History Shorts: snippets of local history

News from the wires, our occasional series on recent history and archaeology research... Example of Mesolithic pot used in the study. Credit: Lara González Carreteri (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) Thousands of years ago, European communities used a variety of plant and animal products to create elaborate meals, according to a study by Lara González Carretero of the University of York and colleagues. A common technique for interpreting the diets of ancient cultures involves analysing fatty residues in ancient pottery. This method is limited because it mostly provides insights only into animal remains. In this study in PLoS One , the authors combined multiple techniques, including microscopic examination and chemical analysis, to identify the remains of plants that were eaten by ancient European hunter-gatherers. Researchers examined organic remains found in 58 pieces of pottery uncovered at 13 archaeological sites across Northern and Eastern Europe dating betwee...

A striking monument built in the 1830s commemorated the son of a king and served as a tourist attraction. Inside, 168 narrow steps led upwards to a viewing gallery overlooking St James's Park and beyond. But why did it close before the end of the century? And what about rumours that its doorway now leads down underground to secret tunnels linking either Buckingham Palace or to Whitehall? For several decades in the 19th century, visitors to the Duke of York Column in London could ascend to the top for sweeping views across St James’s Park and Whitehall. Today the door at its base is closed, the viewing gallery long out of use. The column commemorates Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, second son of George III and heir presumptive, who died on 5 January 1827. Formerly Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, and sometimes linked to the “Grand Old Duke of York” nursery rhyme, he oversaw significant military reforms during his career. The Duke’s reputation was complicated and he...

Reconstruction of Georgian garden in Bath The British Regency period, usually dated from 1811 to 1820, is often imagined as a world of elegant drawing rooms, Jane Austen and, more recently, Bridgerton . Yet the term itself comes not from culture but an unusual constitutional arrangement. During these years King George III was alive but unable to rule, and his son, the Prince of Wales, governed as Prince Regent. George III had experienced serious illness earlier in his reign. In 1789 Parliament prepared legislation to appoint the Prince of Wales as regent, but the King recovered before it became law. When his health collapsed again in 1810, Parliament passed the Regency Act of 1811, formally transferring royal duties to the Prince.  Regencies were normally required when monarchs were minors, though substitutes had occasionally governed during long absences abroad in earlier centuries. A regency based on incapacity was highly unusual in British history. George III never recovered and...

Latest in History Shorts' occasional series of history and archaeology news from the wires... 6 Jan 2026 "These new-comers were from the three most formidable races of Germany, the Saxons, Angles, and Jutes...It was not long before such hordes of these alien peoples vied together to crowd into the island that the natives who had invited them began to live in terror." Bede,  A History of the English Church and People (translated by Leo Sherley-Price) Bede's account, written in the 8th century, of earlier mass migratory events by different 'races' into what is now England is not supported by modern scholarship. Most recently, in January 2026, a new study affirms that migration into England was a continuous process from the end of Roman rule through to the Norman Conquest, rather than a series of short, one-off events. Researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge analysed chemical signatures in the tooth enamel of more than 700 individuals burie...

History news from the wires... (Dec 2025) A new study of Roman sewer drains at Vindolanda, near Hadrian’s Wall, has found that soldiers stationed there were infected with multiple intestinal parasites. Sediment from a third-century CE latrine drain revealed roundworm, whipworm and Giardia duodenalis , all spread through poor sanitation and contaminated food or water. While roundworm and whipworm are known from other Roman sites, this is the first evidence of Giardia duodenalis in Roman Britain. Image by  Julia Phillips  from  Pixabay Researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Oxford analysed fifty samples from a nine-metre-long drain serving a communal latrine. Around 28 per cent contained parasite remains, and a further sample from an earlier first-century fort also showed infection. The parasites could have caused chronic illness, including diarrhoea, fatigue and malnutrition, weakening soldiers despite the presence of latrines and sewers. Published in Parasi...

Around 6000 pillboxes likely remain in the UK, from maybe 18000-28000 constructed as anti-invasion fixed defence measures during the early years of the Second World War 1 . Two of these, at Portna Lock and Kilrea in County Derry, are physical reminders of how the River Bann valley in Northern Ireland was fortified during the conflict. Invasion was a real fear at this point of the war, especially in the aftermath of the  rapid German advance through France and the British retreat from Dunkirk. Initially concrete and steel were at the heart of the anti-invasion defence in both Northern Ireland and the wider UK. The result in Northern Ireland was a network of fixed positions built to slow any invasion pushing inland from the north coast. The pillbox at Portna Lock outside Kilrea stands near the lock gates on the Lower Bann, positioned to cover a vital point on the river network between Coleraine and Lough Neagh. The structure is a solid concrete design, with a forward-facing firing sl...