
Andy Marshall's Genius Loci Digest: 20 June 2025
Whilst I stood and waited for its return, I envisioned notions of time loosening its grip - of fog as a veil not just over landscape, but over centuries.
Treasured places, layered in history
Whilst I stood and waited for its return, I envisioned notions of time loosening its grip - of fog as a veil not just over landscape, but over centuries.
For me, this monument is one of the finest in the country – containing the effigies of Sir Lawrence Tanfield and his wife Elizabeth.
I think it’s because there’s a clarity of message here - a kind of truth that asks nothing of you. Not the sort that needs proving or defending, but one that is simply known, absorbed.
Amidst the medieval ridge and furrow are lumps and bumps that mark events from the past, reverberating through this place. It was at Repton that a great Viking army wintered in 873 AD under the leadership of Ivar the Boneless. The lumps and bumps are the boundaries of their camp.
The weight of history here is a press. I am so taken in by what I see that I sit down on the cold slab to absorb it. This is a place that has held fast in the eddying tides and swells of chaotic times.
One of the most remarkable churches in England.
Like the imprint of sand left behind by the receding tide, our absence etches patterns of meaning that linger long after we’re gone.
I gave myself permission to stop and enjoy it, and to take time to photograph it, inspite of the curious glances from passers by.
Buzzing with this new perspective, I set about photographing elements like this in the hope of sharing the singularity of the occasion with others, and with the wish of disseminating the pattern like a wind blown daisy seed - a bit of heritage grafting with the aid of my camera.
✨ Wondering why I ask for support?
An Anxiety of Memberships