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@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 8:48 PM

As its #BookshopDay here are a couple of antique shop signs from York. Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, learning & drama at Minster Gates & a Red Devil from Stonegate.

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Colour pencil drawing of a sculpture of the goddess Minerva with books, an owl and theatrical mask on a street corner building of brick.

Colour pencil drawing of a figure with horns and goats feet forming a bracket to support an overhanging upper floor on a 17th century building. The figure is thought to date from the 18th century.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 8:41 PM

Toppings of Ely. A bookshop my colleague took me into when we were working in the town. A table by the window & a view of Ely cathedral.

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Drawing of a bookshop with a table and two stools by the window which has a view of a cathedral tower.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 7:19 PM

We have recently discovered the amazing Barter Books in Alnwick. A secondhand bookshop in a former railway station. Amazing selection of books, great cafe & model trains.

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Drawing of bookshelves arranged in rows leading to a doorway with a fanlight with lettering for STAT(ION) BUFF(ET).

Drawing of bookshelves arranged in rows with a model railway fixed on top of the shelving. A train can be seen on the railway in the centre with several other locomotives standing next to an iron column.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 1:39 PM

Another old favourite bookshop of mine was Ken Spelman's, 70-72 Micklegate, York. Just around the corner from the office & with a coal fire during the winter my colleagues & I were always there. Recently been renovated & reopened by Lucius Books.

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Pencil drawing of a bookshop in a three storey building of 18th-19th century character.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 11:29 AM

Books and Bevs in Acomb is a more recently opened shop. In addition to books, both new & 'previously loved' the shop sells lovely coffee & locally created art.

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Pen and watercolour of a bookshop interior and part of a coffee shop.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 8:32 AM

I've heard it's #BookshopDay so here are some of my favourite bookshops.

Minster Gate Bookshop in York is still one of my favourite shops.

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Pen and watercolour drawing of a bookshop with books outside the shop on low shelves protected by a green awning.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 4:32 PM

37 Tanner Row, York is quite a wide building. Here is the whole facade from across the road.

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Pencil drawing of a four storey building with nine windows to the upper floors and an off centre entrance on the lower floor. Some tall railings forming a private roadway in front partly obscures the lowest storey.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 5:14 AM

Reflections at 37 Tanner Row, York. Built as a railway hotel in 1852-55, it has been used as offices since 1899 but will be converted back into a hotel in 2027. Where I worked from 1999-2016.

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Pencil drawing of an ornamental doorway of a building. Two columns support a small balcony with stone balusters while a narrow balcony with iron balustrade passes the first floor windows. All the large windows show interesting reflections of the building opposite.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 8, 2026, 6:18 PM

The little detail of the end wall of the abbey church retreated further from the focal point of the drawing of ruins in Museum Gardens, York.

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An incomplete pencil drawing of a ruined abbey church now in a public park surrounded by trees.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 8, 2026, 4:26 PM

#ADoorableThursday. A view from under the late 19th or early 20th century canopy of 10 Shambles, currently a Harry Potter themed shop, renamed number nine & three quarters on the south side of Shambles, York.

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A mixture of medieval and later buildings on a narrow street with the underside of a projecting canopy over a shop doorway in the left foreground.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 8, 2026, 5:25 AM

It's always worth looking up in Shambles, York. The hooks under the canopy were for hanging wares outside the shop & in the windows of butchers etc. A detail for #ADoorableThursday.

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Pencil drawing of hooks under a wooden canopy covering a doorway and window. A sign on the door jamb reads Potions & Poison £4.99.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 5:01 PM

The sketch was useful to help with the detail in this study. Just a bit of background for a bigger drawing of the abbey church ruins.

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Work in progress on a detailed pencil drawing of a ruined abbey church with trees in the background.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 2:16 PM

An earlier on-site sketch of the same bit of Shambles but without the later brick buildings.

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Pencil sketch of 16th and 15th century timber framed buildings with upper floors overhanging the lower floors. A group of people have gathered to the right.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 5:15 AM

Shambles, York. Some shop windows for #WindowsOnWednesday, including the Shambles Sweetshop at number 5 & York Ghost Merchants at number 6.

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A trio of medieval buildings with gables to the street stand among later brick buildings. A small number of visitors look in shop windows or stand to look at the buildings. There are puddles from earlier rain in the narrow roadway.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 6, 2026, 6:53 PM

The shiny red floor that leads to the Station Buffet at Barter Books, Alnwick. The amazing secondhand bookshop in a former railway station.

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A pen and watercolour of rows of bookshelves leading the eye to a doorway of a room used as a cafe. Above the door is a sign saying STATION BUFFET partly obscured by books on shelves.

A triptych showing a pen drawing, the drawing being given watercolour washes and the finished colour drawing.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 6, 2026, 12:41 PM

Flashback to 6th October 2020 and a drawing of 37 Tanner Row I was working on. Capturing the reflections of the Grand Central Hotel (or North Eastern Railway headquarters building) in York.

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Pencil drawing of three sash windows above a slightly projecting porch and balcony with miron balustrade. The drawing is focused reflections in the window glass. A flag is wrapped around the pole above the porch.

A Staedtler Graphite 0.3mm pencil, 2mm eraser and a blending stump rest on a drawing of several windows.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 6, 2026, 5:13 AM

1-5 Blake Street, York in the rain. An 18th century facade to a row of earlier timber framed buildings facing the 18th century Assembly Rooms.

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Pencil drawing of a street in the rain featuring a building with a long brick facade finished with a parapet. To the right are a number of parked bicycles and a shop with an awning. On the right is a portico projecting from a large stone building.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 5, 2026, 8:39 PM

Monk Bar from Goodramgate. It was less utilitarian looking than the other Bars in the city with a recessed wall on the floor above the gate arch.

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A four storey gate tower with a vaulted gate passage. There is a niche for a statue on the third floor, set between two windows.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 5, 2026, 4:22 PM

One of my first reconstruction drawings of a manor house near Winchester, compared with a cutaway threshing barn in pen. Then we were allowed to use colour (railway goods shed) which I still use in 'semi retirement'.

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Reconstruction drawing, based on archaeological excavation, of two buildings, one of stone and one timber framed, from the edge of a moat. Wickham Manor house, Hampshire

Cutaway reconstruction drawing of a threshing barn and attached straw barn with a horse powered threshing machine. The drawing shows how the buildings were used for preparing grain crops for feeding cattle.

Cutaway reconstruction drawing of a railway goods shed in use, transferring items to/from train wagons onto horse drawn transport.

Cutaway reconstruction drawing of a lime depot showing railway wagons being unloaded into open fronted cells of the building for loading onto horse drawn transport.

@allantadams.bsky.social Oct 5, 2026, 5:28 AM

Today (5th October) is the anniversary of my starting work with the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England in 1981. The beginning of a career drawing old stuff. Although 'retired' I am still drawing old stuff... At a different pace and mostly for fun.

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A black and white photo of a young man drawing with a dip pen.

Pen and watercolour sketch of a three storey house drawn while on holiday.

Work in progress on old buildings in a narrow street.

A man standing by a window drawing using a sketchbook and pencil.