Thank you so much for all your kind comments in response to the launch last week of The Past, the new website that brings together the most exciting stories and the best writing from the worlds of history, archaeology, ancient art and heritage. We have been bowled over to discover there are so many others who share our passion, and who are eager to access intelligent original content that covers their favourite subjects in more depth than ever before.
As well as bringing you up-to-the minute news and the latest research, The Past will continue each week to highlight a theme of particular interest. This week, we look at the latest thinking on the Mary Rose, the ill-fated Tudor flagship which capsized in the Solent while fighting the French on 19 July 1545.
Four hundred and thirty-seven years passed between the ship’s sinking and her eventual raising from the Solent on 11 October 1982. Since then, almost another four decades have elapsed – and as Peter Marsden explains this week in Current Archaeology and on the latest edition of PastCast, our unmissable podcast, an astonishing array of new research techniques have revolutionised our thinking about the ship’s make-up, her calamitous final moments, and perhaps most poignantly, the skeletal remains of her 500-strong crew.
Elsewhere on The Past this week, you’ll find us delving back into the archives to bring you the most complete coverage of the Mary Rose story: Christopher Dobbs of the Mary Rose Trust tells Matthew Symonds about the extraordinary effort required to raise the pride of Henry VIII’s navy from the Solent seabed; Neil Faulkner explains how the ship reflected the rise of English 16th-century seapower; Eleanor Schofield looks at how new technology is being used to preserve the arsenal of iron cannonballs which once struck fear into the hearts of French sailors; and Lucia Marchini visits the innovative museum that is now the Mary Rose’s home.
You can even test your knowledge with this week’s fiendish Friday quiz – which from 9 April is also devoted to all things Mary Rose. Good luck – and we hope you enjoy this week’s edition of The Past!
The Past is powered by Current Publishing’s unique stable of accessible specialist magazines, each of which is a leader in its field, and by our global network of writers and editors.
Our aim is simple: to create a new essential destination for anyone interested in any aspect of the past – authoritative, easy to read and navigate, beautifully designed and illustrated, and with no annoying adverts, pop-ups and clickbait.
Whether you’re an armchair historian, a budding archaeologist or a heritage enthusiast, we hope that you like what you find on The Past – and if you do, we hope very much that you might also consider taking out a subscription. Subscriptions cost £7.99 per month, or £79.99 for the whole year. But early visitors to the website can pay just half price for the year – subscribe by the end of April 2021 and pay just £39.99 by entering code WEBAPRIL21 at the checkout.
