All articles in Local & Family History
15th December, 2015 in Local & Family History, Military, Society & Culture
The ‘Dead End Kids’ of the London Blitz
In 1939 when the evacuation of London was in full flow, nobody stopped to consider that the children being sent away would quickly pine for the big city they knew and loved. Within weeks a handful returned to the capital. The handful quickly turned into a trickle that soon b…
15th December, 2015 in Local & Family History, Military
Guernsey’s evacuees
It is a well-known fact that, during the Second World War, thousands of children were evacuated from industrial areas of Britain to the safety of the countryside. What is less well known is that in June 1940, just days before the Nazis occupied their island, 17,000 Guernsey resid…
14th December, 2015 in Archaeology, Local & Family History
Excavations on the Cotswold Way
There have been a number of excavations at Great Witcombe Villa, beginning in 1818 after its discovery by workmen removing an ash tree. Each of those excavations has left a legacy of poor preservation of the walls and foundations and unsympathetic reconstruction; therefore little…
14th December, 2015 in Local & Family History, Society & Culture
The Orange walks of Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is a country that is rich in culture, history and the ‘Craíc’ (pronounced ‘crack’…having a good time). Since the ‘Good Friday Agreement’ of 1998 which ended thirty years of bloodshed, the ‘Craíc’ has been on a continuing upward spiral. Belfast, the capital, now h…