You would be forgiven for thinking that the beautiful architecture represented here had been carved from stone centuries ago. Instead, this is a mural, recently unveiled at St Drostan’s church in Markinch, Fife, that has been created as a faithful…
REVIEW BY SOPHIE AMBLER Battlefield commemoration has hitherto been the territory of historians of the modern age, leaning too heavily on the First World War and US Civil War, and linking battlefield memorialisation to the rise of nationalism. Atherton instead…
A document detailing the process by which Henry VIII dissolved one of England’s wealthiest monasteries has been rediscovered. The Reformation-era blueprint, which discusses the suppression of Furness Abbey, was found recently by an English Heritage historian in the National Archives…
How did medieval villagers understand the world around them? Stephen Mileson and Stuart Brookes addressed this question in a research project and recently published book. Here Stephen reports on their findings, and how they met the challenges of uncovering the perceptions and sense of identity of ordinary rural people in the past.
This artist’s impression shows the scale of the 58-room mansion, with its halls, kitchens, and chapel, as well as the largest private garden in the city.
The story of Thomas Becket’s murder in AD 1170 still resonates after 850 years, despite the attempts of Henry VIII to eradicate all memory of the man that Henry II reportedly called ‘this turbulent priest’. Henry VIII called for the destruction of his shrine and the defacing of prayer books referring to his martyrdom. Even so, the Becket cult refused to die, and the British Museum has brought together an array of pilgrim badges and reliquaries, medals, paintings, and stained glass to show us why so many people in medieval Europe flocked to his Canterbury shrine. Current Archaeology's Chris Catling reports.
Previously unknown inscriptions have been uncovered in the prayerbook which, according to historic records, Anne carried to her execution.
Medieval property Alfriston Clergy House was the first to be purchased by the National Trust, and it cost just £10.
The imposing aristocratic residence of Keith Marischal, in East Lothian, has changed dramatically in appearance over recent centuries. What can archaeological investigations funded by the Castle Studies Trust, together with detailed historical research, tell us about its original design? Dr Miles Kerr-Peterson reports.
Between March and June of last year, many of us found ourselves spending a lot more time at home – and, if you are lucky enough to have outdoor space, in the garden. The British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme has since announced a flurry of archaeological discoveries made by members of the public digging at home, some of which were described in their latest annual report. Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts explores some of the highlights.
The Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s was one of the most-important religious, political, and social events ever to unfold in England and Wales. This act, and the associated (but separate) Reformation of the Church, brought about fundamental change…
Four hundred years ago, the Mayflower carried around 100 would-be colonists across the Atlantic to found Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts. What can we learn of these voyagers, the city they left behind, and the impact they had on the indigenous people who were already living on the land where they settled? Carly Hilts reports.
What was it like to be a child growing up within the turbulence and destruction of Reformation England? Drawing on his research of over 4,500 skeletons, Bennjamin Penny-Mason reveals an untold story.
Apart from his red hair, beard, giant girth and his equally gargantuan appetite for wives, the one thing we all associate with Henry VIII is the event that the authors of 1066 and All That called, with an eye for a memorable spelling mistake, ‘the Disillusion of the Monasteries’.