This month’s ‘Odd Socs’ column pays tribute to the late Tony Rook, who died on 11 September 2023 at the age of 91. Tony and his wife Merle Rook (who died in 2012) jointly founded the Welwyn Archaeological Society (WAS), originally to undertake fieldwork around the town. The front page…
Thomas Hardy’s second novel – Under the Greenwood Tree (1872) – is a masterpiece of rural comedy with a tragedy at its heart: the usurpation of the centuries-old tradition of church music, represented by the loss of the west-gallery musicians and singers from the Mellstock Quire in favour of the…
Many societies are concerned with a specific aspect of church heritage (monuments, sculptures, or wall paintings, for example) but the National Churches Trust (NCT) is arguably the most holistic, raising money for places of worship of all denominations and in all their aspects. Writing in Prospect magazine in August, NCT…
Paranormal phenomena (meaning those that can’t be explained by science) tend to be associated with old buildings. What self-respecting historical house lacks a story of somebody whose death in sudden and often tragic circumstances has left a restless spirit wandering its rooms and hallways? People who are fascinated by such…
We are grateful to LPRS Council member Simon Oliver for contributing this month’s ‘Odd Socs’ column.…
Stereoscopy is as old as photography itself. The techniques for tricking the suggestible brain into seeing three dimensions by placing two overlapping images side by side was first described in 1838 in a Royal Society paper ‘on some remarkable, and hitherto unobserved, phenomena of binocular vision’ by the English physicist…
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…