The film Peterloo has been reviewed as one of the cinematic achievements of 2018, dramatising the people and events that led to the infamous ‘Peterloo’ massacre in August 1819. Respected film-maker Mike Leigh created the film using historical records and sources from the period, as he and historical adviser Jacqueline...

2018 has – rightly – seen a strong emphasis on the story of the suffragettes, of those courageous individuals who took to militant methods to get the vote for women. This is not their story; it is the often-overlooked story of the many thousands of women and men who fought...

There has never been a more exciting time to study Anglo-Saxon history. Recent archaeological discoveries are transforming our understanding of the narrative of early English history and have added new layers of meaning to our existing knowledge. New methodologies such as the study of landscape and of gender have challenged...

This November marks 100 years from the Armistice of the First World War. The war had lasted over four years and had destroyed empires and rocked governments. Existing practices and ideals were challenged, families were torn apart, and Europe and the World would feel the effect and legacy of the...

It was the Battle at Bosworth that brought an end to the War of the Roses. Richard III was defeated by Henry Tudor, ushering in a new dynasty to the monarchy of England and Wales. In recent years the battlefield at Bosworth has been investigated with archaeological excavations and new...

Archaeologists using hi-res motorised ground-penetrating radar have recently detected a well-preserved Viking ship burial, lying just 50cm below topsoil in farmland in south-east Norway. The ship’s 20-metre keel and timbers represent the fourth intact ship burial so far discovered in Norway. It is remarkable that this one has survived, because...

The UK National Archives have posted online an array of fascinating documents and pictures illuminating the history of the 1920s, a decade that saw enormous changes in British society. The new resouce makes available 67 letters, cartoons, photographs, official documents and handwritten notes covering the General Strike, hunger marches and unemployment, the...

Twenty-three  people met in the comfortable Clayton Hotel in central Cardiff in June to attempt to assimilate two thousand years of Welsh history in a week. We were blessed with a heatwave, a bustling city environment, and a lot to see. We started on the eastern edge of South Wales...

We are drawing towards the close of the First World War centenary. This November there will be lots of stories in the media about that period. We wanted to get some of our coverage done early – partly before you all get bogged down with an overload, but also to...