Do you like breakfast? Do you like breakfast so much you'd stick samples of it in your notebook? Joseph Thomas Fowler would!

This Viking torque and brooch were discovered in 1847, a chance find by a labourer, lodged deep in a rock crevice at Orton Scar, Cumbria. They were sold to local lawyer and antiquary, Thomas Reveley, who presented them to the Society In 1851.

This very large watercolour depicts the uppermost part of the wall paintings in St Peter and St Paul's Church in Chaldon, which is famous worldwide for its twelfth-century doom mural located on the west wall.

On 3 March, join our free lunchtime lecture to hear about the identification of wall paintings of two of the Nine Worthies at Eastgate House and learn about their use in a variety of media in the interiors of 16th and 17th century houses. www.sal.org.uk/event/nine-w...

This jousting cheque relates to one of the contests at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, June 1520.

Along with painted furniture and murals, another decorative feature of William Morris’s first married home, Red House, and later of Kelmscott Manor, was the use of embroidered textiles as wall hangings.

'He will take a pint of water, a pint of flour & 2 new-laid eggs, without any deception whatever, & pour them, in the face of the company, into any Gentleman's Hat, & holding them over a candle for the space of 1min, he will introduce a quantity of well-made PANCAKES, fit for any Gentleman's table'

Happy Lunar New Year! As this year is the year of the 🔥🐎Fire Horse 🐎🔥, we're highlighting a few depictions of horses in our collections. We hope the energy and passion of the Fire Horse will bring you a good year.

This Thurs join us & @profdanhicks.bsky.social where he'll introduce the history of a skull made into a drinking cup at Worcester College. The talk interrogates inherited cultures of dehumanization & memory, & the treatment of human remains in museums & universities www.sal.org.uk/event/skull-...

Help save Leicestershire’s Bronze Age Torc❗️ We've started a crowdfunding campaign to ensure that a 3,000-year-old golden torc discovered last year near Harborough can be saved and brought back to the county - but we only have until mid-March to do it! Visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-save-...

In March we're looking forward to Morris Month, a month-long celebration of William and May Morris with @williammorrissocuk.bsky.social. We've got three events organised for the celebrations, check them out at williammorrissociety.org/morris-month/

All of our etchings of the Bayeux Tapestries are now online! Seen here is a hand-coloured etching depicting King Edward the Confessor talking to his followers before he dies. Harold Godwinson is offered the crown and axe - symbols of royal authority. He accepts and becomes king.

Hear about new discoveries at later prehistoric Oued Beht, Morocco, tomorrow at our lecture with Professor Cyprian Broodbank FSA and Dr Giulio Lucarini. Join in-person or online, for free! www.sal.org.uk/event/discov...

The Roll Chronicle is a rare surviving genealogical roll compiled to chart the descent of Henry VI (1422-1471) from Adam and Eve. It was later extended to the reign of Charles II at the Restoration.

If you missed our lecture today, catch up on our YouTube channel! www.youtube.com/live/t4pEXjJ...

Join us tomorrow to hear about political entanglements of prehistorian Vere Gordon Childe and world famous writer George Orwell, beginning with Childe's inclusion by Orwell on a secret government list of suspected crypto-Communists and Communist sympathisers. www.sal.org.uk/event/orwell...

This is an eighteenth-century watercolour copy of the Tudor painting ‘The Embarkation of Henry VIII at Dover’, depicting King Henry setting sail for his celebrated meeting with the French monarch Francis I at the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520.

Excited that my volume on the Early Bronze Age coffined burial from Tetney is now published open access by @antiquaries.bsky.social! Now everyone can read about this amazing find dated to 2032 BC and containing an amazing array of environmental and artefactual data. library.oapen.org/viewer/web/v...

What heraldry are you choosing when you enter the tourney? Pictured here is the Hatton-Dugdale Book of Arms (late 1630s), which is made up of copies of twenty-six medieval and sixteenth-century rolls.

This tablet depicts the martyrdom of St Erasmus, a bishop from Formiae in Campania, Italy. According to Christian tradition, St Erasmus died in the year AD303 during the Tetrarchy of the Roman Emperors of the west, Maximian and Diocletian.

🚨 Vacancy alert! 🚨 www.sal.org.uk/about-us/vac... Join us as our Museum Collections Manager and be in charge of a globally important Museum Collection including, but not limited to, Roman, Greek & Egyptian artefacts, Prehistoric & Romano-British Antiquities, Ango-Saxon & Viking objects, & more!

The Iron Age hillfort of Chalbury in #Dorset was investigated by archaeologist Margaret Whitley in 1939 Her report, with this excellent site plan, was published in the Antiquaries Journal (23) in 1943 🤩 @trowelblazers.bsky.social @antiquaries.bsky.social #HillfortsWednesday

What better place to be than in bed! In fact, William Morris loved his bed at Kelmscott Manor so much, that in 1891 he wrote the poem ‘For the bed a Kelmscott’, in which the bed, a haven of rest, is placed in the context of the ‘kind and dear’ old Manor and its river landscape.

We're excited to have published this ground-breaking work on Low Ham Roman villa! It's the first full publication of findings from the site, marking the 80th anniversary of its discovery. www.sal.org.uk/2026/01/roma...

What are your plans for a spring garden? How about some of these to liven up the bedding plants? These quaint depictions, one of a narcissus daffodil with people as flowers and two mandrakes, are from Jacob Meydenbach's Ortus Sanitatis (1491).

The Banner of ‘St Martin and the Beggar’ is perhaps the earliest sizeable fragment of an English painted cloth in existence. Recent research suggests that it might have been the banner of the Worshipful Company of Drapers in London.

Join @matqbritholiday.bsky.social with us next Tuesday at 1pm for his lecture on Queering the British Holiday. No passport required! www.sal.org.uk/event/queeri...

Check out this fun event from @strawbhillhouse.bsky.social where you can be an Art Detective on 31 January! www.strawberryhillhouse.org.uk/art-detective/

It might be #BlueMonday but we're choosing to ignore the established meaning of it and instead luxuriating in the blue tones of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's painting 'The Blue Silk Dress'.

This Thursday, from the comfort of your own home, you can join us and @socantscot.bsky.social with speaker Prof. Hannah Cobb FSA FSAScot for an online lecture on how care in archaeology has the potential to be an act of radical and transformative resistance. www.sal.org.uk/event/care-f...

One of the more unique items in our collections is this lock of hair of from Edward IV. After the discovery of King Edward IV’s tomb during the restoration of St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in 1789, the lead coffin was opened & skeleton of the deceased monarch revealed. He was buried there in 1483.

Join us and @socantscot.bsky.social next Thursday online for a joint lecture!

Booking closes today!

It's time to accessorize, which of The Very Reverend the Dean of Winchester's medieval rings are you wearing? We've got... A gold ring, ascribed to Bishop Gardiner A gold ring, ascribed to Bishop Fox A bronze ring, stated to have been in the Tomb ascribed to William Rufus (William II of England)

'Bodies of Words: Clauseworks' is a digital and hand-embellished collage made by @susu808.bsky.social during her time as a Maker-in-Residence during our exhibition Magna Carta 1225.

When does a fake become an artefact in its own right? In the mid-19th century, two enterprising illiterate mudlarkers, William Smith (Billy) and Charles Eaton (Charley), began forging ‘medieval’ lead objects and selling them to unsuspecting antiques dealers.

Would you believe, this fella is an aeolipile, also known as a Hero's Engine. Aeolipiles are considered to be the first recorded steam engines or reaction steam turbines. Although first seen from the 1st century AD, this is a medieval bronze variation.

Are you a Post-Graduate Researchers, Early Career Researchers or someone starting out in a field involving the past? Join us on 16 Jan for a free event to consider how the Society could contribute to early career support! www.sal.org.uk/event/early-...

What does 2026 have in store for you? Why not take a look through a late 17th-century Physician’s notebook to try and decode your future.

Happy New Year! According to Books of Hours, in January we should be feasting and gift-giving, as shown in this illustration from our Book of Hours (use of Rouen), where we see courtiers and nobles exchanging gifts, reflecting the Christmas season's end.

This Medieval Charter Horn, mounted as a drinking horn, is decorated on one side with carved floriate decoration, a bull’s head & a bell. The rim & the middle band are engraved with an inscription that reads 'in pleasant memory of [Fellows'] revels in St George's Gallery on Monday 30 December'. 🍻

My face when I sneak even more Christmas lunch leftovers out of the fridge for my millionth snack of the day. This rather impish figure is in fact a drawing from 1789 of a Roman antique bronze lamp, purchased out of the collection of Baron Wassenaer at the Hague 1750.

From all of the staff at the Society of Antiquaries of London, we wish you a Happy Christmas! Mary and the Angels are looking particularly merry and chilled out in this nativity scene from the Book of Hours (use of Rouen).

The Brooke Antiphonal is a 15th-century choirbook containing choral parts of masses for Saints Cosmas and Damian, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was apparently written for a Benedictine community (possibly of nuns) with a cult of SS Cosmas and Damian.

In an imagined scene of Christmas in 1580, made by London Illustrated News in the 1850s, a large feast is being enjoyed by nobles. Wonder if they had pigs in blankets back then...

The Virgin of Vladimir is a 17th-century triptych contained within a wooden case. The central panel shows the Virgin with the infant Christ. The outer panels show the figures of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, who turn their gaze toward the Virgin and Child.

As a reminder, for the Christmas and New Year holidays, Burlington House premises (including the Library) will close to members and the public at 5pm today, and then reopen to visitors at 10am on Friday 2 January 2026.

In the Bible, the Annunciation was the proclamation made by the archangel Gabriel to Mary that she would conceive and bear a son through a virgin birth and become the mother of Jesus Christ.

Join us on Friday for a fun, free pop-up display of books, drawings, and objects that highlight a selection of jewels from our library and archive collections. We’ll be running a glitzy pick n mix sweet stand, as well as creative workshops for all ages www.sal.org.uk/event/all-th...

May Morris, William Morris's daughter, surely won the competition for best Christmas cards in her day. This one, made in 1910, featured a lithograph by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Rossetti was a close friend of the Morris family, closely involved in their lives.