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# 📍Loci: ✨Northumbrian Light
- URL: https://www.digest.andymarshall.co/loci-14/
- Published: 2026-02-05T07:37:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-22T17:06:19.000Z
- Author: Andy  Marshall
- Tags: loci, photography, architectural photography, hexham, hexham abbey, light, northumberland

*Each week I send out a short, fresh reflection from the road – photographs, sketches, and observations from old places that still have something to teach us. What follows is a moment from those travels.* 

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## Northumbrian Light

The forecast was good and so the shoot was on.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2023/09/original-201.jpg)

I arrived at the Abbey at first glimmer

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/djesjfgrtunk3opiiu2152iudmav1d6wmeu5/original.jpg)

I was hoping to capture something magical: the movement of light through a building in a single day.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2023/09/original-202.jpg)

But this wasn't any old light, this was Northumbrian light.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/b1qi55o8lqqjbp8r42xnz9jc4gomii1jgbyo/original.jpg)

And this wasn't any old town, this was Hexham with its ancient ochre walls that refract and absorb a particular quality of light.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2023/09/EvspMAYWQAAIAPu.jpeg)

Inside the Abbey, the Northumbrian light, having sifted through Hexham stone, is refined once more through the finest stained glass.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/l4twj4jw6d940fwhs6i64pq8riqd6bc4b3iz/original.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/khikhgfqi5omw3ec3nz4igdalecpp3ffsj21/original.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/1jvmed1ra9b5nk8xtwdmzdxmtccfhmwqm3wn/original.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/0vhbyv6vujwmyh8w1t6cvcmxb6w01uziq76r/original.jpg)

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💡

If you’re drawn to places where time gathers rather than passes – places of refuge, care, and continuity – I post out fresh observations like this every week. [Subscribe for free here](https://www.digest.andymarshall.co/)

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Ghostly cusping enlivens the arcading...

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/mxkn5sndsehb9x2xlrjg4fkuqtvk7eivawui/original.jpg)

... and strange, organic worlds emerge from the darkness.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/hgvdctvxyc46pe1qri4a329fz5hq1487mtmu/original.jpg)

Shadows work towards beauty's end...

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/m9lnbytdmwenz8r070b57ifag06awl699abo/original.jpg)

...and the raking light invigorates the mason’s marks..

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/1gl0dn6d9mc46ln072q1jbrpdjyq7j9lb71f/original.jpg)

As the day draws to a close

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/production/photos/f3mrjkk9a2nulr680e8r8sm0o2yamh3neeqw/original.jpg)

And then I saw it happen: the literacy of light on the Saxon Acca's Cross - the saint rumoured to have saved the town from raiding hordes by blotting out the light with conjured mists.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2023/09/original-204.jpg)

## A day in the Light of Hexham Abbey

---

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