History Shorts: snippets of local history

The Holywell Music Room, which opened in Holywell Street, Oxford in 1748, is usually described as Europe's first custom-built concert hall. That's some accolade in a continent that produced Bach, Handel, Mozart etc. There's an unproven tradition that Handel himself played here — it certainly hosted his music — and the venue is also said to have led to Haydn becoming popular.  So is the claim true? A lot rests on the phrase "custom-built" or "purpose-built". Of course there were many venues throughout Europe hosting musical performances, how could there not be. But these venues had other uses as well. Oxford's own Sheldonian Theatre, much larger than the Holywell Music Room and situated only a few hundred yards away, had opened in 1669 and hosted many concerts. Handel definitely did play there in 1733. But as the Sheldonian was built to host the public ceremonies of the University of Oxford, not just music events, it cannot be described as a custom-bu...

Ordnance Survey benchmarks are among the most significant features of Britain’s historic landscape. Whether carved into stone walls, bridges or buildings, or displayed in a metal plate, these marks formed the backbone of a national system for measuring height. More than 700,000 benchmarks were created across the country from the 1830s to the 1990s, though most are no longer in use. The Ordnance Survey was originally founded in the 18th century to record features and settlements for military purposes. As surveying techniques improved during the 19th century, accurate maps of different scales were developed and published. A consistent vertical reference system was needed. Surveyors had to know not just where places were, but how high they stood above sea level. To achieve this, Ordnance Survey established a network of benchmarks, named for the process of placing an angle iron into a horizontal mark to form a "bench" on which a levelling staff could rest while measuring height. ...

While the Red Lion and the Royal Oak are the most common pub names in Britain, with many hundreds of each, there is probably only one pub in the country called St Peter's Finger.  There are some places called Peters Finger (or Petersfinger) but the drinking establishment is found in the Dorset village of Lytchett Minster, and seems to have been there for well over two hundred years. Surprisingly though the origin of the name isn't entirely certain. Pub sign in 2023. Lytchett Minster is found four miles from Wareham and four miles from Poole. A settlement was recorded here in the Domesday book.  A helpful information board reveals that the village church has no dedication, describing this as unusual but not unique. Parish records date back to 1554 and its font also dates to the 16th century. About 100 yards away from the church is St Peter's Finger pub. A phrase on the pub wall suggests that St Peter's Finger is a thief's finger, and that the pub was previously a den...

Britain and Ireland aren't short of fascinating monuments from prehistory but Stonehenge surely leads the way when it comes to media interest in the period, from TV documentaries to newspaper articles. It also continues to attract the interest of researchers around the world keen to uncover new insights into the 5000-year-old landmark. What's more there's still plenty to learn. Two linked recent bits of Stonehenge research led by Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, have caught my eye. A Curtin team headed a  Nature  study published in August 2024 that revealed the monument's so-called Altar Stone, long believe to originate from Wales, probably hailed from Scotland. The six-tonne stone lies recumbent, mostly buried by a fallen monolith. Photo: AnirMitra / Pixabay It's a fantastic achievement to have a first-author paper in Nature at any stage of an academic career so huge kudos to then PhD researcher Anthony Clarke from Curtin's School of Earth and Pl...

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 a Georgian garden in Bath The British Regency period, usually dated from 1811 to 1820, is often imagined as a world of elegant drawing rooms and dances as depicted in 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; therefore 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 in fact highly unusual i...

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...

In the heart of Randalstown, County Antrim, a remarkable transformation has taken place. The imposing eight-arched railway viaduct, designed by the famed architect Sir Charles Lanyon and built by engineer William Dargan in the 1850s, has been revitalised into a beautiful urban green space. This is an example of an historical structure being reclaimed from its industrial past and potential decay or ruin, to become something positive for current and future communities. The viaduct, spanning the River Maine, carried its last trains in the 1950s, after which the tracks were lifted and a linking bridge over the main road removed. However, community efforts starting in the 1990s breathed new life into the structure, replacing the road bridge and clearing the overgrown viaduct to become a crucial part of a footpath and cycleway linking two ends of the town.  During the 2020s, it has been further transformed into a community garden, offering a serene escape from the hustle and bustle of da...

In 1907, Ireland’s ‘Crown Jewels’ vanished from a safe in Dublin Castle, four days before they were to be used during a state visit by King Edward VII.  Public domain image of the jewels from the police reward notice More than a century later, the mystery behind their disappearance remains unsolved, at least officially.  Suspicion continues to linger around Francis Shackleton, younger brother of the famous explorer Ernest Shackleton, despite being officially cleared by a commission of enquiry.  Did he pull off a heist under the nose of his colleague, friend and sometime housemate Sir Arthur Vicars? Sir Arthur was the Ulster King of Arms, or senior herald, responsible for the safe-keeping of the jewels and who was disgraced by their disappearance.  But why, more than 110 years later, are we still fascinated by this crime? Simply put, if these treasures still exist today, they would be worth millions.  So, what are the Irish Crown Jewels?  Officially called t...

"Then I found a two faced stone On burial ground, God-eyed, sex-mouthed, its brain A watery wound." — 'January God', by Seamus Heaney. In an apparently ancient cemetery on an island in Lower Lough Erne, county Fermanagh is a historical curiosity. The two-sided Boa Island figure is an enigma, even whether it is pagan Iron Age or early Christian (Caldragh cemetery has been dated to 400-800 AD). It's not really a Janus figure either but two separate figures standing back to back. Is one side male and one side female, as many think? Writing in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy in 1933, the Lady Dorothy Lowry-Corry described and published photographs of the carved stone, which she believed represented male effigies on both sides. In that she disagreed with George Du Noyer who had first officially recorded the figure in a sketch in 1841 (not very accurately, she said). In her photos, the stone is very noticeably askew and partially sunk in the ground. She al...

The Maritime Mile is a heritage trail alongside the River Lagan in Belfast, connecting key sites from the city’s seafaring and shipbuilding past with striking public art and storytelling, culminating in the Titanic Quarter, home to Titanic Belfast and a host of other historic attractions. Another eye-catching feature is the Glass of Thrones trail – a series of stained-glass panels celebrating the fantasy series filmed in nearby Titanic Studios. Here is the Stark Window, with its vivid imagery of direwolves, northern landscapes, tragedy and battle - a dramatic tribute and a popular photo stop. The Stark window with Titanic Belfast in the background Nearby on Donegall Quay, a public space opposite the Custom House blends historic and contemporary Belfast. A red buoy—once used in Belfast Lough— is repurposed here as public art, while the Salmon of Knowledge sculpture (better known as the Big Fish) stands where the hidden Farset River flows into the Lagan, telling the story of Belfas...

Today, just six species of sloth remain, split between two families: two-toed and three-toed. But in prehistoric times, sloths were far more diverse—and some were massive compared to the tree-dwellers we know now. If you’ve been to the Natural History Museum in London, you might have seen the striking replica skeleton* of Megatherium americanum , one of these ancient giants. New research from a team of scientists from the Americas sheds light on how these now-extinct sloths reached such impressive sizes—and why they eventually vanished. Bigger sloths, grounded lives Unlike modern sloths, which live exclusively in trees, the largest prehistoric species were ground-dwellers. Some were tall enough to pull leaves from treetops while standing upright. Megatherium , for example, lived in the grasslands of South America until about 10,000 years ago. Fossil footprints from Argentina suggest it walked on hind legs, using its tail for balance. The scientists analyzed ancient DNA and more th...

T he diaries of 17th century Oxford antiquarian Anthony Wood offer a fascinating glimpse into academic and social life in the university city, with a mixture of history, commentary and anecdotal material.  A new kind of feaver One particularly curious entry caught my eye: Memorandum, Friday, Aug 14 1657, Mrs Read of Ipston departed this life, who three weeks before her death was taken with a fit of vomitting and vomitted a live spider. Her name was Acton before she married. This summer rages a new kind of feaver, especially in the country villages. — Excerpt from The Life and Times of Anthony Wood, Antiquary of Oxford (1632–1695), Described by Himself, Vol. I (1632–1663), collected from his diaries and other papers by Andrew Clark, M.A., Fellow of Lincoln College, published 1891. Concern for illness is a common theme in 17th-century diaries but I will assume the note about a live spider is drawn from local hearsay as opposed to being a symptom of a "new kind of feaver". The I...

As a cycling fan, it was a bit of a thrill when I had the chance to cycle down the dreaded Arenberg trench, a legendary cobbled segment of the Paris-Roubaix spring classic. That I was on a totally inappropriate hired city bike with a front basket was only partly the reason why I mostly stayed on the much safer dirt track alongside the pavé... In this part of the Nord-Pas de Calais in France we are deep in coal-mining country. The Arenberg trench, Trouée d'Arenberg-Wallers (official name the Drève des Boules d’Hérin), is a 2.3km road that cuts straight through the Arenberg forest on the edge of a large mine.  The segment was only introduced to the Paris-Roubaix race in 1968 but has become a permanent fixture - apart from one year when surface damage caused by the collapse of abandoned subterranean mining tunnels was finally deemed bad enough to warrant repair. It's been the site of notable crashes over the years and can make or break a rider's day very easily. I'm glad...