Dr Ian Friel

@drianfriel.bsky.social

317 Followers 324 Following

Independent historian, FSA and FRHistS, specialising in maritime, local and house history, based in UK. Author of five books on maritime history, multiple research papers and house histories. www.ianfriel.co.uk Rep: @donaldwin.bsky.social

Aerial photo of Chichester, taken from the north. The site of the Roman East Gate is marked, as is the site of the Roman amphitheatre or arena, which was a short distance outside the city walls. Part of there amphitheatre was lost to a 1930s building, but most of its encircling bank survives.
This carving of a Roman warrior's head was at the top of the rudder (rudderahead) of the Dutch Westindiaman 'Fame' of Hoorn, lost off Poole (Dorset, UK) in 1631. The original can be seen in the stunning new maritime archaeology gallery at Poole Museum.
The photo shows an upturned blue and white bowl on a wooden bench, with grass and plants behind - all with a light dusting of snow. The bowl and bench are picked out by the morning sunlight.
Lights inside a blue glass jug, next to a Chinese-style pot, both sitting on a window sill with a closed Venetian blind behind.
A Christmas tree shape decorated with streamers and baubles, on the quay at Emsworth, 2025. It has been built from black lobster pots and is topped with the outline of a star. A swan and a ?coot can be seen in the water below, and small boats are visible in the background.
The starboard side of HMS Victory, Portsmouth Naval Base. The photo shows the ship in its dry dock, supported by metal shores. The gunport lids are open, showing the mouths of cannon. First floated out of its building dock in 1765, the present ship is the product of several major rebuilds, and is currently undergoing major restoration work.
A man driving a bullock cart in front of Khadki railway station. Another cart loaded with ?hay, drawn by two bullocks, can be seen to the right.
Tortoiseshell cat next to a radiator.
Bow view of the 15th-century Mataro Model, now in the Maritiem Museum Rotterdam (photo taken 1980). Evidently made by a shipwright, this extraordinary model has a high, upcurving stem topped by a forecastle with rails. There are two figureheads - one like a dragon's head that juts out from the bow, the other a human head in the forecastle above. The model originally hung in a chapel in Mataro, a town just up the coast from Barcelona, almost certainly as a votive offering. 15th-century English sailors would probably have called this type a carrack, a kind of vessel that originated in the Mediterranean. During Henry V's sea battles in the years 1416 and 1417 against the French and their Genoese and Spanish allies, English naval forces wee able to capture eight Genoese carracks, formidable vessels much larger than most English ships of the time.
Trees Wirth exposed roots on the shore of Chichester Harbour. A scatter of red clay is visible amid the screen of the seaweed.
Two wrought-iron swivel gun barrels, mounted on reconstructed stocks. They have been dated to the 15th century, and were found in the Lagoon at Venice. The handle on the nearest gun is attached to the detachable breech chamber, which contained the powder charge. Guns like these normally fired stone or lead roundshot, or sometimes mixtures of metal fragments and stone, and were intended for use against the crews of enemy ships. The shot was loaded at the back of the barrel, before the breech chamber was put in place and secured with a rope binding.
A ?peregrine falcon standing at the edge of a garden pond, with a small solar-powered fountain behind.
A Roman merchant ship unloading (lefthand side) at a town quay and a bireme warship (right; bireme = two banks of oars). Soldier are shown unloading rope-bound packages from the merchant vessel, with the ?Emperor Trajan and a group other senior figures standing on the right.
The image shows a model ship with three rotors, which rotate int he wind and cause the vessel to move. The first rotor ship was designed and built in the mid-1920s by the German engineer Anton Flettner. Though it did not catch on then, the idea has been revived in recent decades as shipbuilders explore ways of propelling vessels that lower their carbon footprint.
A photo taken c 1906 in southern England, showing a boy with a horse and two-wheeled cart.
A view taken just after sunset in East Street (Chichester) looking west, with a deep red sky. The row of buildings on the left of there photo mostly date from the 18th century. The Market Cross, its clock dial illuminated with a purple glow, was built in 1501. It stands and the meeting-point of the four main streets of medieval Chichester - East, South, West and North Streets, which radiate in from the former positions of the Roman and medieval city gates.
Black and white photo of an archaeological excavation of the western side of the Roman fort at Bowness-on-Solway, Cumbria. Part of the northern guard chamber of the west gate is shown (left), with a section of the fort's wall at right angles to it.
A tortoiseshell cat standing on a windowsill, with its head in a blue jug.
A back garden and furniture in heavy rain, photographed through glass. The fuzzy patches on the image are caused by rain on the glass.
The site of Chitty and Vernon's former 1740s shipyard at Itchenor on Chichester Harbour. Nothing of the yard is now visible, but it lay between the house on the left and the laid-up yachts in the distance. The yard had at least two launching slips.
A dragon boat in the race on Chichester Canal 22 June 2025. The dragon boat, based on a. Chinese design, has a red and green dragon figurehead. A drummer sits near the prow, beating a drum to enable the pairs of paddlers to keep time. The steerswoman stands at the stern, holding the steering oar.
The setting sun and clouds over Chichester (UK) at about 8.50pm on Saturday 21 June 2025. Rays of sunlight can be seen projecting through the clouds.
The lecture room in the Society of Antiquaries at Burlington House, London, showing speaker, lectern and the projection screen. The image behind 'The Maritime World of the Mortar Wreck' title slide shows a 13th/14th century graffito of a one-masted ship carved on a pillar in the church of St Mary the Virgin, Hayling Island, Hampshire UK. Photo courtesy of Tom Cousins.
Full-size plaster model of Sir Francis Drake by Sir Joseph Boehm (1834-1890) made for reference use in his studio - it came from the moulds used to make the bronze sculptures of Drake at Tavistock and on Plymouth Hoe. This imposing work is displayed in Drake's former home, Buckland Abbey in Devon.
A sculpture by Philip Jackson of a female figure in a long dress, wearing a tricorn hat and blowing a brass trumpet.
The top of a low building amid trees, see across a bed of ferns.
An aerial view from 2011, taken from the north, showing Priory Park, Chichester, annotated to show some of its historic features. The Park is bounded on two sides by the city wall, which was originally built by the Romans, and the boundaries on the other sides are believed to follow the line of the defensive around the bailey, the outer area of the late 11th-century Norman castle. The much-reduced stump of the motte, the mound on which the castle's tower or keep sat, still survives. The castle was destroyed on royal orders in c 1217 after a brief French invasion. The site was given to the Franciscans in 1269 and their priory was completed c 1282. It was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1538 and in 1541 the surviving chancel of the Franciscan church was given to the city, and became the Guildhall, or town hall. The Guildhall was also used as a courthouse: in 1588, four Jesuits were tried here and condemned to death. The same thing happened to the notorious Hawkhurst Gang of smugglers in 1749. William Blake was tried here in 1804 on a trumped-up charge of sedition, but fortunately acquitted.
A rare articulated section of Admiralty Obstacle Z1, previously buried in shingle, that emerged in the shifting channel at the mouth of Pagham Harbour, West Sussex (UK) in spring 2021. Made from commercial scaffolding, they stood on the surface of a beach and were intended to delay or obstruct tanks in the event of a German invasion during the Second World War. Many hundreds of miles of Z1 structures were built on the south and east coasts of England, but most were dismantled after the war. Surviving articulated sections are very uncommon.
Image of a heart from an 18th-century child's alphabet, with the word written above.
A red wax impression of the town seal of Dover, c 1300. It shows a ship about to get under way: the bow is to the left, the stern to the right. Inside the hull, two men stand in front of the mast, working the bars of a windlass in order to raise the anchor. The steersman is near the stern, his hands on the large side rudder, while above him a sailor is climbing up the standing rigging behind the mast to unloose the sail. The ship has three crenellated defensive structures - the forecastle at the bow, the aftercastle at the stern and a small topcastle near the head of the mast. Dover is one of the Cinque Ports and a flag hangs from a staff in the aftercastle, bearing the arms of the Cinque Ports - the front halves of three lions, each with a back that consists of the stern of a medieval ship. There is also a streamer or vane at the head of the mast, blowing left, which would have revealed the wind direction. Two trumpeters stand in the forecastle, their trumpets evidently announcing the ship's imminent departure.
An adult robin and a chick standing on a piece of timber by a garden wall.
Bosham from the south, with the tower and spire of Holy Trinity to the right and the late-18th century quay and warehouse (small building with red roof) to the left, standing on the Bosham Channel, which leads to the main channel to Chichester Harbour and the sea.
Part of the c 1141-54 fortifications, seen from outside, including Wymond's Tower.
The River Itchen is in the foreground, with St Peter's church in the back centre. Part of a river wall can be seen on the left.
Photographed on a gloomy day in December 2015, the view shows the River Danube running across the top, with the Sava joining left. The fortress parapet is in the foreground, with a ruined building and walls of lines on the river plain below. The Kalemegedan fortress is massive, and has been fought over and rebuilt many times since antiquity.
A pile of copies of 'Breaking Seas, Broken Ships', with a image of a wrecked ship's rudder on the front cover, and a photo of the former Victoria Deepwater Container Terminal at Charlton on the River Thames, taken in the early 1980s.
Fragment of late medieval stained glass in St Mary's church, Diss, Norfolk, showing the head of a king. The king's face, beard and hair are rendered in black and white, but the crown is gold. The king has his mouth open, baring his teeth: to me, it is an unsettling image.
Black cat with maps on a table.
Trees in Salterns Copse, Chichester Harbour. The name 'Salterns' comes from the 18th/19th-century saltworks that once stood on the site now occupied by Chichester Marina.
Tree routes with what looks orange clay mixed in among them.
Four sparrows found an on brass bowl on a table in a garden. One is in flight, about to land, two are on the rim, and the fourth is in the bowl. Next to the bowl is a colander with some plants growing in it., and there is a bird feeder to the left of the bowl.
US indefinite visa, 1986
A view along the canal, with modern houseboats on the right. Part of the stonework of the lock structure is visible lower left.
Tortoiseshell cat with a cobweb on the top of her head.
The corner of a stone-built house in Lostwithiel, showing the two faces of the cornerstone that records Walter Kendal's lease of 1652.
The hill on the left-hand side of the photo is the Trundle, which is topped by a large Iron Age hillfort, but was also the site of a Neolithic enclosure. The white feature to the right of the Trundle is the viewing stand at Goodwood Racecourse. The quay in the middle ground is Dell Quay, formerly the only legal quay for foreign trade in Chichester Harbour, and once the de facto port of the city of Chichester.
Aerial view of the centre of Chichester, looking west. The city within the line of the Roman walls is divided into four large quadrants, and the Cathedral, Close and associated land occupy most of the SW quadrant. Though the lines of the four main streets (East, South, West & North) were set by the positions of the original Roman gateways, most of the road pattern is medieval in origin. Bishop Richard was in dispute with Henry III when consecrated in 1245 (the king's preferred candidate failed to get the see), and the king ordered soldiers to guard the city walls to prevent the bishop from entering Chichester and taking up his seat. In the end, a threat of excommunication forced Henry to relent. The structure at the centre of the city crossroads in the city is the Market Cross, commissioned in 1501 by Bishop Storey to provide toll-free marketing for the poor. Aerial image (C) Ian Friel 2011 & not Google Earth!
An image of the sun partially eclipsed by the moon, taken at about 11.45 am in southern England, UK on 29 March 2025.
Tiled panel on the 1898 Palace Theatre, Plymouth, showing the defeat of the Spanish Armada. It celebrates the myth, not the history: while it's true that the Armada failed because of opposition from English naval forces, the weather and the inherent problems in the Spanish plan, very few (2?) Spanish ships were lost in action. Most were wrecked in storms on the terrible journey home via Scotland and Ireland.
Tiled panel on the 1898 Palace Theatre, Plymouth, showing the Spanish Armada on it way to England in 1588, in an attempt to invade the country.
Tiled panel on the 1898 Palace Theatre in Plymouth, showing the Spanish Armada leaving Ferrol, on its way to attempt to invade England in 1588.
St Mary's Chithurst, see from the north. The mound that the church sits on has been described as a possible pagan burial site - it was not unusual for Christian churches to be built on such sites - but it could also have been a fortification of some kind.