Heritage Hunter The Linen Hall Library in Belfast has launched Linenopolis, a major new exhibition celebrating, examining and spotlighting the historic social and industrial linen industry of Belfast and Northern Ireland. The exhibition and associated events and activities are funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund Northern Ireland, Tourism NI and Department for Communities to mark the European … Read more
New at Findmypast: Find out if your Highland ancestors fell on hard times with more than 9,000 new poverty relief records. These detailed transcripts can reveal a wide range of information about your ancestors, a description of the relief they received, location, their occupation, residence, earnings, the names and earnings of their relatives, how poor … Read more
A major exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh this summer – from today to 10 November – tells the fascinating story of how tartan, bagpipes and rugged, wild landscapes became established as enduring, internationally recognised symbols of Scottish identity and how Scotland became established in the popular imagination as a land of … Read more
Ancestry, the family history and consumer genomics website, has launched an update to its AncestryDNA service, adding county-level detail to UK ethnicity results and bringing the total number of UK communities to 73. One of many innovations available to users as part of the AncestryDNA test, communities take your DNA story one step further, connecting … Read more
The Lincolnshire Wolds & Coast Churches Festival is set to be a great celebration, with over 140 churches opening their doors during the weekends of 31st August & 1st September and 7th & 8th September 2019. With free entry, churches and chapels from Louth to Woodhall Spa, Wragby to Sutton on Sea, will be celebrating … Read more
Secret Rivers, at the Museum of London Docklands from 24 May – 27 October, combines art and archaeology, with mudlarking, photography, film and much more to uncover the mysteries of London’s rivers, both those that flow above ground and those that have been buried beneath our feet. The exhibition shows how London has been shaped by … Read more
An exciting re-enactment takes place at the National Trust for Scotland’s Newhailes House and Gardens in Musselburgh on 25 & 26 May. The two-day living history event is based on the conflict between Jacobites and Redcoats, and imagines that it is 1745 and the Jacobites have captured Edinburgh. Now the Highlanders are marching out of the … Read more
Rare books from one of the nation’s most significant country house libraries form the centrepiece of a new contemporary art installation at Blickling Estate in Norfolk from 17 May – 27 October 2019. In The Edge of Things, artists Neville and Joan Gabie draw inspiration from some of the most intriguing titles within the National … Read more
From town to gown, Oxford has a history both of artistic and academic merit, and of surprising turbulence, as Nell Darby explores. The city of dreaming spires, Oxford is a beautiful yet compact city. From the circular architecture of the Radcliffe Camera and the Sheldonian theatre, to the pastel-coloured houses on the High Street, there … Read more
Colin Waters explores Britain’s penmaking industry, particularly associate with Birmingham. Vast fortunes were once made from manufacturing the humble pen nib. For example, Josiah Mason and Joseph Gilliot, from Sheffield, came from poor uneducated backgrounds but went on to make their fortunes in the trade. Mason used his fortune for philanthropic purposes, including founding Birmingham … Read more