Who am I?
Hi, I’m Luke. I’m a writer and museum educator living between the mountains and the sea at the edge of the Lake District. I use this space to play around with an eclectic range of ideas and interests in fortnightly essays. The general vibe is world-building, historical fictions and adventure.
By world-building, I mean how books, films and poems play with time and space, both within their own stories and the wonderful stories of our everyday lives.
By historical fictions, I mean the ways we use creativity to explore and represent the past - for better or for worse.
By adventures, I mean stories of mountain climbing, wild swimming and other explorations of hidden and unexpected places.
Where to start reading?
Every Limpet Bay essay is intended to work as a standalone piece, meaning you can begin anywhere. But here are five favourite essays from the first two years of Limpet Bay to give you a taste of what I’ve been up to.
St Kevin and the Blackbird
‘And since the whole thing’s imagined anyhow…’ What happens when a poem about a legendary figure admits it’s making itself up? In this third essay, I explored how Seamus Heaney uses poetry to create an imaginary past.
Who Made These Caves?
In this adventure, I scrambled down a crumbling cliff made of industrial waste and into a cave worn by the sea. What does it mean for something to be ‘natural’? Limpet Bay #6-10 is a loose series I called ‘Unnature Writing.’
Doctor Who & Black Temporalities
In 2025, Doctor Who set its first ever episode in Africa. Writer Inua Ellams used this story set in a Nigerian barbershop to explore the show’s relationship with fiction and time, and in writing this, I figured out Limpet Bay’s deep fascination with temporality.
In Praise of Limpets
The year is 1762 and the sky above the remote Scottish island of Stronsay is black with burning seaweed. A militia stage a riot against kelp harvesters. Why? Because their harvest is killing the limpets. So begins an extraordinary story about an under appreciated creature.
Should Historians Make Things Up?
As close to a mission statement as Limpet Bay has ever had. This essay grapples with the question of how we should tell histories, and whether there might we can access the truth through learning to lie.
How to support Limpet Bay?
Sharing and subscribing make a huge difference, as the old song goes. But also please get in touch. It’s lovely to hear what people think about the essays (especially when they disagree!)
