All articles in Local & Family History
13th June, 2024 in Archaeology, Local & Family History
‘A Gallery of Sculpture’: Bath Abbey, Bath’s forgotten Georgian tourist attraction
Dr. Oliver Taylor author of the new book Bath Abbey’s Monuments: An Illustrated History tells the full story of Bath Abbey’s monuments for the first time and highlights the significance of the collection. By the beginning of the 1800s, Bath had one of the largest populations in B…
11th June, 2024 in History, Local & Family History
Has the dragon become a daffodil?
Our national history helps shape our personal identity, but history does not accrete like permanent stratigraphic layers. Serendipitous research can sometimes shatter received assumptions, and we may find that we are not quite the product of a past that was taught to us. Chris Bu…
29th May, 2024 in Local & Family History
Ten things, or thereabouts, you may not have known about Derbyshire
I tend to think of Derbyshire’s landscape as a beautiful patchwork quilt stitched together by its dry-stone walls. The fabric of the past may be reused or altered but look closely and traces of the people and cultures who have lived here for thousands of years are still visible….
14th May, 2024 in Local & Family History, Natural World
Restoring and re-wilding Wicken Fen
East Anglia is known for its fabulous coastline and riverside cities such as Cambridge and Norwich. The countryside in between is all-too-often dismissed as being flat and featureless. While ‘hill’ is a relative term in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, the rural landscape is certainly…
13th March, 2024 in Local & Family History
Rediscovering the lost back-to-back terraces of Woodhouse in Leeds in the 1960s and 70s
Authors Colin and Elizabeth give us the back story of how they collected the photographs for their new book The Lost Back-to-Back Streets of Leeds: Woodhouse in the 1960s and 70s. Featuring nearly 140 of those photographs in black and white, plus some 30 more in full colour. We h…
19th January, 2024 in Local & Family History, Transport & Industry, Women in History
The Last Women of the Durham Coalfield – Hannah’s grand-daughter
This is the last book in the trilogy that started with my great great grandmother, Hannah Hall in the 1820’s as she re-located with her family to a new coal mine opening up in Hetton-le-Hole, County Durham. No-one at that time could have known the importance of that move. By 1822…
6th December, 2023 in Local & Family History
Historical facts you might not know about Cheshire
Roger Stephens author of The Little Book of Cheshire provides some interesting historical facts about the county of Cheshire, for those who are residents or tourists visiting the area! It seemed too good to be true; a chance to get on a soap box and sing the praises of one’s hom…
16th October, 2023 in Local & Family History
A brief history of milk stout
Milk stout was first produced by the Mackeson brewery in Hythe, Kent in 1909 and was a runaway success. Part of its popularity was undoubtedly due to the way in which it was advertised. This was not just another beer to be drunk by men in their local pubs, but a beverage which co…
7th September, 2023 in Local & Family History
The writing process of Sussex Writers in their Landscape
Brian Short re-accounts the early writing process with author Peter Brandon for the book Sussex Writers in their Landscape and his important legacy. Way back in October 1963 – 60 years ago as I write this – I saw Dr Peter Brandon for the first time. I had arrived at the…
11th July, 2023 in Local & Family History
Coastal places: The Central North Coast in Norfolk
During the summer months, the north coast is susceptible to a chilly mist that rolls in from the North Sea. Known as a sea fret, this cold fog is caused by warm air, normally between the months of April and September, passing over the cold sea. The frets are restricted to the coa…
5th June, 2023 in Local & Family History, Natural World
Wild times in a London park
Nick Stewart Smith author of The Thousand Year Old Garden unlocks the gates and invites us to wander through a beautiful park‚ situated between the urban bustle of Peckham and the busy streets of Camberwell in London. Early every Saturday morning, there is organised run…
3rd May, 2023 in Folklore, Local & Family History
Crankies in Wales: The man who brought moving panoramas to the Welsh Valleys
Peter Stevenson author of Illustrated Welsh Folk Tales for Young and Old tells the extraordinary tale of the man who brought moving panoramas to the Welsh Valleys in the form of a ‘crankie’. Years ago I started telling Welsh folk tales with a crankie, a wooden box the s…