James Elkington Photography - News Page

Autumn is finally here, and the trees are starting to turn. There is a distinct chillness in the air in the mornings, and coupled with some mist over the reservoirs it is a sure sign that my favourite Season has finally arrived.
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On Friday I accompanied a good friend and founder of The Northern Antiquarian, Paul Bennett, onto Rombalds Moor in search of new finds. Parts of the moor had recently been burnt by the gamekeepers (they do this to burn off the old heather and encourage new shoots to feed the Red Grouse). There are a number of known artefacts on the moor of prehistoric origin, but the deep heather covers up a lot of unknown ones and they only become visible when the heather is burnt.



As Paul was going back to his home in Scotland on the Monday we didn't have a lot of time to explore. It was raining hard when we arrived on the moor and the weather forecast predicted more rain all day.



At first we thought we may find some 'cup and ring' markings - there are often found on exposed rocks and they are thousands of years old - no one knows who carved them or what they mean. There are several hundred known ones on this moor.





However, when we got to the burnt area we discovered several very large burial mounds - totally unrecorded. By this time is was raining very hard and everything was soaked - cameras, clothing and us. It was difficult taking photos as the lens constantly needed wiping and the viewfinder was wet.



My Olympus cameras are weather proofed so no need to put them in bags - I just slung them over my shoulder. The rain was running down my body and onto the cameras - there was a stream of water from my arm down the camera and onto the floor.
After a couple of hours we decided to call it quits. I got a couple of hours of video and over 400 stills. As we were trudging the 4 miles back to the car the rain stopped and the sun almost came out.



I for one was glad to get back to the car - we walked 11 miles and spent 9 hours on the moor.

A visit to the site of the horrific murder of Kate McNiven, the Witch of Monzie.
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A trip to capture the sunrise over the Twelve Apostles stone circle on Burley Moor in Yorkshire.
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A visit to the amazing 'Praying Hands of Mary' in Glen Lyon in the Scottish Highlands
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