To enter Cressing Temple is to step back from the hurly-burly of modern Essex into a remarkable haven of timeless tranquillity in the form of a former manor that was granted to the Knights Templar in 1136 and has remained…
REVIEW BY RP Most people see the British footpath for its immediate purpose: a means of getting from A to B (seldom achieved without also acquiring muddy shoes and the occasional nettle-sting). Not so for Tom King, who has spent…
Orchards have not featured largely in studies of the historic environment, though there is a growing recognition of their ecological value. Yet orchards were once ubiquitous features of the landscape in many counties, whether in the form of a small plot attached to a farm, or as a large commercial orchard cultivated as the owner’s principal source of income. Making up for this omission is a new book by Gerry Barnes and Tom Williamson that attempts, for the first time, to provide a comprehensive overview of the development of orchards in England from the Middle Ages to the present day, as Chris Catling reports.
When the Salisbury Plain village of Imber was taken over by the War Department in 1943, its inhabitants all departed, never to return. What has recent archaeological work revealed about the life and death of a long-lived Wiltshire community? Richard Osgood reports.
REVIEW BY AB Until the mid-20th century, England was covered with orchards. But these quintessential features of the historic landscape did not simply spring into being: the story of England’s orchards is filled with generations of people who cultivated them.…
This image shows Esgair Llewelyn in Powys, one of the oldest farmhouses in Wales. It was built as a cruck-framed upland hallhouse c.1500. It would have originally had an open fire in the middle of the hall floor, but the…
Archaeologists from the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) are discovering the secrets of Speyside malt at the old site of The Glenlivet Distillery in Upper Drumin (pictured right), as part of the ‘Pioneering Spirit’ project, a partnership between NTS and…
For a brief period, from around 1750 to 1820, the west coast and islands of Scotland experienced a boom in demand for kelp, a seaweed-derived substance used in the soap and glass-making industries. Kevin Grant – formerly St Kilda Archaeologist with the National Trust for Scotland, now Archaeology Manager at Historic Environment Scotland – has been studying the fragile and elusive remains of this once-thriving industry, as Chris Catling reports.