Two sets of bones found on the Cornish coast last year have now been analysed. One, found on cliffs near Padstow, dates from the 18th century, perhaps a shipwrecked sailor; the other, at Sennen, come from a Bronze Age man, c.1300BC. [Cornwall Archaeological Unit]
A new exhibition at Lydiard House Museum near Swindon explores the contribution of black people to the world wars in Wiltshire. Many African American troops were stationed at Lydiard Park during WW2. [Swindon Borough Council]
Wiltshire Council has given planning permission for two new buildings – a learning facility near the visitor centre and a ‘Neolithic classroom’ – at Stonehenge (approximately 2.5 miles from the stones themselves).
This summer, ‘Estah’s Story’, a sky-high, major spectacle of aerial performances, will tell the story of the Cornish ‘Bal maiden’ Estah and is set to take audience members on an emotionally-stirring journey through the highs and lows of the reality of mining times this August at Heartlands, Cornwall. Estah’s Story is quite literally a ‘moving’ … Read more
A piece of one of the enormous sarsen stones at Stonehenge has been returned to the ancient monument, English Heritage has announced. The prehistoric stone ‘core’ was removed during archaeological excavations in 1958 and its existence remained largely unknown for the next 60 years. The core will now join English Heritage’s collection of more than … Read more
Tickets are now available for one of the largest history-related events of the calendar, the Chalke Valley History Festival held near Salisbury in Wiltshire from 24-30 June this year. Those taking part in the Festival for the first time include Turtle Bunbury on Around the World in 1847, the best-selling crime novelist Minette Walters who will be discussing the … Read more
By Anne Corlett. These islands just off the coast of Cornwall are part of England, but they do have their own genealogical challenges. The census and civil registration records are part of the England and Wales data sets, and can be viewed online at any site that holds these sources. The island’s parish registers are … Read more
If you want to know more about your criminal ancestors, there are an increasing number of museums catering to your needs, as Nell Darby explores. Dark tourism is the act of travelling to sites that are associated with death, tragedy or crime. As such, dark tourism has been increasingly analysed by academics, drawing parallels between … Read more
You may not be able to trace your forebears to Neolithic times, but Stonehenge is at last worth visiting again, writes Andrew Chapman. Everyone’s been to Stonehenge already, haven’t they? Even if you haven’t, you may be aware of the halcyon days of the early 1970s when it was still possible to meander among the … Read more
Wiltshire (or Wilts), county in SW. of England, bounded NW. and N. by Gloucestershire, E. by Berks and Hants, S. by Hants and Dorset, and W. by Somerset; greatest length, N. and S., 53 miles; greatest breadth, E. and W., 37 miles; area, 866,677 acres, population 258,965. The county is divided into 2 divisions by … Read more