News

  • Top Secret Warwickshire, the new book by Michael Layton, focuses on the key role that Warwickshire played during World War Two and the so-called Cold War period that followed.  This book seeks to remove the veil of secrecy which surrounded many aspects of life during these periods and pays tribute to the many professional members of the Armed Services as well as volunteers and members of the community who lived or served in Warwickshire.  The book is packed with images of the time and personal recollections.  It costs £15.95 and can be purchased via www.brewinbooks.com and Amazon.  

  • Harbury Heritage Centre is running guided walks around their village followed by refreshments . For further information or to arrange a date please email group@harburyheritage.org.uk or telephone 07813 739972.

  • The British Association of Local History (BALH) has recently announced its 2023 recipients of the Outstanding Individual Contribution and Publishing awards and the results can be seen on the BALH website.  One winner, Rosemary Hall, will be familiar to many of our members as her article, 'Coventry's Park Gardens: 19th Century Detached Town Gardens' featured in our own publication Warwickshire History last summer.  The BALH website is also worth a visit generally for all the articles and webinars they offer with a local history theme.

  • Global Leamington, published by the Leamington History Group, contains a varied collection of articles reflecting different periods of the town’s history which were shaped by the people and ideas which came into it, and those that left to travel across the world.  Read more about it in this article from Warwickshire World
     

  • The Gresham Society Lectures are a series of free lectures covering a wide variety of subjects, from polio to royal progresses.  Visit their website for a full programme, or visit our Other Events page for a selection of lectures of historical interest. 

  • Peasants Making History, Living in an English Region 1200 to 1540 is the new book by Christopher Dyer and contains a lot of Warwickshire material.  It can be ordered online at www.oup.com with promotion code AAFLYG6
  • British Newspaper Archives Warwickshire residents can now access over 3 million pages of historical newspaper articles online for free at a selection of Warwickshire Libraries or at the County Record Office. The archives serve as an excellent resource for local as well as national information. Warwickshire newspapers feature in the coverage and other papers from the British Isles widen its potential use for all kinds of research. Articles date from as far back as 1699, up to more recent content from the 21st century so there is plenty to explore. Access to the archives in Warwickshire has been provided by the County Record Office for the next three years. People with a valid library membership can benefit from the service by visiting the County Record Office itself or at Coleshill, Nuneaton, Rugby and Stratford Libraries. For the full story go to the Warwickshire County Council Press Release

  • Near Belonging is a project funded by Arts Council England by leading contemporary artist Faye Claridge,inspired by an extraordinary collection of historic photographs found by chance by builders in a Leamington cellar.  The collection will inspire huge new portraits created with Warwickshire residents and the project has also spawned creative workshops and content on the Our Warwickshire Community website.  Find out more by visiting the Our Warwickshire website.

  • The Birmingham Allotment Project is an exciting new project by General Public exploring the heritage of allotments in Birmingham from the 1960s to the present day.  Working closely with Birmingham and District Allotment Confederation, allotment associations and plot-holders city-wide, the project will present an alternative social history of Birmingham via its allotment culture. Birmingham has 113 allotment sites, more than any other local authority, and this project aims to inspire, engage and encourage people to learn about allotments, their history and their place in the city today. To find out more visit the Birmingham Allotment Project webpage.

  • Conservation work completed on the beacon tower at Burton Dassett Hills Country Park  Conservation work has finished to repair the beacon tower located within Warwickshire County Council’s Burton Dassett Hills Country Park, following delays to the project in 2021 after bats were identified to be hibernating inside the tower’s domed roof.  The beacon tower is one of only two historical monuments in the county to be managed by Warwickshire County Council (the other being Chesterton windmill), and since 1952 has been a Grade II listed building. Over the past nine months the project has seen the tower restored as sympathetically as possible back to its original state in order to be enjoyed once again by the people of Warwickshire.  To find out more about the beacon tower restoration, visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/news/article/2846/conservation-work-completed-on-the-beacon-tower-at-burton-dassett-hills-country-park

  • On 24 March 1922, four Great Western Railway track workers were killed by a steam engine near Wilmcote station in Warwickshire. In the lead up to the centenary, Mike Esbester, writing for the Railway Work, Life and Death website, will be posting a new blog each day, looking at the accident and its aftermath. On the day of the centenary, a small scale act of remembrance has been organised at the station, for descendants of the four men who died and members of the railway and local communities.  For more information visit their project website: Wilmcote, 24 March 1922 - Railway Work, Life & Death (port.ac.uk)

  • A History of English Places app. Joe Chick, who works in the history department at Warwick University, has designed a new app for exploring local history called A History of English Places. There are histories of local areas across England that can be accessed for free, with more detailed histories for subscribers.  ‘A History of English Places’ is free to download and shows your position on a historic map of England, along with a local history of the area. It will be immediately obvious that the map you are looking at is not a modern one. The app is organised around a joined-together version of the first edition Ordnance Survey maps from 1883–1913.  In over 3,000 cases, a more detailed history, from the Victoria County History, is offered through the subscription version of the app. The Victoria County History project has been running for over a century with the aim of providing a history of every parish in England. The app means you can have all the information at your fingertips, without having to cart around heavy history volumes.  Joe has recently posted a walking tour of historical sites in Kenilworth and there will shortly be one on Coventry.  To find out more about the app's content, and to download it, visit his blog about the project: Getting Started with 'A History of English Places' app.

  • Shakespeare Birthplace Trust  has now launched a limited copy order service.  All details can be found by visiting the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Reading Room website.   

  • The University of Lincoln and the Council for British Archaeology have developed Dig School, a new online programme of lively extra-curricular in-school and home-school based workshops themed around archaeology suitable for secondary school students.  Week by week, participants can enjoy developing new knowledge, ideas and transferable skills for life and learning, including excavation.  Dig School has been created to support educators delivering engaged learning during the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.  To find out more, visit the Dig School website. 

  • HS2 archaeologists in Birmingham unearth one of UK's best preserved 16th century gardens  Historians have been left stunned by the discovery near Coleshill on the outskirts of Birmingham - which has been dubbed "Warwickshire's answer to Hampton Court".  To find out more read this Birmingham Live article

  • St Michael's Leper Hospital in Warwick is the subject of a Compulsory Purchase Order by Warwick District Council.  Comprising The Master’s House, St Michael’s Chapel and an Ancient Monument, the site has lain in ruins for decades with no definitive plans coming forward for its regeneration.  Following years of council and Historic England funded studies, plans and funding are now in place to regenerate the site.

  • Holy Trinity Parish Church in Sutton Coldfield have published a new history of the church and you can read all about it on the Holy Trinity Parish Church website.  It includes timelines, interactive floor plans and an aerial video of the church and is well worth a look. You can also purchase a book all about the history of the church.  

 

  • The Editors of the Enclyopaedia Britannica write on many varied subjects.  For example, The Ten Days that Vanished looks at the implementation of the Gregorian Calendar in 1582.  A range of eclectic subjects well worth a read.

  • Our Warwickshire.  If you are interested in the history, heritage and natural environment of Warwickshire, this website contains thousands of photos, stories, memories and maps.  They have been uploaded by local people, museums and archives. You can get lost in it for hours! Visit the Our Warwickshire website.

  • The History West Midlands site is an independent website which provides free access to a variety of programmes and different media focussing on the history of the people of the West Midlands, their ideas, innovation and industry. It has a selection of podcasts and articles perfect for those wishing to be entertained at home.  There is a strong focus on Birmingham.  Click here for their site.

  • English Heritage has made available a collection of varied articles and films to do with the many historic sites and buildings they look after.  Historians such as Dan Snow have contributed.  There is also the opportunity to see online presentations, with many beautiful photographs, of West Midland sites such as Kenilworth and Bolsover Castles.  Click here for their site.

  • Oxford Continuing Education enables you to visit the world’s museums, libraries, language centres and more – and give your brain a workout – all from your own home. Compiled by academics and staff of Oxford Continuing Education, these freely available educational resources will help entertain you during challenging times.  Click here for their site.  

  • YouTube can also be a good place to go for a wide variety of entertainment, including history talks.   For example, the video of the 2012 Parish Studies Symposium features our own Beat Kumin giving the opening address at the Tenth Warwick Symposium on Parish Research. Click here to see it.

  • Film Archives can also be a great source of entertainment; check out the Media Archive of Central England (MACE) which allows you to carry out county specific and theme based searches and view lots of free films. The Britain on Film (BFI) website is similar, and offers you the chance of clicking onto a map of the UK to see what films exist for each area.

  • If you want to find something to listen to, the BBC Sounds website (also available on an app) has a whole range of documentaries and programmes.  Listen out for 'You're Dead to Me', a light-hearted series with topics such as Eleanor of Aquitaine or the history of chocolate, or just enjoy adaptations of historical books such as Hilary Mantel's new bestseller, The Mirror and the Light - perfect if you can't get to a bookstore.

  • Online TV Channels such as Dan Snow's History Hit Channel claim to offer a wide range of history podcasts, articles and audio clips.  The main content is via a paid for subscription but some of the articles can be accessed without subscribing, albeit with a lot of adverts included in the text. 

  • The Social Historian by Dr Jonathan Healey of Oxford – colourful and sometimes racy incidents from history’s byways. Click here.

  • British Newspaper Archive Blog by the editors at the British Newspaper Archive – notorious crimes and other incidents from the historic newspapers of Britain and Ireland. Click here. 

  • The British Museum Blog: Collections, objects and their stories –also virtual tours. Click here. 

  • History Today: from the popular historical magazine. Click here

  • Google Podcasts: also a vast selection, with history among many other topics. Click here.

More News ...

  • 'It's Not About Shakespeare' is a new book by WLHS member, Val Horton.  We are very aware of the remarkable Elizabethan history of Stratford but less aware of its more recent past. Beginning in 1775 with an Act of Inclosure through to 1914 and the First World War, Val’s book attempts to redress this imbalance. It costs £12.99 and can be bought from Waterstones in Stratford, Amazon and YouCaxton Publications (sales@youcaxton.co.uk).  “An impressively researched and fascinating insight into the changing character of a town in transition", says Dr Sarah Richardson, University of Warwick.  

  • David G Mattthews will shortly be bringing out the second volume of his series: From Gullwing to Spyder - The Last Healey at Le Mans.   Volume 1, The Partipicants, has already been published and profiles the 17 people involved in the Healey SR2/XR37, Donald Healey's last attempt at Le Mans with an all British built entry.  Matthews is a past employee of the Warwick based firm.  To find out more visit his website: http://worldwideaustinhealeys.com/index.htm

  • Warwickshire Wayside is a new, lottery funded project whose purpose is to provide illustrations and information about Warwickshire’s surviving wayside heritage, to raise public awareness and to rally support for its protection.  Wayside heritage can include anything from boundary stones to signposts and mile posts.  Visit their website to find out more: https://warwickshirewayside.co.uk/

  • "Capturing Kineton's Past" is a collection of Peter Ashley-Smith's essays and consists of short pieces about Kineton – its buildings, notable events and characters - written by Peter over the years, with historic photographs from David Beaumont’s collection. Many of you will remember Peter.  He was a very supportive member of the WLHS and helped his wife, Gill, do the society mailings for a number of years. He contributed to Warwickshire History and, with Gill, led a most enjoyable society visit to Kineton. Gill continues to take a great interest in WLHS doings and attends both lectures and visits. His book was launched by Kineton and District Local History Group at Kineton Village Hall on Friday 4th October at 7.30pm and can be purchased for £9.99.  Also available by contacting kinetonhistory@yahoo.co.uk

  • A new book on George Eliot entitled 'Fair-Seed Time: Robert Evans, Francis Newdigate and the making of George Eliot will be available at the end of October 2019 and is written by David Paterson, one of our committee members.  It is a major re-interpretation of the historical background to the writings of George Eliot and explores in detail Robert’s working relationship with his employers, the Newdigates, and shows how illuminating traces of that relationship can be found throughout her fiction.  The book, costing £12, can be purchased through Troubadour Press or via David (an email to events@warwickshirehistory.org.uk can be fowarded to David).  Click here for more details about the book. 

  • Your Local Lock-Up is a public engagement project which aims to locate Lock-Ups in use between the 16th and early 20th centuries.  It's been developed alongside the 19th Century Prisons database (www.prisonhistory.org/19th-century-prisons/), which provides a searchable list of 847 prisons and their archives.  Click here for more information on how YOU can help contribute to mapping Warwickshire's lock-ups, and for more information on this project and how to search this fascinating resource.

  • 'Living through the English Civil Wars': This Lottery-funded project, led by Dr Maureen Harris, is training volunteers  to transcribe more than 200 parliamentarian 'Accounts' covering three quarters of Warwickshire's parishes. The 'Accounts' reveal the traumatic effects of four years of continuous civil warfare (1642 to 1646) in a 'frontier' county like Warwickshire. Now one year into the 'Loss Accounts' project, the volunteers have all transcribed at least one of the 200 or more Warwickshire 'Accounts' that survive and some are working on their third or fourth. Workshops are continuing and volunteers are also extending their knowledge of the Civil Wars by researching some of the people named in the 'Accounts' and visiting record offices and sites of Civil War interest.  Click here to find out more about this major Civil War project. 

  • Kenilworth Family History Society: plenty here for the local historian too. See  Facebook Page. for more details

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Chick with the Victoria County History of Oxfordshire