> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.digest.andymarshall.co/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # A Year in the life: 4 November 2022 - URL: https://www.digest.andymarshall.co/a-year-in-the-life-4-november-2022/ - Published: 2023-11-04T12:15:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-19T10:16:56.000Z - Description: I have a visual in my mind: a soul house is being made by Ancient Egyptian fingers, caked in clay, pinching out a stairway, thumbing in a colonnade, pricking out a window. The loved one is within the cross-hairs of the maker’s mind - Author: Andy Marshall - Tags: a year in the life, soul house, ketton, northamptonshire, Community, community map, map, cambridge, cambridgeshire ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2024/01/IMG_8504.jpeg) ## 4 November 2022 Rutland *"Our hands imbibe like roots,* *so I place them on what is beautiful in this world."* St. Francis of Assisi ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/revue/items/images/018/885/877/original/img_4582.jpg) *"Our hands imbibe like roots,* *so I place them on what is beautiful in this world."* St. Francis of Assisi --- **I'm at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and I'm here to view the collection of Egyptian objects on display.** As I walk through the cultural detritus of thousands of years of ancient history, there emerges, out of a shadowy glass cabinet, the humble rectangular form of a small muddied artefact. What I have come to see, within the basement of the museum, in a room devoted to Ancient Egypt is a "soul house". This particular soul house is a little bigger than a large format camera, made from terracotta, with two arcaded storeys. It is accessed by an exterior staircase springing from a courtyard floor embossed with offerings. It was Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie who first brought the worlds attention to these transient entities in 1907\. He excavated a number of these clay houses from Rifeh - a series of cemeteries near to the ancient town of Shashotep in Egypt dating from 2025-1700 BC. There are a number also held at the Manchester Museum and they are thought to be descended from the offering table placed inside the tombs of the deceased. It is thought that these soul houses were created to be residences for spiritual allurement; to allow the soul of the deceased to dwell; the offerings to nourish the soul and the stairs to allow it to meander without becoming restless. Some of the houses also have a portico or 'loggia' - a covered exterior space, neither inside or outside - the physical embodiment of transience - perhaps a conscious recognition of a space in-between. I have a visual in my mind: a soul house is being made by Ancient Egyptian fingers, caked in clay, pinching out a stairway, thumbing in a colonnade, pricking out a window. The loved one is within the cross-hairs of the maker’s mind, but the grieving has been deferred in order to honour the process, to create an object that will hold for perpetuity the dead in suspended animation. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/revue/items/images/018/871/366/original/img_8459.jpg) Much later, at St. Mary in Ketton I come across a textile map that replaces the soul house thumbing process with that of cross stitch. It's a map of the village with every single building represented. The end result is essentially the same: a powerful work of art that transcends its material form through the cohesive act of its creation - the fabric is infused by the people who made it. In the same way that I imagine the soul house being made, I imagine the creation of the textile map - the coming together, the chatter, the memories and the laughter - all being inmbibed into every stitch of this fabric of place. In return the textile map becomes totemic - hung within the church - a powerful beacon contributing to community identity and wellbeing, and a dwelling place for future generations. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/revue/items/images/018/871/367/original/img_8460.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/revue/items/images/018/871/368/original/img_8484.jpg) --- ## View next entry: [A Year in the life: 25 November 2022I get a bit obsessed with the textures and patterns - the way that the personality of a place can change in an instant with the light.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/size/w256h256/2022/12/Andy.png)Andy Marshall's Genius Loci DigestAndy Marshall![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2024/01/FLNpLmTWQAMPAlS-3.jpeg)](https://www.digest.andymarshall.co/a-year-in-the-life-25-november-2022/) --- Readers of the Genius Loci Digest ## What stays with readers > “ > > That aura, those echoes - the muted light is transporting. What a space to feel rooted in history. I'd love to make that journey myself; you've stirred the opera lover and architectural dreamer in me. > > @sonatasips via X > “ > > Genius Loci has rapidly become the highlight of my Friday morning mailboxes, Andy! > > David via Linkedin > “ > > In reading & seeing Andy's work I always struggle to know which is more impactful - his writing or photos. In truth, the two combined are greater than their parts, he allows you to explore the importance of place and time from the comfort of home. > > Peter from Bluesky > “ > > Andy your work is becoming wonderful, remarkable. A so-called breakdown has been milled into its constituent parts, becoming profound construction: through perception, architecture, the lens and the pen. > > Stephen via Email 1 2 3 4 ← Ⅱ → ![The vaulted nave of York Minster glowing with filtered light](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2025/07/GjFbo3aXoAAgtYU.jpeg) York Minster - light through the nave01 / 04 ![Ancient carved stones and timber roof at Durham Cathedral's Open Treasure](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/rt4ccpqm0nalr9e9vv5oxo8invcfxar6wbvq/original.jpg) Durham Cathedral - Open Treasure02 / 04 ![A family approaching the restored cloister at Exeter Cathedral](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2025/06/Clews-Exeter-April-2025-134.jpg) Exeter Cathedral - new life beside the old03 / 04 ![The Iron Bridge reflected in calm water at dusk](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/aii66p605mkuajmgvjdqnt9325o42kjghcac/original.jpg) The Iron Bridge - reflected at dusk04 / 04 From the heritage portfolio Three Ways to Come With Me ## Choose how to join, share or support Andy Marshall's work [ ↗ Join Free Travel with me each Friday Receive the free weekly Genius Loci Digest in your inbox - photography, place-writing and overlooked stories from the road. 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