Never dull, my job. Today, entirely legitimately, we have multiple footnotes referencing a hobby farmer in Oxfordshire.

Here we have 2 Sale Catalogues from the Great Anglesey Sale of 1904, where some 17,000 lots were sold including his ‘Important Jewellery’. Also, a sale catalogue of ‘Valuable Casket of Jewels’, the property of a ‘nobleman’ held prior to the 5th Marquess of Anglesey’s bankruptcy declaration.

Applications for the Caird Fellowships at Royal Museums Greenwich are now open - www.rmg.co.uk/collections/... It looks like a great opportunity to work on a fantastic collection and collaborate with some brilliant staff.

Oxfordshire County Council has clarified that the Ghostbusters hearse would not be exempt from the city’s Congestion Charge. A spokesperson told us “It’s not as simple as buying a hearse. In order to qualify for a permit, you must also be a funeral care business.”

In Birmingham for tonight’s concert of Schumann & Stravinsky by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Simon Rattle and picked up this flyer about UoN’s dreadful Music Dept plans. Spread the word.

Another case of Reform saying one thing then doing the other: A Reform-led council is planning to double council tax on second homes six months after party leader Nigel Farage denounced such policies as “madness” and “extortion” By me, for Politics Home www.politicshome.com/news/article...

An excellent summary of work and introduction to the most important study of Domesday book in a generation - or more. /1

So much of Cymru/Wales's heritage lost in a single theft.. ...Items from Llanwrthwrl, Powys, Capel Isaf, Carmarthenshire, Heyope, Powys, & the spectacular Early Bronze Age gold lunula from Llanllyfni, Gwynedd. 😞 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

During both World Wars, the Society tried to prevent destruction of its books and collections by moving some of them out of London to safer storage.

Higher Education, where consultants advocate death as a means for survival and everyone else knows they're simply murdering everything.

Also on cooling towers: if you see one of these kicking around in a charity shop or lying unwanted in a kitchen cupboard, you've struck eBay gold. Please alert me to your auction.

#Historians, mark your calendars! Our 2026 Summer Conference will be held on 13-15 July at @royalholloway.bsky.social. The Call for Papers will open in January 2026. #churchhistory #Skystorians #cfp

Like a time capsule: a #Roman tile marked with #finger lines, hobnail #shoe prints, #dog's paw prints, and a #stamp of the LEG(io) XIIII G(emina). Tiles with imprints are very common, since tiles were laid out to dry in the open air ahead of firing, where...🧵1/2 #TilesOnTuesday 🏺

My, there’s a lot of ‘Mandy Rice Davies Applies‘ in the media this morning.

Inside the Roman Catholic chapel at Biddlestone in Northumberland is an intriguing remnant from life on the home front during the Second World War. 1/6

Hi there! We’re the Archive Sector Leadership team at The National Archives UK. We support archives of all types and sizes across England. Lend us a follow and we’ll keep you updated with opportunities for free training, networking, grants, written guidance and more! (1/2)

Well, we promised a follow-up for #MapMonday to the fascinating London Ringways #Map for another major city in Great Britain, so here it is... The Greater Glasgow Transportation Study from 1968.

Seen (via Facebook), on Poundland at Queen Street in Cardiff. An, erm, innovative appropriation of the 'Blue Plaque'. #Heritage #BluePlaques 🗃️

I must confess that I am a bit surprised that they're still there!

Calpol and sleep are doing their work: he's now wondering around with toy cat in one hand and a lump of cheese in the other. Talking.

There are many subtle and complex arguments one can have about the future of the BBC — but I guarantee you that no other channel or streaming service will be as committed to factual programming, children’s education, history shows, religious discussion, poetry, arts, or state of the nation debate

𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙬𝙨! We will be able to watch Ireland Men's tour of Bangladesh of Youtube here: bit.ly/4p0a4YL C'mon, Ireland! #BackingGreen #FailteSolar ☘️🏏

The Courtauld is offering a a new fully funded Peter Fergusson PhD Scholarship in English Medieval Architecture for eligible projects focusing on England from the eleventh to the early sixteenth centuries. Statement of intents are due by 17 November 2025.

Maybe Keir should demand the heads of major US news networks any time they imply Britain is on the brink of civil war or that we live under sharia law. Or does it not work both ways?

This looks rather meaningful.

This is an outstanding post on the criminal justice system. Do read.

The toddler has got up, coughed a fair bit, had some milk and promptly gone back to sleep on the living room floor. Guess he's not going to nursery then...

The BBC has always been remarkable in reporting on itself, and this contains some remarkable accusations about the BBC Board (with other, 'balancing', viewpoints). I wonder if its journalists will be able to continue to do this king of thing www.bbc.com/news/article...

1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️

Teigh (pronounced 'tee'), Rutland, has what at first appears to be a war memorial. But in fact it is one of the 50-odd parishes dubbed 'Thankful Villages' by Arthur Mee in his 'The Enchanted Land', 1936, which got back all the people they sent to the First World War. 1/2

It is a VERY good week for maps 🤩

I'm fairly certain this is the tomb Listed as the 'Hutchins Monument'. My, that's a lot of paperwork...

Duchy Chamber pleadings for the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII (DL 1/1-26) are now searchable to item level online. discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/r/C...

We are also currently hiring a curatorial fellow to work with the papers of Rosalind Franklin and others in the History of Molecular Biology Collection! This is a 2-year staff position in the archive with a salary of $55k/year and full benefits: www.sciencehistory.org/research/fel...

Just read a passage in a book that describes elderly people as time machines: able to recall the past whilst being reminders to younger people of the future that awaits them. I think that’s a pretty magical understanding of age.

Item descriptions for STAC 5 (Star Chamber proceedings for Elizabeth I) underwent a significant overhaul this year, updating 40,000 items to include party names, county, and much more. discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1...

Day 9: Map. For my book project I’m mapping museums in the UK which have ancient Cypriot collections. There are more than you might think! #Museum30

It blows my mind that there are real people who see a post like this and actually believe the whole “Christmas is being cancelled by Muslims” BS 🙄 Let’s have a quick look at what’s happening to Sheffield so you can put your Express reading uncle’s mind at ease!😆 1/15 🧵

For Remembrance Sunday, a short reflection on the life and death of my great grandfather in the twenty years after his return. botheringmiancestors.substack.com/p/the-trench...

This is great. The alternate history where Newcastle completed it's own three urban motorways would have led to a very different city

In 2015 45% of the railways in India were electrified. A decision was made that year to make it 100%. Ten years later they’ve reached 98%.

This looks like it might be really useful for anyone interested in building history and recording buildings.

My annual post about how the Morning Star reported the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 hatfulofhistory.com/2014/11/07/h...

I’d always wondered why no one had ever published a full, detailed map of the 1960s plan to turn London into a giant web of US-style urban motorways…. It turns even the politicians and designers didn’t make one at the time. It just didn’t exist. Until now.

From an Oxford bus driver ⬇️

Around 10,000 university workers being made redundant this year. Labour policies are definitely cutting through in higher education …

In England, that is. And this is silly. Growth is something that you can measure on a railway: more, cleaner, trains, longer, accelerating quicker and thus able to run at greater frequencies. There's a reason diesel-powered mainline railways are rare in Europe. Electric is simply better.

'More than 1,000 staff will be affected as Cardiff University undertakes a “massive” restructuring of its professional services team.' After all, it's a policy that is/has gone so very swimmingly well at every other university that's implemented it...