I love obscure bits of history, and parish boundary markers are great because you really have to poke around with your eyes open to spot them. They were used to mark the parish boundaries of mediaeval cities, to establish who had to pay church rates, who attended churches, and as legal documents in property sales. … Continue reading
I’ve heard a lot about how hard Brexit will be, and the governments rush into it is worrying. Here’s an article from the i’s Jim Armitage which provides an example of the complexities ahead, and should terrify anyone in these islands. The complexity of untangling 44 years of seamless trade and regulation with Europe is … Continue reading
The story of Bristol’s Edward Colston (1636-21) has been dividing the city for decades and has now reached new levels with the decision to remove his name which has existed for well over a century from the city’s main music venue. The Guardian paper notes the similarities between this dispute and that of Cecil Rhodes … Continue reading
I’ve been doing a lot of research on curiosity cabinets and art collecting, which is generally associated with mad kings in Germany or the Medici family. England did little of this as they were to busy arguing how to Reform which involved a lot of disputes as to the use of imagery. Plus there was … Continue reading
Glass is one of those materials we tend to take for granted, as it is used in windows and drinking glasses, and I’ve long had a glass scrubbing board. Glass was used in religious houses to encourage people to look up, to think of higher things, but windows could create magical effects when the light … Continue reading
St Kilda is one of the most isolated places in the British Isles, an archipelago in the Outer Hebrides whose final human inhabitants left in 1930. It is now home to 600,000 nesting birds each year. This is from the i paper of 29 December: A 250-year-old census has revealed that islanders on St Kilda… … Continue reading
Here’s an ad for a range of diet noodles etc that seem to be on sale everywhere. Obesity is a huge problem, and anything that helps should be a good thing, but I don’t understand what this food product is. It claims to have no sugar, fat, gluten or carbohydrate, so what does it contain? … Continue reading
This is from Wednesday’s i paper and is a fantastic example of the value of so-called amateurs, and how much can be achieved by local communities. It was a medieval mystery that baffled experts for decades. Now a history fan has finally unearthed the priceless remains of a lost city- thanks to a colony of … Continue reading
This is from Friday’s i paper, a reminder that English eccentricity is still alive and well – at least up north. A meat and potato pie was “Sent into space” yesterday, attached to a weather balloon. The pastry lifted off in Wigan in advance of the World Pie Eating Championships, which begins on Tuesday next … Continue reading
In Shakespeare’s time, travelling players were considered akin to rogues and vagabonds so needed the protection and patronage of a noble to survive. In 1727 England passed the Chamberlain’s Act requiring theatres to be licensed to perform plays, to prevent the vicious satires against prime minister Robert Walpole. Life for travelling players was also hard … Continue reading
