Spring is in the air, and it felt like a perfect time to revisit the Historic Houses series. This tends to be the time of year us Brits start to make plans, as the weather gets (generally) better and the days are now longer again. Years ago I visited Sir John Soane’s Museum in London, […]
Historic Houses: Harvington Hall, House of Secrets
One of my favourite pastimes, you probably will not be surprised to hear, is visiting historic sites. Working in heritage, writing history books and running a history blog is apparently not enough of a history fix for me, so my weekends are often spent exploring more history! I am very lucky to live in the […]
Ancient Wonders: The Colossus of Rhodes
So far in the Ancient Wonders series we have looked at The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Colosseum, Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China. We now return to the original list of the Seven Wonders of the World, compiled in the 2nd century BC, by investigating the Colossus of Rhodes. The Colossus has captured […]
The Development of Castles in Britain (Part 2)
To our pleasure, today we once again have Simon Forder, a writer, researcher and historian who specialises in castles, writing for us! Today, Simon explores pre-Norman fortifications in Scotland, and how far they may be recognised as castles. You can catch up on his first post, focusing on England, here. The ruins of the medieval […]
The Development of Castles in Britain (Part 1)
Today we are very lucky to have a guest author! Simon Forder, a writer, researcher and historian who specialises in castles, has written a great introductory post about their origins in Britain. Starting in the Norman period, he explores what different types of castles appeared in Britain after the conquest, and just how original they […]