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I'm an architectural photographer. I travel around Britain recording and interacting with special places that have a spirit about them. I work from my camper van called Woody and I share my experiences via this digest.

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PHOTO-HOARD

Flint and brick wall, Thetford, Norfolk.


WORDS

"Finely knapped or shaped and dressed flints have been used since the Middle Ages principally for church building...Rough flints were thought adequate for farms and cottages...the larger stones were largely halved and quartered. Thus the black hearts of the flints were exposed and it is these which impart that jet sparkle..."

Olive Cook: English Cottages and Farmhouses.


OBSERVATIONS

Northern Lights.

I’ve been bound to this patch of earth, in one form or another, for almost a thousand years. Since then, I’ve layered and crustated with materials from these parts. They define me like the rings of a tree.

For most of that time, I’ve had a single purpose. Alongside the rise and fall of the Thames, I’ve convened the ebb and flow of people from west to east.

Before things silted, they tickled my foundations when their barges scraped the wharf. The barges brought the timbers for my tower - a beacon of their faith.

And then they ripped out my fripperies and whitewashed my walls until, in more recent times, they tried to take me down. Somehow, I hung on, and from that point onwards, there was a twist in my DNA. They moved from east-west to north-south; coming through the north door and leaving through the south.


"And then they ripped out my fripperies and whitewashed my walls until, in most recent times, they tried to take me down."


I sense their flow at first-light every morning, when they arrive with their animals. I hear the same words over and over again: Dolly, Bonny and Patch. From monastic chanting to pedigree panting. They pause, amidst the coming storm, and my oaken bones creak with delight in the knowledge that I still give respite.

One thing they all have in common is a need to make their mark.

I am a totem to them. Without me they feel rudderless. They have imprinted me with their hopes and fears, their gains and losses, their happiness and sorrow.

And now, out of respect for my age, they make their mark with pen and paper.

Through their marks they find succour and correspondence with the natural world around them.

Their marks stretch out upon my surface like a ticker-tape through time.

I am a Time Machine.

Without me there’d be no gasp or remark, as my leaning tower rises from the mists on the Thames. Without me there would be no perspective. Without me, no-one would know these parts or know themselves.

I came about for a single purpose, but now, I am many things to many people: all faiths and none.

I still have my secrets, like the Virgo Virginium on the timbers, and the bottled hair in my walls.

But, my biggest secret, I call my Northern Lights.

On the sharpest of dawns, my corsetry of flint - like tiny, time-burnished mirrors - echoes the gentle lapping of the Thames, and my walls shift and shimmer with joy.


Photographing St. Mary, Magdalene's, Boveney.

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Members can see a beautiful aerial VR of St. Mary Magdalene, Boveney including extensive views of the River Thames with Windsor silhouetted to the east. (Viewable on any device)

Be there: St. Mary Magdalene and the River Thames in glorious VR
St. Mary Magdalene, Boveney in Buckinghamshire sits cheek by jowl next to the River Thames just a couple of miles from Windsor. Originating in the C12th, this church has one of the most beautiful and striking settings in the country.

and here's a Members' Only VR inside the oaken structure, beneath the tower at St. Mary, Magdalene, Boveney:

Be there: St. Mary Magdalene, Boveney, ancient interior in glorious VR
The VR is taken inside the oak timber framing of the ‘wibbly, wobbly wonder’.

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HOTSPOTS

Boveney and Windsor

I start early at Boveney. Early enough to capture its 'Northern Lights'. I work through the day until the sun is too glaring. I make a plan - to walk along the Thames path to Windsor - as many have done before me.

Courtesy of Google Maps

Pure Scroll (no words) - A walk along the Thames Path and the buildings of Windsor

Boveney Lock

Getting out around St. Mary Magdalene, Boveney

Walk

Dorney Court – St Mary Magdalene’s Church loop from Fishery | hike | Komoot
Detailed maps and GPS navigation for the hike: “Dorney Court – St Mary Magdalene’s Church loop from Fishery” 02:46 h 10.9 km

Cycling

A weir on the Jubilee River – Windsor Bridge loop from Dorney | bike Tour | Komoot
Detailed maps and GPS navigation for the bike Tour: “A weir on the Jubilee River – Windsor Bridge loop from Dorney” 00:59 h 14.3 km
VAN LIFE

Boveney Eggs

What a wonderful park-up! Very close to the church and they sell fresh free-range eggs nearby.

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Van Life Gallery
My van, Woody, is my time-travelling machine, taking me to some remarkable places that have altered my mind like wine through water.

ON MY COFFEE TABLE

BOOKMARKED

An Evening with Steve Tomlin at Broadwell, Oxfordshire - 11th Nov 2023

Come and meet Woody and listen to historian Steve Tomlin talk about the magnificent church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Broadwell. The church was the first Member Powered Photography shoot.

More info here:

An Evening with Steve Tomlin at Broadwell, Oxfordshire - 11th Nov 2023
Steve Tomlin will deliver an illustrated talk about the medieval church, specifically addressing apotropaics, the perception of magic and religious ritual in the context of remarkable archaeological evidence found at Broadwell church.

FILM AND SOUND

FROM THE ARCHIVE

This time last year:

"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."

Andy Marshall’s Genius Loci Digest - 4 Nov 2022
Lighting up the winter nights.Images that have soaked up the sun and light up the winter darkness.

FOR MEMBERS
Members’ Area
Members only content
Member Powered Photography Status Page
In essence I’m offering my professional services for free to historic locations in Britain.

Northamptonshire

northamptonshire - Andy Marshall’s Genius Loci Digest

Virtual Reality

virtual reality - Andy Marshall’s Genius Loci Digest
Almost as good as being there…

AND FINALLY

"And then they ripped out my fripperies and whitewashed my walls until, in most recent times, they tried to take me down."


St. Mary Magdalene's, Boveney was saved by the Friends of Friendless Churches.

If you can give them your support - it will help save other places that have such impact on our lives:

St Mary Magdalene’s, Boveney, Buckinghamshire - Friends of Friendless Churches
St Mary Magdalene’s is a medieval bargees’ church on the banks of the Thames, with an atmospheric interior and box pews.

Can you help me achieve my goal by Christmas?

More Info Here


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Photographs and words by Andy Marshall (unless otherwise stated). Most photographs are taken with Iphone 14 Pro and DJI Mini 3 Pro.