Artist Laura Knight ❤️. Even better for me, she was born in the patch covered by Erewash Museum, so I can add her to the list of stories we don't yet tell, but will find a way!

Let's curl and slay! We got some curlers to share! These were found at a mid-18th cent. peruke business under what is now Magdalen College, Oxford. Results are almost ready, so get ready to sashay through the centuries! #archaeology #Artefact #wig #curler #magdalencollege #Oxford #wigslayer

Biddulph Grange Gardens @nationaltrust.org.uk. Beautiful (and busy!) in the sunshine. The plant collection is very special and it's full of secret passages and hidden grottos. Completely different to most fancy gardens.

The very atmospheric D. H. Lawrence museum in Eastwood, Notts. Like a time capsule inside and out - really worth a visit.

I think Friday evening cricket is my favourite of the kids' activities.

Whatever your political views, it's an interesting turnaround of First Past The Post systems to keep out smaller or newer parties.

First week in the new job done. A place with loads of stories and potential. And, very importantly, a wisteria about to bloom (that I'm desperate to prune properly as well!)

Why are children not playing in the street? An FT piece analysing the - very concerning - decline in outdoor play manages to look at every possible cause: screens, spaces, school timetable changes. Apart from one. Cars. It is simply not safe for kids to play outside on streets.

A couple of years ago, the council removed trees in a wooded area of a park. It felt slightly ruined tbh. But now it's beautiful. There are carpets of wildflowers, the remaining trees aren't such twiggy specimens and it's full of birds and insects. Managing woodland well is part of the ecosystem.

Raking shadows thrown by low sun emphasise the terraced banks of an extensive IronAge/#RomanoBritish field system on the steep N-facing slopes of Burderop Down, Wilts. ... AND the ditches of a #medieval sheepfold that cut across them. 📷 historicengland.org.uk/education/sc...

Tulip time in the garden. #spring #flowers

Remains of an 18th-century flour mill, Gentleshaw.

Footprints etched into a stone slab at St Wystan's in Repton. I'd love to know why. #apotropaic #church

St Wystan's church in Repton is most famous for it's Anglo Saxon crypt that housed the bones of Mercia' kings. I was quite taken with the ceiling grotesques that are so high up, you need a camera zoom to see them. Who was the audience for these creepy chaps and what was the message?

Vultures circle over Council art collections as austerity bites:

A reminder of how much I appreciate modern sanitation. This bad boy was in use as a public loo until...1980! It's an earth closet, so you did the business then covered it with a layer of earth (ideally good loamy soil, but anything to hand). Then it was taken outside. #sharpspottery #history

In 1750, a group of German Moravians, looking for religious freedom, built a village in Ockbrook, Derbyshire. The church is still in use today and the village is like stepping into another world.

🚨Job Klaxon🚨 Can you help us bring the archives of the National Union of Mineworkers to a wider audience? We're looking for a project Outreach & Education Co-ordinator to help showcase this fantastic archival collection (1 year, 0.5 FTE) Find out more at warwick-careers.tal.net/vx/lang-en-G...

The ruins of the medieval St Mary's Abbey are casually in a field in Dale Abbey, Derbyshire.

Hyacinths on a glorious sunny day. This is Delft Blue and the salmon pink of Gypsy Queen four years on from being planted. The name comes from yet another Greek who got entangled in a romance with the gods and ended up dead, but floral.

The Scala Picture House in Ilkeston must be one of the oldest cinemas still going. It's a rather magnificent Edwardian concoction decorated with swags and scrolls, that's been running for over 110 years.

Glorious morning for a walk around some very old trackways.

12th century carved stone grave slab from St. Peter’s Church in Northampton. It was found in 1843 being used as a door lintel in a cottage in nearby Black Lion Hill. 📸 My own. #FindsFriday #Medieval #Northampton

Long Eaton mills, still in use with loads of textile businesses. Amazing architecture, especially with a blue sky. Long Eaton was a lace making centre for many years.

I’ll find out from social media this evening whether the museum is closing permanently. So that’s a joy in this brave new world.

I was looking for apotropaic marks on a church in Stafford 🤣

The intriguing Boscobel House, home of the famous Royal Oak and hidey hole for King Charles. It started life as an unassuming little woodland cottage and grew into this over the years. Really strong links with Catholicism, hidden away in the woods. The burnt timbers look apotropaic to me…

White Ladies Priory near Boscobel. Absolutely love an atmospheric ruin in a field. This was a 12th century priory, which had under 10 canonesses living in it until the 1500s. After that, it was a Manor House. Everything is gone now apart from the medieval walls of the priory church.

Medieval Women @britishlibrary.bsky.social was a cracker. So exciting to see the Luttrell Psalter, Joan of Arc’s signature and the birthing girdle in person. Also the forthright Welsh poetry!

Hidden Histories: Unlocking the UK's Inaccessible Heritage amorexplore.substack.com/p/hidden-his...

A bit of the Midlands on display at a London blockbuster 🧡. Lichfield Angel in Silk Roads at the British Museum.

Well this is very interesting on societies and social relationships in pre-Roman Britain. www.newscientist.com/article/2464...

This blog from the Museum of Cannock Chase is hyperlocal, but a really interesting case study in how a suburb developed, then disappeared as a town grew. museumofcannockchaseblog.wordpress.com/2025/01/14/w...

Today is Plough Monday. In agricultural areas this marked the return to work after Christmas. A decorated plough was traditionally dragged through the streets, visiting houses to invite donations. Records date back to the 15th century. The picture is a 19th century example.

Here's another one for those who like #EarlyModern and #18thC paintings of working women. The Woman Shopkeeper, British School, c.1790-1800. artuk.org/discover/art...

The Tate Modern is so odd. Level 1 - fun interactive art experiences for children, Level 2 - enormous photographs of artists in chains vomiting blood. Level 3 - more fun activities for kids, Level 4 - mainly cocks, Level 5 - disturbing audio of a distressed dog on a loop for 2 hrs, Level 6 - bistro.

Cannock Chase. Hard to imagine part of it was a hive of medieval and early modern industry.

Bridget Bostock, born around 1678, one of the few ‘white witches’ remembered to Cheshire history. Her famed ‘potion of red liquor’ was said to cure all manner of ills; she retired following repeated requests from local gentry to raise the dead! #witchcraft #cheshirehistory #whitewitch

A great thing about working in a community museum is offering gallery space to local groups to showcase their work publicly. We’ve just hung a display of work by a group of adults with learning differences. They’ve responded a local poet’s work I’m doing our bit of the display and loving it!

Look forward to seeing the 2025 People’s History Museum @phm.org.uk banner exhibition. Opens in Manchester on Saturday 18 January, and runs all year. sslh.org.uk/2025/01/04/p...

Right - it's our last day of holidays and we're spending it making an archaeology/Roman site-themed Monopoly game. We've made a start. All suggestions for any additions gratefully received. Over to you....

Health and safety 1910s style! Building a settling tank at Littleton Colliery, Cannock Chase. Imagine balancing at that height with no harness.

In 1433, the Duke of Bedford wanted some goods from London for his Calais household. He asked for a customs waiver from the king, and he got it. And what did he need? - 5 casks of porpoise - 2 casks of eels - 98 bows w/ bowstrings 'cause that's how you party. 🗃️🧪

"A Gentlewoman, by a variety of Unfortunate Events, is reduced to the painful necessity of wishing for the friendship and protection of a middle-aged Gentleman of honour and integrity" If I were still on tinder I would absolutely use this as the opening line on my new profile #18c

One of my favourite new things in the Museum of Cannock Chase collection ❤️. This pretty, silk embroidered Christmas card was sent home from France during the First World War. Have a peaceful Christmas 🎄 #christmas #firstworldwar

Lichfield Cathedral lit up for Christmas. #christmas #advent

The fab Museum of Carpet in Kiddeminster has this work of art on display. I’d never thought of carpet as an art form, but this one changed my mind 🧡🦜 It’s a museum that’s well worth a visit. Time it to see a carpet loom demo if you can!

The bridges of the #UKCanals. 😍

I'm glad that it cleans teeth, too. Since it is, well, toothpaste. Guests: it's basically the liquor cabinet. #historyofgreatideas

What should be the priorities for protecting and managing Cannock Chase over the next 5 years? We'll be responding to this important consultation. 👇 Find out more and share your views here: bit.ly/492xDJD #cannockchase