The Great War Aviation Society
The decade between the first successful powered flight – made by the Wright Brothers on 17 December 1903 – and the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 is known as the pioneer era for aviation, as research…
Memorial
Memorial commemorating South African war dead inaugurated in Cape Town
A new memorial honouring the contribution of South African military labourers in the First World War has been inaugurated in Cape Town. The monument, which was funded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and is called the Labour Corps…
The Path of Peace: walking the Western Front Way
REVIEW by TOBY CLARK During the First World War, a young soldier called Douglas Gillespie used a letter home from the trenches to expound on an idea for remembering the dead after the fighting was over. Gillespie proposed a path…
‘One of the most valuable women that ever lived’
During archaeological works beneath the floor of Bath Abbey between 2018 and 2020 (see CA 348), Wessex Archaeology recovered a stunning piece of an 18th-century bas relief marble sculpture. It was one of approximately 4,000 fragments removed from the Abbey’s…
Memorial to significant Anglo-Scots battle unveiled
Fought at Sutton Bank in North Yorkshire, near Harrogate, on 14 October 1322, Byland saw Scottish forces led by King Robert the Bruce inflict on the English a defeat as serious as that of Bannockburn eight years previously.
Plaque installed to remember the ‘witches’ of Corstorphine
Between 1563 and 1736, around 4000 people were accused of witchcraft in Scotland – the highest persecution rate across Europe.
Military History Exhibition – The National Memorial Arboretum
MHM's Calum Henderson reviews the best military history exhibitions. This month, he explores The National Memorial Arboretum.
Project to restore Waterloo hero’s monument gets funding boost
The site is dedicated to Henry Paget, who was second in command under the Duke of Wellington and leader of the allied cavalry at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
‘World’s oldest war memorial’ identified in Syria
Archaeologists have stated that a monument at the Banat-Bazi complex is over 4,000 years old.
Legendary ‘Flying Sikh’ to be commemorated with statue
He became known as the ‘Flying Sikh’ because he wore a specially designed helmet that fitted over his turban.
Forgotten faith? Tracing early Christianity in western Britain and Ireland
It used to be said that Christianity in Roman Britain was a short-lived phenomenon that sputtered out in the 5th century, needing the missionary efforts of St Columba, St Ninian, and St Augustine of Canterbury to revive it in the later 6th century. But there is now an increasing body of evidence that the religion continued to thrive as a force for learning, culture, and social organisation in the western parts of England and Wales, with links to Brittany and Ireland. Chris Catling goes in search of the latest thinking.
Planes over Port Meadow: revealing a First World War Home Front aerodrome
A century after the site was dismantled, can the ephemeral remains of Oxford’s tented First World War flying training aerodrome be rediscovered? The Wolvercote WWI Aerodrome Memorial Project, a community initiative, sought to find out with the help of scientific surveying. Roger Ainslie reports.
News in brief
Medieval bridge discovered in Scotland Over the last two years, the Ancrum and District Heritage Society (ADHS) have, with the help of Historic Environment Scotland, Dendrochronicle, and Wessex Archaeology, surveyed and researched a medieval wooden bridge that was discovered underwater…
Second World War wrecks: Brecon Beacons
Today this wreck, along with several others in the Beacons, stands as a monument, a tangible example of the enormous sacrifices that were made every day during the Second World War.