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Out and about in Glasgow
Historian feature
Glasgow's George Square statues -‘Through the looking glass'
History is often illumined by writers of genius but Glasgow did not produce a Zola, a Balzac, a Dickens or even an Arnold Bennet. We are, therefore, thrown back on looking at other manifestations of a powerful and wealthy city to augment...
Out and about in Glasgow
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Out and about in Martinsthorpe: a walk in the country
Historian feature
History is nothing if not an exercise in informed imagination. On a country walk in Rutland arranged by a group of (non-historian) friends, I noted that the Ordnance Survey map showed our planned route, following a ridge of high ground separating the valleys of the meandering Gwash and Chater rivers,...
Out and about in Martinsthorpe: a walk in the country
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Out and about in Cromford Mill, Lea Mills and the Lumsdale Valley
Historian feature
Cromford Mill, one of the best known, and the Lumsdale Valley, one of the least known of the early industrial sites, are linked today by being managed by the Arkwright Society. They have also been the subject of a recent BBC1 programme in a series: ‘Britain's Hidden Heritage'. They are...
Out and about in Cromford Mill, Lea Mills and the Lumsdale Valley
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Out and about in Silloth
Historian feature
Situated north west of the Lake District, Silloth is a seaside resort, looking across the Solway Firth to Dumfries and Galloway.
The origins of this settlement lie in medieval times because the monks of nearby Holme Cultram Abbey had established storage facilities there to receive and store the grain from...
Out and about in Silloth
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Out and about in Bolton - Industrial Revelation
Historian feature
Despite its old name of Bolton-le-Moors, the history of Bolton is tied up with the Industrial Revolution. Its population grew from 17,000 inhabitants in 1801 to nearly 181,000 in 1911. It is well known that the damp climate of England's north west was perfectly suited to the textile industry, and...
Out and about in Bolton - Industrial Revelation
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Out and About in Norwell
Historian feature
It is at Newark that the River Trent turns northwards. Running parallel to the river are the Great North Road (now the A1) and the East Coast Mainline railway. The easily missed village of Norwell lies seven miles north of Newark and one and a half miles west of the...
Out and About in Norwell
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Out and about in the East Yorkshire Wolds
Historian feature
East Yorkshire is a somewhat neglected area for touring. Yet, the villages in the chalk Wolds possess much charm and a lot of surprising history to reward those who would explore them. In my youth, I toured these villages many times both on foot and by bicycle. This route is...
Out and about in the East Yorkshire Wolds
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She-Wolves
Review
She-wolves, Helen Castor, Faber and Faber, 2010, 474p, ISBN 978-0-571-23705-0, £20-00.The central focus of Helen Castor's She-wolves is the fact that, when Edward VI died in 1553, every one of his potential successors within the Tudor line was a woman. Unlike in France, there was no clear bar to a...
She-Wolves
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Out and about in Trowbridge
Historian feature
This is more than one of our conventional ‘Out and About in Local History' items because Ken Rogers introduces us to a process whereby visual architectural and industrial history of Trowbridge has been saved from destruction; and then he gives us some clear guidance as to where to go and...
Out and about in Trowbridge
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Sir Robert Peel: The Life and Legacy
Review
Sir Robert Peel: The Life and Legacy by Richard A. Gaunt
(I.B. Tauris), 2010
264pp., £20 hard. ISBN 978-184885354
The two-volume biography of Peel by Norman Gash was published in 1961 and 1967. Gash sees Peel as a pragmatic administrator and an instinctively consensual politician whose great achievement was to...
Sir Robert Peel: The Life and Legacy
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Out & About in Laxton
Historian feature
Where is Laxton?
The village is in north Nottinghamshire, formerly called Lexington (Lexitune). The village is based around the Church of St Michael and, of course, its hostelry, the Dovecote Inn. Most of the farms are properties which are long and thin and they have "closes" which stretch back from...
Out & About in Laxton
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Edward II
Review
Edward II by Seymour Phillips
(Yale English Monarchs, Yale University Press), 2010
679pp., £25 hard, ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7
Stuck between two of the greatest medieval English monarchs his father Edward I, the ‘Hammer of the Scots' and his son Edward III, it is hardly surprising that Edward II has gained the...
Edward II
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Liverpool's revolutionary Old Dock
Visit
If you want to get up close to history, Liverpool's revolutionary Old Dock – the world's first commercial enclosed wet dock – opened in May 2010 as the city's latest historic attraction, with free ticketed tours for schools and members of the public starting from Merseyside Maritime Museum. For the first time...
Liverpool's revolutionary Old Dock
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Out and about in the Trent Valley
Historian feature
In the muddy corner of a field fringing Biddulph Moor in North Staffordshire, a small fenced enclosure surrounds Trent Head, ‘official' source of the River Trent (SJ905 579). In truth, any of a handful of springs that rise nearby might serve. Pilgrims are well advised to equip themselves with Wellington...
Out and about in the Trent Valley
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Teaching Red Scarf Girl
Article
Facing History and Ourselves is excited to announce a new study guide. Teaching Red Scarf Girl has been developed to help classrooms explore essential Facing History themes, including conformity, obedience, prejudice and justice. Red Scarf Girl, Ji-li Jiang's engaging memoir, provides an insightful window into the first tumultuous years of...
Teaching Red Scarf Girl
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Ruins in the woods: A case study of three historical ruins 'hidden' in the woodland of Derbyshire
Historian article
Ruined buildings shrouded in trees, masonry crumbling into the undergrowth. It sounds like the backdrop for an Indiana Jones movie, the sort of thing people trek across Central America or the wilds of Cambodia to find. But Britain has its own share of enigmatic relics. Three very different such historical...
Ruins in the woods: A case study of three historical ruins 'hidden' in the woodland of Derbyshire
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Out and about looking at Crinkle Crankle Walls
Historian feature
At the village of Easton in Suffolk one of its most distinctive features is its crinkle crankle wall. It is said to be the longest example of this form of wall construction and design. When Easton Hall, the seat of the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton was demolished and transported...
Out and about looking at Crinkle Crankle Walls
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Out and about in Sheffield
Historian feature
This article was commissioned by the Sheffield Branch of the Historical Association in response to an editorial invitation for items of wide Local History interest to be submitted for publication. It is hoped that John Salt's insight will encourage members to visit Sheffield and also give them ideas on what...
Out and about in Sheffield
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Out and about in Coventry
Historian feature
Coventry and ‘phoenix' seem to be complementary words. Different images to different people. The central medieval area of Coventry is well worth the enjoyment of a gentle stroll. It contains the potential challenge of 400 listed buildings to visit! This article is intended to be an ‘appetite-wetter' which will draw...
Out and about in Coventry
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Out and about in D.H. Lawrence country
Historian feature
Eastwood is a busy, small town, about twelve miles west of Nottingham. It lies just within the county boundary with Derbyshire. Its name probably derived from a settlement in a clearing of the old Sherwood Forest. It sits mostly on a hilltop, which is the meeting place for main roads...
Out and about in D.H. Lawrence country
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Out and About near Cromford in Derbyshire
Historian feature
The River Derwent is a dominant feature of the Derbyshire landscape from the Ladybower Reservoir to where it joins the River Trent just south of Derby. This river is noted for the sheer power and volume of water it carries: in the 1720s Daniel Defoe observed ‘the Derwent is a...
Out and About near Cromford in Derbyshire
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Out and about in Holderness
Historian feature
East of Hull lies Holderness, a twohundred square mile portion of the former East Riding of Yorkshire, extending from Hornsea in the north to Spurn Head and flanked by the river Humber and the North Sea. It is a very fertile tract of rich agricultural countryside but it is particularly...
Out and about in Holderness
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Exploring the Cornish Religious Landscape
Historian article
The Cornish religious landscape shares one particularly significant feature with its Welsh neighbour to the north. The Celtic tendency to dedicate churches to very local saints is very strong in both Cornwall and Wales, with the church dedications frequently being mirrored by the place name. This similarity is, to an...
Exploring the Cornish Religious Landscape
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Flowers Block the Sun
Article
As Northern Ireland begins to hope for a long and hot summer, there is one famous landmark in Belfast that can be guaranteed to be ready for a six month summer, regardless of rain or shine. Reg Maxwell, veteran of over thirty years in Belfast City Council Parks Department and...
Flowers Block the Sun
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Presenting Naseby
Historian article
The summer of 2007 saw the completion of new visitor facilities on and near the battlefield of Naseby. The two locations are the first to be created since the Cromwell Monument was finished in 1936 and they stand more than 5km (3 miles) apart, one of them 2km south-east of...
Presenting Naseby
