@constructionhist.bsky.social Conference starts tomorrow. Let us know if you are attending for the first time so one of the committee can introduce you around. Don't be a stranger!

NOTICE to Construction History Society Members on here: Due to technical problems the formal notice of the society's AGM has not been circulated in the usual way. Please accept this as advising you of the AGM.

Next Wednesday evening in Shaftesbury, Dorset- what do remains, fragments. relics tell us about the past? shaftesburyartscentre.org.uk/events/the-s...

💻 ONLINE EVENT 🏫 Twentieth Century Schools in Wales 🗓 Monday 22 September 2025 | 6.30pm The talk will provide a visual overview of Welsh schools in the twentieth century. Speaker: Dr Meilyr Powel, Investigator of Historic Buildings, RCAHMW Tickets: secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx...

Earthenware tile depicting a nice Shropshire trilobite by Maw & Co., Benthall Works, Jackfield. Transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street to the V&A (3469J-1901 / collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O88331/...).

#History #SkyStorians New blog! Huixon Huo on 'Pipelines of Power: The Political Economy of the "Big Inch" and "Little Inch" during the Second World War and their Postwar Legacy', www.history.org.uk/higher-ed/re...

SPAB Mills conference - 4 October - Reading www.spab.org.uk/whats-on/eve...

📅 Save the dates! The AHSS Strathclyde Winter Lecture Series 2025–26 is here 🎉 Glasgow 850, Greek Thomson, Organ Design, Ironwork, Adaptive Reuse – 5 lectures, Oct–Mar. 📍 Glasgow + online via Zoom 🎟 £6 / £2 students / £25 season ticket 👉 Book now: buff.ly/7xgV8er

First day of the new academic year @edincollegeofart.bsky.social. This semester's teaching includes my course on architecture in Britain 1919-56.

You are cordially invited to the opening preview of the DOORS THAT REMAIN CLOSED OF exhibition this week. Come and find out more about the exhibition the NGS team pulled together for this year's Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival. 📆 Sept 17, Wednesday ⏰ 7pm 📍 1307 Argyle St, G3 8TL See you there 👋🏽

Devon woodcarving is 👌

The Advanced Technology of Ancient Rome: Automatic Doors, Water Clocks, Vending Machines & More | Open Culture www.openculture.com/2025/09/the-...

Sewer project unearths 2,300-year-old tomb in Italy: photos | Merced Sun-Star www.mercedsunstar.com/news/nation-...

Remember folks, to keep your house even cooler in summer, your Venetian blinds are best fitted to the exterior of your home. Just like they did in old Venice. On the inside, and it's too late, as the heat is already in the house.

Tiles. Just tiles. Not great tiles. Not rare tiles. But then it is for #TilesOnTuesday The chancel of #StMichaelBrentKnoll #Somerset

@mininglandscapes.bsky.social Do these sorts of brick appear in Scotland's Iron/steel/coal areas?

I've written a blogpost for the British Association for Local History (BALH), about our scoria bricks research, www.balh.org.uk/blog-scoria-...

This is a Blackburn Aluminium House - similar to the AIROH temporary aluminium prefab house, but built to a higher standard to extend the expected life from 10 to 60 years. Edinburgh built 145 at Craigour and 21 in Muirhouse and the survivors are now 77 years old. threadinburgh.scot/2022/12/20/t...

📣Aluminium prefab klaxon! 🚨 espc.com/property/24-... (cc @docomomoscot.bsky.social @c20society.bsky.social )

Any thoughts, construction historians?

Durham Cathedral's crossing vault.

The Construction History Society's Annual Conference programme (26-27 Sep in Cambridge) is now available to download from the website homepage. Some interesting talks, do come along. @constructionhist.bsky.social www.constructionhistory.co.uk

Our Conference is looking to be exceptionally interesting this year. I have been going for many year, mainly because everyone is so nice and the topics are always so interesting. Programme: www.constructionhistory.co.uk/wp-content/u... Registration: onlinesales.admin.cam.ac.uk/conferences-...

Coming up soon at the Isokon Gallery, the first of our Friday Lates on 26 September, 6-9 pm. Visit us and see the Gallery in a new light.

How had I never seen these wooden water pipes on display as you head into The Meadows (Edinburgh) before?! What a fascinating piece of history!

Just a few of the books that I have consulted or quoted in today's writing of The Buildings Archaeologist. Managed to get 2600 words down and the first draft of the introductory chapter is now complete.

Yesterday's post about dendrochronology elicited responses over multiple platforms asking how we can be sure timbers weren't stockpiled before construction or weren't reused. The answers are now in the expanded Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog #15: triskeleheritage.triskelepublishing.com/mediaeval-my...

SPAB fellowships in traditional builiding trades. www.spab.org.uk/learning/fel...

1+1 = 5 Hampton, NS

First day of writing the new book...

NEWS: This beautiful Welsh slate mural was designed by architect John Sam Williams in 1957 and located at the former Caernarfonshire Technical College in Bangor. When the college relocated in 2024 the mural was at risk, but thanks to C20 Cymru it's been saved and moved to the new Coleg Menai campus.

Guimarães, Portugal. An old charmer. Found much of Portugal’s built heritage fascinating but under-interpreted.

Nine recent books. Nine brief reviews. One seasonal roundup of titles on architecture, landscapes, and urbanism, read and reviewed by critics in the field. Here's what's on our Bookshelf this summer:

🧵This weekend the Construction Historian and the CH's son and pals have been doing back-to-basics forestry. Using a 2-person crosscut saw and wedges to cut up and cleave a cherry tree that came down in Storm Eowyn. We now have some partly cleaved lengths that may (MAY) 1 day be usable timber. 1/3

Enjoying the dry stone wall approach to roof tiling in Siena. Also enjoying Siena

One of the many delightful buildings that are part of a rich tapestry of ages, styles and construction materials that make up the enigmatic Buckden Towers, Cambridgeshire 😍 And, as ever, if you look closely you’ll find traces of its former lime coating(s) 🤩

The former Minster View Hotel, #Howden. Though its pub days have gone, its marvellous decorative tile course and faux machicolations live on. #Yorkshire #TilesOnTuesday #LostPubs 📷 Mine, December 2024

Some of the podcasts produced in "The Factory Next Door" series are of direct interest to construction historians. www.amazon.co.uk/The-Factory-... Youtube doesnt seem to be up yet but will be here: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... Also the Flinn saw factory's pop up shop.

🧵 BAA STUDY DAY: CHESTER CATHEDRAL Friday 10 October 2025 1/2

Covered slip no. 3 ("3 Slip") at #Chatham Historic Dockyard, a cathedral of wood. Built in 1838, it was the largest wide span timber structure in Europe at the time. This is taken from the mezzanine, which was added in 1904. 📷 My own. #Woodensday #Kent #RoyalNay

The most recent Construction Historian magazine is now in the hands of our members, so the editors are looking for articles of 500-2,000 words for the Winter 2025 issue. Conact us via messaging here or www.constructionhistory.co.uk/publications...

Interesting discussion of the methods of Carton Pierre and other plaster work at Versailles: www.lescarnetsdeversailles.fr/2019/12/sous...

The little details of the past are always great to find. Here, 200 year old clay mortar (no lime or cement) has been pushed back by the builder's hand, fingerprints still visible.

Not everything that’s decorative on timber is carved. These lines are made by simply dragging a decoratively profiled blade along the length of the beam. It is reversed and started at the other end of the beam to provide a matching design

It’s not all brickwork in Bologna

Not stone

Another surviving #bathhouse for #MiningLandscapes’ definitive Scottish list. The Priory Colliery (Bothwell Castle 3 &4) #Blantyre, South #Lanarkshire built in 1932 in art deco style by William Baird & Co funded by the Miners Welfare under dark skies. #Coal #MiningHeritage

You can register now for the Annual Conference of the @constructionhist.bsky.social via the CHS website homepage: www.constructionhistory.co.uk. 26-27 September in Cambridge. #construction #history #conference

ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2025 26-28 September. Queens' College, Cambridge, G.B. Dear Friends, Thanks to the Herculean labours of our Chairman Prof. James Campbell, the Conference Booking Website is now open at onlinesales.admin.cam.ac.uk/conferences-...