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Covid-19 and lockdown, five years on: A personal reflection

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It sometimes doesn't feel real: I lived through an actual pandemic, what should be the stuff of history or fiction. I know I'm reflecting from a place of privilege even saying that. Five years ago today the British government announced lockdown restrictions as part of a "huge national effort" to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Many vulnerable people had been effectively under lockdown before then. In the period that followed some didn't feel the need for restrictions or vaccinations.  Was it too late? Was it a step too far? Historians will look back and draw different conclusions. As a society we're still dealing with the aftermath of the virus, the restrictions, the conspiracy theories, the mental health issues, our approach to collective responsibility, the realities of hybrid working - positive for me and many others, not so much for some. We can say the pandemic deepened existing inequalities and exposed vulnerabilities in our health and social care...

The evil stepmother did it

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A sign in the little village of Corfe Castle in Dorset proclaims that Edward the Martyr, King of Wessex, was treacherously stabbed by his stepmother Elfrida (also Ælfthryth or Alfrida) in AD 978. What evidence is there that the evil stepmother did it? Well, none of course! Edward's reign was short, lasting less than three years before his violent death. Byrhtferth, writing around 1000, is an almost contemporary source. He describes the murder as an act of treachery but does not name Ælfthryth as responsible:  One day towards evening the remarkable and elected king, seeking the consolations of brotherly love, arrived at the house where his beloved brother was living with the dowager queen, as we have said. The magnates and leading men went to meet him, as was only fitting; he [the younger son] remained inside with the dowager queen, his mother. Those magnates had agreed among themselves a wicked plot: they were possessed of so damnable an intention and so murky and diabolical a blin...

Why do we celebrate St Patrick's Day on 17th March?

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It's now associated around the world with Guinness, wearing green, and claiming a bit of Irish ancestry. But the feast day of Saint Patrick, 17 March, should perhaps be a more sombre affair - this after all is considered to be the date of the saint's death.  While 17 March is the accepted date, the actual year varies and could be 461, 492 or 493. Patrick is generally credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century of the Common Era, though he either followed in the footsteps of Palladius or was one and the same as Palladius - the later Annals of Ulster seem to mix the two. Muirchú, writing a hagiography in the late seventh century, tells us that an angel came to St Patrick to tell him about his death, and that he shouldn't make his way to his 'beloved' Armagh to die but go to Saul (near present-day Downpatrick and where he perhaps founded his first church after returning to Ireland on his Christian mission). "Return therefore as I tell you, ...

Earthwork but what exactly?

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It's described as an earthwork and possible military encampment on the Sites and Monuments Record of Northern Ireland. It's not on the Atlas of Hillforts of the UK and Ireland. Most disappointingly it's not mentioned on the Megalithic Portal. But this tree-topped mound outside Portglenone has caught my eye on my infrequent visits to visit family in the area. It's officially called Knockanhead but locals call it Clements Hill. It was marked as 102ft on the OSNI Historical First Edition map (1829-35) but only 100ft on subsequent editions (and is listed at 27mo n PRONI's map viewer). The SMR recounts the OS Memoir description of a "few traces of entrenchments on the south western side... a site chosen as fit by some general."  At least one other person thought it was an ancient battleground, probably drawing on the above. In a September 1927 issue of the Weekly Telegraph , someone writing about antiquities found in the Bann area writes: "At the western ...

A shrine for David and his mother

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The early Christian figure known today as St David was canonised and declared patron saint of Wales in the 12th century more than 500 years after his death (supposedly on 1 March 589). Today's St David's Cathedral in Pembrokeshire stands on the site of a monastic community founded by David in the 6th century. He was an important figure in the region well before canonisation, certainly if the story of a visit to the site by William the Conqueror is true. His canonisation probably helped cement Norman influence in the region. The pope who canonised him, Callixtus, declared St David's Cathedral in Pembrokeshire as a place of pilgrimage so important that two pilgrimages here were equivalent to one in Rome.  And it effectively remains a place of pilgrimage today, albeit for tourists as well as worshippers. The Shrine of St David was constructed in the 12th century but damaged during the Reformation. The version seen today is a 21st century restoration, featuring icons by artist ...

O Little Town of Wittenham

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Or, The brief existence and mysterious demise of Littletown Site of Littletown (Destroyed A.D. 1838). Image: CC-BY NLS It’s clearly marked on OS maps from the 19th and 20th century: Littletown, Destroyed A.D 1838. It sounds dramatic, right? An official record of a noteworthy event. At the very least, something that would warrant a mention in a local newspaper. Well, apparently not. Indeed, evidence of Littletown’s actual existence is scant, never mind its apparently sudden demise.  Location, location, location  The site where Littletown (sometimes Little Town) once stood is in present-day Oxfordshire, though in an area that was part of Berkshire until 1974. Its location is close to the river Thames, on the northern edge of Little Wittenham parish on its boundary with Long Wittenham parish. The nearby pair of wooded hills known as Wittenham Clumps or Sinodun Hills, one of which was the site of an Iron Age hillfort, are a familiar landmark. The wider area has yielded Bronze Age,...

Meeting the Tandragee Idol

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My first encounter with the Tandragee stone idol was with a replica in the Ulster Museum in Belfast. Replica in Ulster Museum (author's photo, all rights reserved) This curious little figure probably caught my eye because of its name, Tandragee being the village best known as the Northern Irish home of Tayto potato crisps. Peering at the figure a little more closely it seemed to be clutching its left arm (so I thought) with what looked like a smile, sitting beside another stone figure of a bear-like animal. I was astonished to discover that the original Tandragee idol wasn’t in another museum but had a much more unlikely home. Beneath a plaque commemorating a late 19th century archbishop of Ireland, worshippers and visitors to St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral in Armagh can see the Tandragee idol in all its glory sitting on a low stone plinth in a side aisle. The cathedral houses other pre-Christian idols in its crypt (judging by photos on Flickr, these have also been on dis...