free from all secular services, and Canute in 1020 freed it from episcopal control. Edward the Confessor made the abbot lord of the franchise. Sweyn, in 1020, having destroyed the older monastery and ejected the secular priests, built a Benedictine abbey on St Edmund's Bury. Count Alan Rufus is said to have been interred at Bury St Edmunds Abbey in 1093. In the 12th and 13th centuries the head of the de Hastings family, who held the Lordship of the Manor of Ashill in Norfolk, was hereditary Steward of this abbey. On 18 March 1190, two days after the more well-known massacre of Jews at Clifford Tower in York, the people of Bury St Edmunds massacred 57 Jews. Later that year, Abbot Samson successfully petitioned King Richard I for permission to evict the town's remaining Jewish inhabitants "on the grounds that everything in the town... belonged by right to St Edmund: therefore, either the Jews should be St Edmund’s men or they should be banished from the town." This expulsion predates the Edict of Expulsion by 100 years. In 1198, a fire burned the shrine of St Edmund, leading to the inspection of his corpse by Abbot Samson and the translation of St Edmund's body to a new location in the abbey. The town is associated with Magna Carta. In 1214 the barons of England are believed to have met in the Abbey Church and sworn to force King John to accept the Charter of Liberties, the document which influenced the creation of the Magna Carta, a copy of which was displayed in the town's cathedral during the 2014 celebrations. By various grants from the abbots, the town gradually attained the rank of a borough.

Henry III in 1235 granted to the abbot two annual fairs, one in December (which still survives) and the other the great St Matthew's fair, which was abolished by the Fairs Act of 1871. In 1327, the Great Riot occurred, in which the local populace led an armed revolt against the Abbey. The burghers were angry at the overwhelming power, wealth and corruption of the monastery, which ran almost every aspect of local life with a view to enriching itself. The riot destroyed the main gate and a new, fortified gate was built in its stead. However in 1381 during the Great Uprising, the Abbey was sacked and looted again. This time, the Prior was executed; his severed head was placed on a pike in the Great Market. On 11 April 1608 a great fire broke out in Eastgate Street, which resulted in 160 dwellings and 400 outhouses being destroyed. The town developed into a flourishing cloth-making town, with a large woollen trade, by the 14th century. In 1405 Henry IV granted another fair. Elizabeth I in 1562 confirmed the charters which former kings had granted to the abbots. The reversion of the fairs and two markets on Wednesday and Saturday were granted by James I in fee farm to the corporation. James I in 1606 granted a charter of incorporation with an annual fair in Easter week and a market. James granted further charters in 1608 and 1614, as did Charles II in 1668 and 1684. Parliaments were held in the borough in 1272, 1296 and 1446, but the borough was not represented until 1608, when James I conferred on it the privilege of sending two members. The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 reduced the representation to one. The borough of Bury St Edmunds and the surrounding area, like much of East Anglia, being part of the Eastern Association, supported Puritan sentiment during the first half of the 17th century. By 1640, several families had departed for the Massachusetts Bay Colony as part of the wave of emigration that occurred during the Great Migration. Bury's ancient grammar school also educated notable puritan theologians such as Richard Sibbes, the master of St Catherine's Hall in Cambridge and noteworthy future colonists such as Simonds D'Ewes and John Winthrop, Jr. The town was the setting for witch trials between 1599 and 1694.

"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

To view more of my images, taken at Hambleden, please click "here" ! Click any image to view large!

The village has often been used as a location for films, such as The Captive Heart (1950), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Witches, The Legacy, Dance with a Stranger and the opening scenes of the remake of The Avengers starring Ralph Fiennes and also some scenes in 101 Dalmatians. Hambleden was also used in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers to depict Easy Company's training in England. Also, the Tim Burton film Sleepy Hollow, starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci, included a month-long location shoot at Lime Tree Valley, in Hambleden. There is only one Shop/Post Office in the centre of the village. Other properties have facades that are more in keeping with a traditional country village. In 1979 Hambleden church was the setting for a programme featuring Harry Secombe called "Cross on the Donkey's Back". It was an Easter programme by Thames Television and also featured a group of school children from Hambleden C of E School. The 2010 film Nanny McPhee Returns also used parts of the village in some of their scenes. The church was used in Agatha Christie's Poirot's episode Sad Cypress.

Hambleden is a small village and civil parish within Wycombe district in the south of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about four miles west of Marlow, and about three miles north east of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.

The civil parish also includes the villages of Fingest and Frieth, and the hamlets of Colstrope, Mill End, Moor End, Parmoor, Pheasant's Hill and Skirmett. The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'crooked or irregularly-shaped hill'. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Hanbledene, though previously in 1015 it was known as Hamelan dene. St Thomas Cantilupe, the Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Hereford, was born in Hambleden in 1218. In 1315 a Royal charter was granted to hold a market in the village, and a fair on St Bartholomew's Day (24 August) every year. The charter was reconfirmed in 1321, though appears to have not lasted much longer than this.

The village was a base for USA soldiers during the buildup to D-Day in 1944. The brick and flint cottages in the centre of the village conform to a similar design and have dormer windows topped with red tiles. St Mary's church dates from the 14th century and includes a conspicuous memorial to Cope D'Oyley (who died in 1633) and his family. The tower contains eight bells and the ceiling is quite intricately decorated in parts. The post office in the village serves also as the local shop and cafe. The Elizabethan manor house opposite the church, now the home of Maria Carmela Viscountess Hambleden, was built in 1603 of flint and brick for Emanuel 11th Baron Scrope who became Earl of Sunderland. Charles I stayed there overnight in 1646 while fleeing from Oxford. The Manor House, Hambleden is also the former home of Lord Cardigan who led the ill-fated charge of the Light Brigade. Another notable (Listed Grade II*) building is Kenricks which overlooks the cricket ground and was the previous manor house and the home of Philadelphia Carey Lady Scrope, a cousin and Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth I. On her death in 1627 it became The Rectory and was altered in 1724 by the Rector Rev Dr Scawen Kenrick. It ceased to be The Rectory in 1938 and was acquired by the 3rd Viscount Hambleden and renamed Kenricks. Roman remains were unearthed to the south of the village in 1912. A contested theory was put forward in 2010 that a military brothel might have formed part of the Yewden villa site, after archaeologists discovered skeletal remains of what appeared to be 97 newborn babies. Saint Thomas Cantilupe was born in the old Manor House (now Kenricks) in 1218. He became Chancellor of Oxford University, Bishop of Hereford and Lord Chancellor of England. He was canonised by Pope John XXII in 1320 and was the last Englishman to be canonised before the Reformation. The Hambleden Estate was held by the Scrope family from 1365 to 1627. Philadelphia Carey, 10th Lady Scrope was a granddaughter of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Queen Anne who was executed by Henry VIII in 1536. The Estate was acquired in 1925 by Frederick Smith, 2nd Viscount Hambleden who owned the adjoining Greenlands Estate. The Smith family sold the western part of the Estate in 2008 to the Swiss financier Urs Schwarzenbach. Major General Miles Fitzalan-Howard 17th Duke of Norfolk lived in the parish until his death in 2002 and his widow Anne continues to live there. Lord Cardigan, famous for his role in leading the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade, was born in the Manor House in 1797. The sea chest that he took to the Crimea can be seen in the church. Roger Marquis, 2nd Earl of Woolton lived at Kenricks in the 1960s. Phil Vickery, Rugby Union London Wasps player and England 2003 World Cup Winner, lived in Hambleden.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ahri, League of Legends (a fast-paced, competitive online game from Riot Games).

Supanova Expo, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, Australia (Sunday 15 Jun 2014)

using ps cs 6

Rainbow Dash is a female Pegasus pony and one of the main characters in My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, an animated TV series.

Supanova Expo, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, Australia (Sunday 15 Jun 2014)

He's a charismatic character.

Fifties Fair, Rose Seidler House, Wahroonga, Sydney, Australia (Sunday 25 August 2013 @ 1:27pm)

Texture courtesy of Skeletal Mess

To view more of my images, taken at Hambleden, please click "here" ! Click any image to view large!

The village has often been used as a location for films, such as The Captive Heart (1950), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Witches, The Legacy, Dance with a Stranger and the opening scenes of the remake of The Avengers starring Ralph Fiennes and also some scenes in 101 Dalmatians. Hambleden was also used in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers to depict Easy Company's training in England. Also, the Tim Burton film Sleepy Hollow, starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci, included a month-long location shoot at Lime Tree Valley, in Hambleden. There is only one Shop/Post Office in the centre of the village. Other properties have facades that are more in keeping with a traditional country village. In 1979 Hambleden church was the setting for a programme featuring Harry Secombe called "Cross on the Donkey's Back". It was an Easter programme by Thames Television and also featured a group of school children from Hambleden C of E School. The 2010 film Nanny McPhee Returns also used parts of the village in some of their scenes. The church was used in Agatha Christie's Poirot's episode Sad Cypress.

Hambleden is a small village and civil parish within Wycombe district in the south of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about four miles west of Marlow, and about three miles north east of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.

The civil parish also includes the villages of Fingest and Frieth, and the hamlets of Colstrope, Mill End, Moor End, Parmoor, Pheasant's Hill and Skirmett. The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means 'crooked or irregularly-shaped hill'. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Hanbledene, though previously in 1015 it was known as Hamelan dene. St Thomas Cantilupe, the Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Hereford, was born in Hambleden in 1218. In 1315 a Royal charter was granted to hold a market in the village, and a fair on St Bartholomew's Day (24 August) every year. The charter was reconfirmed in 1321, though appears to have not lasted much longer than this.

The village was a base for USA soldiers during the buildup to D-Day in 1944. The brick and flint cottages in the centre of the village conform to a similar design and have dormer windows topped with red tiles. St Mary's church dates from the 14th century and includes a conspicuous memorial to Cope D'Oyley (who died in 1633) and his family. The tower contains eight bells and the ceiling is quite intricately decorated in parts. The post office in the village serves also as the local shop and cafe. The Elizabethan manor house opposite the church, now the home of Maria Carmela Viscountess Hambleden, was built in 1603 of flint and brick for Emanuel 11th Baron Scrope who became Earl of Sunderland. Charles I stayed there overnight in 1646 while fleeing from Oxford. The Manor House, Hambleden is also the former home of Lord Cardigan who led the ill-fated charge of the Light Brigade. Another notable (Listed Grade II*) building is Kenricks which overlooks the cricket ground and was the previous manor house and the home of Philadelphia Carey Lady Scrope, a cousin and Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth I. On her death in 1627 it became The Rectory and was altered in 1724 by the Rector Rev Dr Scawen Kenrick. It ceased to be The Rectory in 1938 and was acquired by the 3rd Viscount Hambleden and renamed Kenricks. Roman remains were unearthed to the south of the village in 1912. A contested theory was put forward in 2010 that a military brothel might have formed part of the Yewden villa site, after archaeologists discovered skeletal remains of what appeared to be 97 newborn babies. Saint Thomas Cantilupe was born in the old Manor House (now Kenricks) in 1218. He became Chancellor of Oxford University, Bishop of Hereford and Lord Chancellor of England. He was canonised by Pope John XXII in 1320 and was the last Englishman to be canonised before the Reformation. The Hambleden Estate was held by the Scrope family from 1365 to 1627. Philadelphia Carey, 10th Lady Scrope was a granddaughter of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Queen Anne who was executed by Henry VIII in 1536. The Estate was acquired in 1925 by Frederick Smith, 2nd Viscount Hambleden who owned the adjoining Greenlands Estate. The Smith family sold the western part of the Estate in 2008 to the Swiss financier Urs Schwarzenbach. Major General Miles Fitzalan-Howard 17th Duke of Norfolk lived in the parish until his death in 2002 and his widow Anne continues to live there. Lord Cardigan, famous for his role in leading the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade, was born in the Manor House in 1797. The sea chest that he took to the Crimea can be seen in the church. Roger Marquis, 2nd Earl of Woolton lived at Kenricks in the 1960s. Phil Vickery, Rugby Union London Wasps player and England 2003 World Cup Winner, lived in Hambleden.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Audrey Hepburn, actor and humitarian, reached the pinnacle of her career when she played Holly Golightly in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's from which she received her third Academy nomination.

Madam Tussauds, Victoria Peak, Hong Kong (Monday 18 November 2013 @ 4:08pm)

Texture courtesy of Skeletal Mess

My Dad just traded in his Mazda CX-7, for this really nice Dodge Grand Caravan. I always loved white cars. Yea, they show dirt, but they look so nice when they are cleaned up. I think it drives nicer than the Cadillac DTS he had in 2009.

January 06, 2016 - PENTAX K-x- smc PENTAX-DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL / 11:54:57 a.m. / - 1/50 sec at ƒ/8.0 - ISO 100 - Aperture priority - 38 mm-(57 mm).

To view more of my images, of Ripon Cathedral, please click "here"

Ripon Cathedral is a seat of the Bishop of Leeds and one of three co-equal mother churches of the Diocese of Leeds, situated in the small North Yorkshire city of Ripon, England.

There has been a stone church on the site since 672 when Saint Wilfrid replaced the previous timber church of the monastery at Ripon (a daughter house of Aiden's monastery at Melrose) with one in the Roman style. This is one of the earliest stone buildings erected in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria. The crypt dates from this period.

People have been coming to worship and pray at Ripon for more than 1,350 years. The Cathedral building itself is part of this continuing act of worship, begun in the 7th century when Saint Wilfrid built one of England's first stone churches on this site, and still renewed every day. Within the nave and choir, you can see the evidence of 800 years in which master craftsmen have expressed their faith in wood and stone.

Today's church is the fourth to have stood on this site. Saint Wilfrid brought stonemasons, plasterers and glaziers from France and Italy to build his great basilica in AD 672. A contemporary account by Eddius Stephanus tells us:

"In Ripon, Saint Wilfrid built and completed from the foundations to the roof a church of dressed stone, supported by various columns and side-aisles to a great height and many windows, arched vaults and a winding cloister."

Saint Wilfrid was buried in this church near the high altar. Devastated by the English king in AD 948 as a warning to the Archbishop of York, only the crypt of Wilfrid's church survived but today this tiny 7th-century chapel rests complete beneath the later grandeur of Archbishop Roger de Pont l’Evêque’s 12th century minster. A second minster soon arose at Ripon, but it too perished – this time in 1069 at the hands of William the Conqueror. Thomas of Bayeux, first Norman Archbishop of York, then instigated the construction of a third church, traces of which were incorporated into the later chapter house of Roger's minster.

The Early English west front was added in 1220, its twin towers originally crowned with wooden spires and lead. Major rebuilding had to be postponed due to the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses but resumed after the accession of Henry VII and the restoration of peace in 1485. The nave was widened and the central tower partially rebuilt. The church's thirty five misericords were carved between 1489 and 1494. It is worth noting that the same (Ripon) school of carvers also carved the misericords at Beverley Minster and Manchester Cathedral. But in 1547, before this work was finished, Edward VI dissolved Ripon's college of canons. All revenues were appropriated by the Crown and the tower never received its last Perpendicular arches. It was not until 1604 that James I issued his Charter of Restoration.

The cathedral has a fine organ by Harrison and Harrison dating from 1926. The organ is on the screen and has casework by Gilbert Scott. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register. The organ was refurbished in 2013. These works included a thorough cleaning and repair of all pipe work; selective re-leathering of reservoirs and drawstop motors; reconstruction/rationalisation of the wind distribution system; refurbishment and updating of the screen console and cleaning of the case. The only minor tonal changes during these works were the replacement of Great Larigot 1 1/3 (1972) by a Flûte harmonique 8 (in Lewis style) and the recasting of Choir Cimbel III at a lower pitch.

A ring of 12 bells with an additional 'flat sixth' bell is hung in the south-west tower. A diatonic ring of ten bells was cast in 1932, and three additional bells were installed in 2008 with two new trebles being added to give a diatonic ring of twelve, and an additional 'flat sixth' bell to give a light ring of eight.

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To view more of my images, taken Chartwell, please click "here" !

Chartwell was the principal adult home of Sir Winston Churchill. Churchill and his wife Clementine bought the property, located two miles south of Westerham, Kent, England, in 1922. Extensive renovations simplifying and modernising the home were undertaken directly, completely transforming it when complete. When it became clear to the Churchills in 1946 that they could not afford to run the property, a consortium of wealthy businessmen organised by Lord Camrose purchased the estate. The arrangement was that for payment of nominal rent both Sir Winston and Lady Churchill would have the right to live there until they both died, at which point the property would be presented to the National Trust. When Sir Winston died in 1965, Clementine decided to present Chartwell to the National Trust immediately. The site had been built upon at least as early as the 16th century, when the estate had been called 'Well Street'. Henry VIII is reputed to have stayed in the house during his courtship of Anne Boleyn at nearby Hever Castle. The original farmhouse was significantly enlarged and modified during the 19th century. It became, according to the National Trust, an example of 'Victorian architecture at its least attractive, a ponderous red-brick country mansion of tile-hung gables and poky oriel windows'. The estate derives its name from the well to the north of the house called 'Chart Well'. 'Chart' is an Old English word for rough ground. The highest point of the estate is approximately 650 feet above sea level, and the house commands a spectacular view across the Weald of Kent. This view 'possessed Churchill' and was certainly an important factor in persuading him to buy a house of 'no great architectural merit'. Churchill employed architect Philip Tilden to modernise and extend the house. Tilden worked between 1922 and 1924, simplifying and modernising, as well as allowing more light into the house through large casement windows. He worked in the gently vernacular architecture tradition that is familiar in the early houses of Edwin Lutyens, a style stripped of literal Tudor Revival historicising details but retaining multiple gables with stepped gable ends, and windows in strips set in expanses of warm pink brick hung with climbers. Tilden's work completely transformed the house. Similarly to many early 20th century refurbishments of old estates, the immediate grounds, which fall away behind the house, were shaped into overlapping rectilinear terraces and garden plats, in lawn and mixed herbaceous gardens in the Lutyens-Jekyll manner, linked by steps descending to lakes that Churchill created by a series of small dams, the water garden where he fed his fish, Lady Churchill's Rose garden and the Golden Rose Walk, a Golden Wedding anniversary gift from their children. The garden areas provided inspiration for Churchill's paintings, many of which are on display in the house's garden studio.

In 1938, Churchill was pressed to offer Chartwell for sale for financial reasons, at which time the house was advertised as containing 5 reception rooms, 19 bed and dressing rooms, 8 bathrooms, set in 80 acres with three cottages on the estate and a heated and floodlit swimming pool. He withdrew after industrialist Sir Henry Strakosch agreed to take over his share portfolio (which had suffered heavily from losses on Wall Street) for three years and pay off heavy debts. During the Second World War, the house was mostly unused. Its relatively exposed position, in a county so near across the English Channel to German occupied France, meant it was potentially vulnerable to a German airstrike or commando raid. The Churchills instead spent their weekends at Ditchley, Oxfordshire until security improvements were completed at the prime minister's official country residence, Chequers, in Buckinghamshire. The house has been preserved as it would have looked when Churchill owned it. Rooms are carefully decorated with memorabilia and gifts, the original furniture and books, as well as honours and medals that Churchill received. The house is Grade I listed for historical reasons. The gardens are listed Grade II.

The property is currently under the administration of the National Trust. Chartwell was bought by a group of Churchill's friends in 1946, with the Churchills paying a nominal rent, but was not open to the public until it was presented to the nation in 1966, one year after Churchill's death.

To view more of my images, of Cliveden, please click "here" ! Click any image to view large!

Cliveden is an Italianate mansion and estate at Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England. Set on banks 40 metres above the River Thames, its grounds slope down to the river. The site has been home to an earl, three countesses, two dukes, a Prince of Wales and the Viscounts Astor. As home of Nancy Astor, the house was the meeting place of the Cliveden set of the 1920's and 1930's — a group of political intellectuals. Later, during the 1960's, it became the setting for key events of the notorious Profumo Affair. During the 1970's, it was occupied by Stanford University of California, which used it as an overseas campus. Today owned by the National Trust, the house is leased as a five-star hotel run by London & Regional Properties. Cliveden means "valley among cliffs" and refers to the dene (valley) which cuts through part of the estate, east of the house. Cliveden has been spelled differently over the centuries, some of the variations being Cliffden, Clifden, Cliefden and Clyveden. The 375 acres gardens and woodlands are open to the public, together with parts of the house on certain days. There have been three houses on this site: the first, built in 1666, burned down in 1795 and the second house (1824) was also destroyed by fire, in 1849. The present Grade 1 listed house was built in 1851 by the architect Charles Barry for George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland. Designed by Sir Charles Barry in 1851 to replace a house previously destroyed by fire, the present house is a blend of the English Palladian style and the Roman Cinquecento. The Victorian three-story mansion sits on a 400-foot long, 20-foot high brick terrace or viewing platform, which dates from the mid-seventeenth century. The exterior of the house is rendered in Roman cement, with terracotta additions such as balusters, capitals, keystones and finials. The roof of the mansion is meant for walking on, and there is a circular view, above the tree-line, of parts of Buckinghamshire and Berkshire including Windsor Castle to the south. Below the balustraded roofline is a Latin inscription which continues around the four sides of the house and recalls its history; it was composed by the then prime minister Gladstone. On the west front it reads: "POSITA INGENIO OPERA CONSILIO CAROLI BARRY ARCHIT A MDCCCLI", which translated reads: "The work accomplished by the brilliant plan of architect Charles Barry in 1851. The main contractor for the work was Lucas Brothers. In 1984–86 the exterior of the mansion was overhauled and a new lead roof installed by the National Trust, while interior repairs were carried out by Cliveden Hotel. he interior of the house today is very different from its original appearance in 1851–52. This is mainly due to the 1st Lord Astor who radically altered the interior layout and decoration c. 1894–95. Whereas Barry's original interior for the Sutherlands had included a square entrance-hall, a morning room and a separate stairwell, Lord Astor wanted a more impressive entrance to Cliveden so he had all three rooms knocked into one large one (the Great Hall). His aim was to make the interior as much like an Italian palazzo as possible, which would complement the exterior. The ceiling and walls were panelled in English oak, with Corinthian columns and swags of carved flowers for decoration, all by architect Frank Pearson. The staircase newel posts are ornamented with carved figures representing previous owners (e.g. Buckingham and Orkney) by W.S. Frith. Astor installed a large sixteenth-century fireplace, bought from a Burgundian chateau which was being pulled down. To the left of the fireplace is a portrait of Nancy, Lady Astor by the American portraitist John Singer Sargent. The room was and still is furnished with eighteenth-century tapestries and suits of armour. Originally the floor was covered with Minton encaustic tiles (given to the Sutherlands by the factory) but Nancy Astor had them removed in 1906 and the present flagstones laid. Above the staircase is a painted ceiling by French artist Auguste Hervieu which depicts the Sutherland's children painted as the four seasons. This is the only surviving element of Barry's 1851–2 interior and it is believed that Lord Astor considered it too beautiful to remove. The French Dining Room is so called because the eighteenth-century Rococo panelling came from the Chateau d'Asnieres near Paris, a chateau which was leased to Louis XV and his mistress Madame de Pompadour as a hunting lodge. When the panelling came up for sale in Paris in 1897, the 1st Lord Astor recognised that it would exactly fit this room at Cliveden. The gilded panelling on a turquoise ground contains carvings of hares, pheasants, hunting dogs and rifles. The console tables and buffet were made in 1900 to match the room. The main dining room of the house until the 1980s, today it is a private dining room with views over the Parterre and Thames. The second largest room on the ground floor, after the Great Hall, was the drawing room which today is used as the hotel's main dining room. This room, which has views over the Parterre and Thames, was redecorated in 1995 by Eve Stewart, with terracotta coloured walls, gilded columns and trompe-l'œil shelves of books. The ceiling is painted to resemble clouds and three Bohemian glass chandeliers hang from it. The portraits in the room include the 2nd Duke of Sutherland, the 1st Lord Astor, and Miss Mary Hornack by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Also on the ground floor is the library, panelled in cedar wood, which the Astors used to call the "cigar box", and, next door, Nancy Astor's boudoir. Upstairs are five bedrooms and on the second floor another five. The East wing was and still is guest accommodation, whereas the West wing was domestic offices but in 1994 these were converted into more bedrooms. The National Trust tour only includes the Great Hall and French Dining Room. The nearby 100-foot clock tower was added in 1861 and is the work of the architect Henry Clutton. As a functioning water tower it still provides water for the house today. It is rendered in Roman cement like the rest of the house, and features four clock faces framed by gilded surrounds and a half open staircase on its north side. It was described by the architectural critic Nicholas Pevsner as "the epitome of Victorian flamboyance and assertiveness. The tower is topped with a modern reproduction of Augustin Dumont's 19 th century winged male figure Le Génie de la Liberté (the Spirit of Liberty). The original is atop the July Column in the Place de la Bastille, Paris. This replaces two earlier versions, the first having fallen from the tower during a storm in the 1950's. The new statue is made of bronze and was created using Dumont's original mould from the 1860s found in a museum in Semur-en-Auxois, France. It measures 2.2 metres in height, is covered in two layers of 23.5 carat gold leaf and cost a total of £68,000. It is an allegorical sculpture which holds the torch of civilization in its right hand and the broken chain of slavery in its left. It was affixed to the tower in spring 2012.

"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"

He is her younger sibling. Their mother also wears glasses.

NAIDOC in the City, Hyde Park, Sydney, Australia (Mon 7 Jul 2014)

To view more images, of Haughley click "here"

At one time Haughley was more important than Stowmarket, but a great fire towards the end of the 16th Century destroyed much of the village and brought about the end of the market in the village. The market was then moved to Stowmarket. The castle was built of motte and bailie design by Hugh de Montfort in around 1100. Most early castles were made of Motte and bailie design, consisting of a man-made mound, the ‘motte’ which had the fort on top and an enclosed surrounding area, the ‘bailie’ where the community would live. The castle at Haughley was previously known as Hageneth or Hagenorth Castle. It was destroyed in 1173 by the army of the Lord of Leicester and today the only inhabitants are the ducks in the moat. It was one of the 3 ‘Honours‘ in Suffolk (a royal gift distinct and superior to the general granting of manorial rights and lordships). St Mary’s Church dates from the 12th century but there has been a church in Haughley since Anglo-Saxon times. The tower and nave are quite separate, as if they had been built without regard to each other. A south aisle has been built between and beyond them, joining the two together; but the nave is tall, and the aisle low, so the effect is rather unusual. The tower in the south west corner of the church is common with many medieval churches in this area - but the tower was clearly once a separate structure. The war memorial situated in front of the church was first erected in 1920 following the WWI but was replaced by a plain cross in 1947 when it was blown down in a gale. However, in 1995, the original work was found and restored, names re-inscribed and names of the fallen from WWII were also added.