The People’s Stone

The People’s Stone or the Freedom of Speech Stone stands on Hampstead Heath on the climb towards Parliament Hill. I have been unable to find out much about it beyond the fact that it may have once been a place where people congregated to protest or to speak out on controversial matters, a little bit like Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park.

Martyrs

In 1833 six farm workers in the village of Tolpuddle, Dorset, seeing their living standards plummet, combined together to protect their wages. They were prosecuted and transported to Australia. Tens of thousands of protestors set off from Copenhagen Fields (the later site of this clocktower) to petition for their return. Their campaign was successful and the men were freed.

The Great Eastern

This is the first in an occasional series of posts looking at a particular place and events that happened there in the past. When I take a photograph I am always struck by that sense of moment it represents; for a fraction of a second I captured this instant. In that moment I also feelContinue reading “The Great Eastern”

Time and place

I have a strong sense of time and place. Sometimes it is looking through old photographs and connecting with the moment they were taken. On other occassions it is when I am photographing a place where something happened. I am currently working on a series of photo essays that will be appear on the blog over the next few months. Through my photographs and research they will each look at a particular place and a particular time.