Whilst writing for the website and photography is a tremendous escape from the life I find myself confined to, I’ve been unable to post so much of late. Various reasons.

The long and short of it is I’ve not had as much spare time to get some items written.

I do however have some exciting posts which are in the pipeline.

These will feature on the website over the next few weeks and I hope those with an interest in the industrial heritage of Teesside will find them most interesting.

I spotted this on a visit to Staithes in 2020. Before the second peak.

After taking the photo I took the spade and put it up on a bench on the staithe. Hopefully someone found it and wanted to reuse it!

Like many I’d usually go walk somewhere to see the sun rise on the solstice – this year for many reasons I stayed at home, lit a lamp and waited for the sun to rise…

A little North of the usual area of scope of the site however vitally important to the history and heritage of the area is this book, co-wrote by a friend of mine.

The book tells the interesting story of the original excavations, with unrivalled access to finds, photographs and the notebooks of Robert Blair.

Not only does this tell the story of the dig it also brings in the equally interesting histories of those who were involved.

It’s available for £15 including post and packing and copies can be ordered from Harton Village Press by emailing jastokes@virginmedia.com

I KNOW I AM HOME was born out of the Covid-19 Coronavirus lock down. Prior to the lock down having had an interest in photography from an early age, I had picked up an old 35mm film camera at the end of 2019. I liked the mechanical nature of it more so the excitement of getting the film developed.

Not just interested in photography but in my local area, local history and psychogeography. I KNOW I AM HOME, as a name and concept, mainly was a thought I had about identity, location and grounding. I live in Teesside and by and large living where I do has influenced my take on the world.
Psychogeography itself is how the landscape effects the emotions and behaviour of people…

I even bought some disposable cameras (and still do) which is strange for me, because I like more control – but yet I love how little control of the finished product this gives. Images on this ‘blog’ will be taken on whatever medium I can use.

Art, photographs, scrawling on paper, doodles, poetry and words featured here are by myself, and if they aren’t then they will be credited to the author / creator.

Being now under lock down I KNOW I AM HOME takes on a new meaning.

So join me, James, as I post my photographs and musings, from Teesside, North Yorkshire and the other places.