A comprehensive road system underpinned the exceptional degree of mobility and trade that characterised the Roman Empire, and much of the modern road system in Europe and the Mediterranean region is built on top of Roman constructions. Roman roads are also among the earliest relics of antiquity to be studied and mapped.
REVIEW BY ADAM KLUPS Luke Sherlock’s Forgotten Churches is a visually rich and thoughtfully curated tribute to England’s sacred spaces. As a long-time follower of Sherlock’s Instagram account @englishpilgrim, I was intrigued to discover the familiar aesthetic now transformed into…
REVIEW BY REBECCA JONES This is not a traditional archaeology or history book. It defies conventional modern categorisation, taking its inspiration from the writings of antiquarian travellers, such as Jessie Mothersole. Indeed, the author is an expert in antiquarians, and…
The invention in 1900 by Eastman Kodak of the Brownie camera, selling for the equivalent in today’s money of £28, brought the watercolour age to an end. This too had begun, in the mid-18th century, with technical innovations, such as…
The location of a significant battle in the history of the Middle East has been pinpointed by archaeologists. Researchers have identified what they believe to be the location of the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah, which took place in AD 637 The…
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.
On a cold March day in 1995, fortune blessed me. I had written to the ancient historian N G L Hammond to see if he might meet me. He was 87, so it was a long shot. Not only did…
REVIEW BY JOHN BINTLIFF This is a rather frustrating volume, although we need to know more about ancient Thessaly, a land of fertile plains in north-central Greece. The book focuses on 22 ancient cities in western Thessaly, typical for the…
REVIEW BY EDWARD BIDDULPH How did a giant ship create the White Cliffs of Dover? Why can Oxfordshire’s Rollright Stones never be counted? Which ghost said to haunt Lake Windermere was recorded on Ordnance Survey mapping? The answers can be…
REVIEW BY PETER HALKON This book aims to provide a guide to the main sites of prehistoric Yorkshire that remain above ground and are possible to either visit or to view from a distance. It begins with an introduction to…
In the aftermath of the felling of the famous tree at Sycamore Gap, David Breeze examines how artistic interest in different sections of Hadrian’s Wall has changed over the centuries.
REVIEW BY GEORGE NASH One of the most impressive archaeological site-types in the British Isles is the Iron Age hillfort. Archaeological evidence has shown that it took many generations to construct and remodel these structures. Even after Roman occupation, hillforts…
REVIEW BY HUGH CHEAPE James Crawford, broadcaster and writer, has won plaudits for the cultural biographies in his Fallen Glory: the lives and deaths of history’s greatest buildings, and its tales of ‘hubris, power, violence and decay’. Now, he has…
Last summer, one day stands out. While on holiday on the Ionian island of Kefalonia, I persuaded three friends to spend a morning investigating a castle that has intrigued me. Situated on a high hill, the ruins command breathtaking views…
Review by Sarah Griffiths The city of Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great (c.331 BC), was strategically situated on the Mediterranean coast at the junction of three continents, protected by reefs, headlands, and the Pharos Island to the north, and…
A large mill complex was discovered in the south-east corner, on the banks of the River Nore.
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…
Your views on the latest issues raised in CA.
Review by Graham Keevill The Historic Towns Trust was established in 1965 as part of the International Commission for European Towns to publish analytical maps of our historic urban centres. The early publications in the 1960s-1970s were multi-town volumes covering…
I was reminded of his contempt for journalism during the summer, when the BBC and scores of newspapers that consider themselves serious reported that the drought was so severe that the source of the River Thames had dried up.
Review by William D Shannon. O ’Cionnaith, himself a land surveyor, presents a vivid account of how Ireland became one of the most-mapped countries in the world, following the Cromwellian and Williamite land redistributions, which led to the Down Survey…
Review by Nick Higham. Stephen Rippon must be congratulated on a handsome, well-illustrated book that is a new must-read for anyone interested in the East Saxons or what the transition from Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England meant to the ordinary…
In Greek myth, who carried the heavens on his shoulders?
As fans of the world's most celebrated sporting contest know, the modern Olympic Games are no stranger to accusations of cheating. Things were no better, however, at the Ancient Olympics, the four-yearly panhellenic Games, which were first recorded in 776 BC and held at Olympia in the northwestern Peloponnese.
Review by HB. From traces of Palaeolithic life along the coast to deserted medieval villages and a Cold War airfield, A History of Norfolk in 100 Places is a whistle-stop tour of the county’s most intriguing buildings, archaeological sites, and…
Review by Susan Oosthuizen. This study of 14 south Oxfordshire parishes covers the lowland valleys of both the Thame and Thames, typified by nucleated settlements and open fields, and the uplands of the Chiltern Hills, characterised by dispersed farms and…
Active travel, as it is known, is set to become even more popular as people rediscover the riches of the UK’s natural and cultural heritage.
London Clay is an impressionistic survey of London and its history, filtered through the prism of the underlying geological strata. It is at once personal and overarching, meandering from pre-Roman to Victorian, south London to north, via what Chivers (a…
Which monk founded a monastery on the island of Lindisfarne in around 634?
William Pars’s poetic images of the ruins he encountered on an expedition to Ionia and Athens helped shape the taste for Greek styles in 18th-century Britain. Louise Stewart takes us on a journey to Ionia through the eyes of this young artist.
Assembling an extensive patchwork of evidence, Livingston tries to recreate the ‘facts’ of the Battle of Brunanburh – the major battle between King Æthelstan’s English forces and an alliance of Vikings and Scots in AD 937. While he makes some…
'The Saint-Bélec Slab highlights the cartographic knowledge of past societies that we tend to underestimate in the era of the GPS.'
Sheffield Castle is a rare archaeological treat put together by a university team working with local authorities and professional archaeologists. It is about a place that has topographical and historical meaning thanks to recent well-designed rescue excavations and sleuth-like digging…
Your thoughts on the London Blitz, Cerne Abbas Giant, and Dad's Army
Peak prehistory and Britain's first cave art: Joe Flatman explores half a century of reports from Derbyshire
Many a church guide claims that their present building sits on the site of a more ancient structure. But how accurate are these claims? Recently the Fishergate, Fulford, and Heslington Local History Society (FFH) – a community group with a long-standing and very active interest in their historic landscape – decided to try to find out whether this was true of the deconsecrated medieval church, dedicated to St Oswald, that sits on the east bank of the River Ouse, in the village of Fulford, some 2km south of York. Chris Catling reports.