Over December the IHR Webmaster, Marty, was back in his native Australia, so we decided not to have a November winner for our Flickr competition. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the BHO Manager, Bruce, left us in November and without these two technically competent people it was decided that we should leave BHO well alone.

Now that Marty is back we have pooled all the entries from November and December and chosen a winner and a runner-up.

Our runner-up is Finchale Priory, Durham, by the Frantic Photographer:

 

Finchale Priory

Finchale Priory, Durham

 

I work in the kind of office that has a copy of English Medieval Monasteries, 1066-1540 on the shelf. From which I find that, from the fourteenth century to its dissolution, the monastery was a rest centre for monks on a 3-week rota from the main monastery in Durham, and it is “altogether a fine and memorable ruin”. From a colleague I learn, in no uncertain terms, that the correct pronunciation is finkle.

The judges particularly liked the colour palette for this photograph: the autumnal colours of the stones adding to the elegiac atmosphere that often comes with ruins.

Our winner for November and December is this picture of Warkworth Castle Keep by Joyce Macadam:

 

Warkworth Castle Keep

Warkworth Castle Keep

 

Framing shots are always a useful photographic technique, but here the judges very much liked the contrast between the darkness of the surround and the honeyed light on the stone in the middleground. I’ve said this before in these blog posts, but I think the framing effect works particularly well in historic photographs where the frame is part of the procession towards the grand building. A lot of planning went into making visitors feel impressed, even overwhelmed, as they went through this gate, and Joyce’s photograph reminds us of that experience.

Finally, our colleagues at the History of Parliament are looking for images of MPs (including their gravestones!) or illustrations of elections. If you have any such pictures, to which you own the copyright, you could even win copies of the impressive History of Parliament volumes. You will be credited for any images used; more details here.