Historical records attest that the present parish church at Saline in West Fife had a medieval predecessor, but the exact location of this building has been lost over time. Linda Moyes and John Gooder report on recent efforts to find it once more.
There are, according to the heritage body Historic England, at least 37,000 shipwrecks strewn along the country’s coastline – a legacy of more than 6,000 years of maritime trade, exploration and warfare. Such a torturous proliferation offers a poignant reminder…
Making people laugh in the 12th century proved to be lucrative work for Rahere (d. 1143), who is variously described as a jester, minstrel, and courtier to Henry I (c.1068-1135; r. 1100-1135). But that was in his early life: Rahere later became a devout cleric who, falling ill on a pilgrimage to Rome, vowed to establish a hospital in London if he survived. The result was St Bartholomew, founded in 1123 as a joint foundation of hospital and priory. A commemorative volume has just been published to mark the 900th anniversary of the church, as Chris Catling reports.
When HMS Northumberland sank off the Kent coast in 1703, the wreck remained lost for almost three centuries – until erosion of the sandbank shielding its remains brought the ship to light once more. Daniel Pascoe told Carly Hilts how archaeologists are now racing against time and tide to record as much of the site as possible before it deteriorates.
The Inca may have called the city Picchu, or more likely Huayna Picchu.