Exciting finds from ‘Peterborough’s Pompeii’

News of archaeological finds at Must Farm near Peterborough continues to break thanks to the work of Cambridge Archaeological Unit, which has published its first books about Britain’s biggest hoard of Bronze Age artefacts – the dig revealed 10 wooden homes, destroyed by fire c.850BC. [@CambridgeUnit]

New Time Team dig at Sutton Hoo

The revamped Time Team group will be starting a new dig at Sutton Hoo this June, looking to learn more about the Anglo-Saxon cemetery discovered there in 2000. The group is collaborating with the National Trust in a two-year project, and the dig will be showcased on the Time Team YouTube channel. [@thetimeteam Picture: Alex … Read more

Rare books inspire new exhibition in Norfolk

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

Researching the Swing Rioters

Angela Buckley shares how to find out if your rural ancestors took part in the Swing Riots. Life was tough at the turn of the 19th century and many working families struggled to survive, especially in the countryside. Most of us have ‘ag labs’ in our family tree and in 1830, their increasingly difficult living … Read more

The Industrial Revolution comes to rural Suffolk

Dee Dent’s research into her family’s history has thrown light on how the arrival of modern industrial manufacturing transformed life in Victorian Suffolk. A pony and trap hired from the local pub, a picnic basket, and her much-loved grandfather at the reins. My mother had a perfect summer holiday when she and her younger brother went … Read more

The Riot Act

By Nell Darby. The Riot Act came into effect in England on 1 August 1715, a response to a series of civil disturbances that had taken place across England over the previous five years, it was intended to introduce a quicker way of punishing rioters and “riotous assemblies”. The act made it illegal for 12 … Read more

A trip through Norfolk’s history

Norfolk is largely thought of, even today, as a rural county – yet the evidence of settlements there dates back to the Lower Palaeolithic period or last Ice Age. The county’s Grimes Graves are a group of some 400 Neolithic flint mines, suggesting considerable human activity in the area by this time. The Iceni tribe … Read more