Starlight Castle, Seaton Sluice, Northumberland

 

Starlight Castle is a folly – or rather, the ruins of a folly, situated on the slopes of the north side of Holywell Dene, near Seaton Sluice in Northumberland and built in 1750.

Only and arch and a couple of bits of wall remain, but once it looked like this…

Legend has it that it was built overnight in order to win a wager

More photos & information here – http://spiritofplace.weebly.com/starlight-castle.html

 

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St. Patrick’s Well, Dublin, Under Threat ?

The construction of the cross- city Luas line will destroy a holy well associated with St Patrick, Jonathan Swift and the introduction of frogs to Ireland, a historian has claimed.

Gary Branigan, author of Ancient & Holy Wells of Dublin, said the line would pass over St Patrick’s Well as it makes its way past Trinity College. The underground well would be destroyed in the process, he said.

The Railway Procurement Agency said it was aware of the well, which is a recorded monument, but said it would not be affected by the Luas works.

“Few pedestrians walking along modern-day Nassau Street will be aware that beneath their feet lies a hidden and ancient site of pilgrimage associated with none other than St Patrick himself,” Mr Branigan said.

“Nassau Street itself was called Patrick’s Well Lane until it was renamed in the 18th century after the accession to the throne of William III, ruler of the house of Orange-Nassau.”

Mr Branigan has called on Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar to review the route in order to preserve the well.

However the aagency said the well’s location had been incorrectly mapped and was actually under the north side of Nassau Street at the junction with Dawson Street and would not be under the new line.

“Appropriate constraints to protect the well during construction have also been included in the works contracts,” a spokeswoman said, “such as the requirement for continuous monitoring of vibration levels from construction activities in the area and the setting of appropriate vibration limits to ensure that no damage will occur to the well”.

In 1729 the well ran dry, inspiring Jonathan Swift to write a satirical poem.

Legend has it that frogs were introduced to Ireland by a Protestant who, “to show his zeal against popery”, brought frog spawn from Liverpool and deposited it in the well.

Source – Irish Times, 25 July 2013

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Royal Baby – A Nation Rejoices

Massive unemployment, increasing homelessness, people reliant on foodbanks and other charities to survive, a viscious but inept government – but today the people of Britain were celebrating as the unelected mafia they call the Royal Family spawned another parasite. Joy ! Now we know who our betters are for the next three generations.

RADIO FRANKENSTEIN INTERNATIONAL

 

We announce the release of a new album by FRANKENSTEIN SOUND LAB.

Titled Radio Frankenstein International,  it is a collision between chance encounters ( in the form of random samples found on short wave radio) and structured music.

Free listen & download from the Malice In Sunderland website –

http://maliceinsunderland.weebly.com/rfi.html

 

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41p ?

Spotted in the Newcastle Journal of 5th July 2013… a letter from one Arnold Laing of Newcastle –

Twice in recent days I have been approached in a Newcastle street and asked for 41p.

Does this figure have some special meaning ?

Its a shame it wasn’t 42p, because as I’m sure we all know, 42 is, in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, “The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything“, calculated by an enormous supercomputer over a period of 7.5 million years. Unfortunately no one remembers what the question is.

But  it wasn’t 42.  So what significance 41 ?

Not much, it seems. It’s the international direct dialing code for Switzerland, but its probably pushing credibility to suggest that the beggars of Newcastle are making coded references to their Swiss bank accounts.

It’s an odd number to ask for, especially as it would require a number of coins – three  minimum – when it would be so much easier all round to request 50p and get it (if lucky) in one coin.

So maybe its just one of those random bits of weird shit that happen…well, just because they can.

 

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