
Andy Marshall's Genius Loci Digest: 28 March 2025
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.
Treasured places, layered in history
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.
✨ Many will feel the pull to hurry past these words, gripped by the restless urge to scroll onwards. But should you find the courage to linger, to resist the tide of haste, you will be performing a quiet kind of magic.
An opportunity to own an original piece from my A4 sketchbook: an ink and watercolour drawing of the Anglo-Saxon crypt at Repton painted on 225gsm paper.