One of archaeology’s distinctive features has always been the lack of hard boundaries between professional and amateur. Archaeology is perhaps unique in the degree to which anyone can participate in the discipline, even at the highest level. That is especially true of the Association for Roman Archaeology (ARA), where academics…
In CA 373, we lamented the lack of a society ready to take on the task of managing the tercentenary of the death of Sir Christopher Wren. Fortunately, the Georgian Group has put on the mantle of chief co-ordinator of this year’s events. While Wren’s greatest works were designed in…
The members of the Wealden Iron Research Group (WIRG) are dedicated to recovering the evidence for an industry that began in the Iron Age and blossomed under Roman imperial management, producing materials for the building of towns, villas, and farms, as well as supplying the Classis Britannica, the British naval…
Every month, when we open the pages of Current Archaeology or any of its sister publications, we are presented with wonderful photographs as well as compelling stories about our heritage. It is evident that there are many skilled photographers working in archaeological units and museums up and down the country…
The British Cartographic Society (BCS) was formed in 1963, and since then map-making has undergone a revolution, from land survey using theodolites to digital survey using satellites. But the infrastructure for the old ways still exists and the most recent issue of Maplines, the BCS membership magazine, calls for Ordnance…
Harold James Dyos, late Professor of Urban History at the University of Leicester, wrote that London underwent three distinct periods of growth: an increasingly dense build-up of the population in the centre, its spill-over into the outer districts of London, and the development of the outer suburbs of Greater London…
The London Gasketeers (the name alludes, one assumes, to the swashbuckling heroes of the Alexander Dumas novel) are a newly created group set up to campaign for Britain’s historic gas lamps. Founded in January 2022, the Gasketeers operate by using social media and already have a number of high-profile supporters,…
Non-conformist chapels and meeting houses have greatly enriched our townscapes, though we have been slow to recognise their merits. Indeed, the late Princess Margaret, when opening the Keele office of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of England in 1984, asked why a Royal Commission – answerable…
What is it about Ministry of Works signage that motivates so many people to share images via social media? Partly it is just the fact of their survival, as reminders of a simpler age of heritage tourism before the era of virtual reality and QR codes. Many of the signs…
Founded in 2013, the East End Preservation Society (EEPS) is an informal group that uses the power of social media to bring people together who ‘care about the East End and are concerned about the future of its built environment’. Followers include some prominent figures in the heritage world –…
The Offa’s Dyke Association (ODA) – one of the many heritage bodies that have recently celebrated their half century – was founded in 1969 by Frank Noble, a school teacher and archaeologist based in Knighton, Powys, at the midpoint along the Dyke. Noble gathered a group of like-minded enthusiasts to…
CAER Heritage is a model of genuine partnership between heritage professionals and community interest groups.…
‘Widening access’ and ‘access for all’ are two of the slogans that characterise today’s heritage practice, but the community-minded people of Faversham have been doing access for half a century. Open House, held almost every July since 1982, sees the doors of many of the Kentish town’s 500-plus listed buildings…
The British Sundial Society is compiling a register of all the Mass dials (also known as scratch dials) in the country. So far, 5,500 examples have been recorded and the society is keen to hear from anyone who can help them find more. A typical Mass dial consists of a…
The letter from Mark Horton in CA 382, about the work of the Friends of Repton Parish Church, prompted us to take a closer look at this society, which Mark commended as an example of the way that funds to support the fabric and heritage of a church can be…
Active travel, as it is known, is set to become even more popular as people rediscover the riches of the UK’s natural and cultural heritage.…
When The Making of the English Landscape by W G Hoskins was published in 1954, its author claimed that ‘no book exists to describe the manner in which the various landscapes of this country came to assume the shape and appearance they now have’. In fact, landscape-level study was far…
This ‘society’ consists of an informal Facebook group with some 1,600 members. Anyone who shares the group’s passion for exploring places of worship and contributing photographs that inspire others to enjoy visiting such places can join. Perhaps more people would be encouraged to do so if one could come up…
Suppressed in 1537, the abbey was plundered for its stone and five out of the 14 delicately carved 13th-century arcades ended up beautifying the church at Llanidloes, some ten miles distant.…
The Friends have raised some £15 million towards projects as diverse as the purchase of a minibus for the choristers, the conservation of rare books in the library, the restoration of the splendid Tudor gatehouse, and the creation of a new garden in the cathedral precinct.…