History Shorts: snippets of local history

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...

The idea of a lost medieval village sounds mysterious and thrilling, conjuring images of streets and houses lost to modern maps, abandoned for reasons unknown and buried under layers of subsequent history. In reality these deserted villages were most likely very small settlements populated by a few families linked to a manor house and perhaps a church. There are literally thousands in England alone and the factors driving their abandonment were probably more mundane than catastrophic.  One such abandoned settlement is Bix Brand nestled in a valley in the Chiltern Hills a few miles from Henley. What remains today is the ruins of a Norman era church dedicated to St James but the area is known to have been populated in Roman times - a Roman farmhouse and artefacts have been discovered in the vicinity. Also nearby lies part of the prehistoric earthworks known as Grim's Ditch.  By the time of the Domesday Book, there were two settlements in the area known as Bixa Brand, which had t...

Ripon Cathedral in North Yorkshire is an important historical and religious site in England, its origins dating back to the Anglo-Saxon era. St Wilfrid (c. AD 633-~710) played a significant role in the foundation of what was to become Ripon Cathedral. The church he constructed in the 660s-670s, dedicated to St Peter, was one of the first stone buildings erected in Northumbria since the Roman legions left Britain more than two centuries earlier. While much of that structure has been rebuilt many times over the centuries, ultimately becoming Ripon Cathedral, the stone crypt from Wilfrid's church remains to this day - more on that later.   The hagiographical  Vita Sancti Wilfrithi , written by Stephen of Ripon and Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People ( Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ), both near-contemporary, are the main sources for Wilfrid's life and activities. Stephen's account stresses the impressiveness of Wilfrid's church at Ripon, which ...

Winchester Cathedral , a set on Flickr. A new Winchester Cathedral, replacing the Saxon Old Minster, was consecrated on April 8 1093, the project of the Norman bishop Walkelin. Much of the Norman building survives within the massive present day structure, including the crypt and transepts. It remains the seat of the Bishop of Winchester today.