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Wonders and Warnings - by Ruth Downie
Maybe Pliny the Elder was born 1900 years too early. As a man who was interested in everything and who needed very little sleep, he would have loved the possibilities of the Internet. As it was, he...
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The March Into Oblivion by Maggie Brookes
Seventy-eight years ago, in a bitter Polish January, an appalling atrocity of the second world war began, but it is not widely known about. Even in this age of excessive information, some historical...
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Lost culture is exciting. How can something be exciting when we have lost it? Most times when we talk about loss, it’s in terms of the events that caused the loss. The political pressure, the murders...
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HAMILTON'S TREASURES ... by Susan Stokes-Chapman
Thankfully the ship rests in the shallows. He has not used this apparatus before and will not venture any deeper than he must. Twenty feet below the surface. No danger there, he tells himself. And he...
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Wheel Fiddle by Joan Lennon
Elders playing a two-person organistrumSantiago de Compostela, Spain12th century(wiki commons)What has more than 90 moving parts, was once the instrument of choice in churches, in its earliest version...
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No amount of Wright's Coal Tar -- a trip to the Museum of Brands Sheena...
I’ve spent the last few months in the 1930s. It’s a grim place in many ways, with the rise of the political far right; poverty and deprivation, and the displacement of millions as people are forced...
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LUCY BOSTON: An artist in everything she did. Edited by Victor Watson. By...
Victor Watson (see photo at the end of this piece) was for many years an academic at Homerton College, Cambridge and an expert on children's books. He edited The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books...
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'Putting it on Ice the English Way' by Karen Maitland
'Scheherazade and Shahryar'Artist: Marie-Elenor Godefroid (1778-1849)When I was a little girl, I was enchanted by the idea of someone reclining on silken cushions on a hot sultry evening, sipping iced...
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History – fact or fiction? By Mary Hoffman
Most of us in this group, since it started in 2011, have been writers of historical fiction. We’ve had “straight” historians, like John Guy, as guests and some of our number, like Clare Mulley have...
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‘Digging for Lullingstone’ – Dr Anne Thick shares her memories of the...
Dr Anne Thick spoke to Caroline K. Mackenzie about her life-changing experience as a teenager working on the original excavations of Lullingstone Roman Villa, the kindness of the custodians of the...
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The wrong ship in the wrong place at the wrong time – Michelle Lovric
This beautiful photograph is by my colleague David Winston, of whom I’ve written previously. It’s part of his recent London exhibition, Mood Indigo.The image shows a shoal of Venetian ferries, known as...
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A Brief Encounter ~ by Lesley Downer
Which is more beautiful, spring or autumn? That was a question bound to stir the interest of any sensitive young woman at the eleventh century Japanese court ...A Heian lady's day ...Our story begins...
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The Sausage King by Laurie Graham
Had you been living in London in the late 19th century William Harris’s little red carts would have been a familiar sight. Drawn by Shetland ponies, they delivered Harris’s famous sausages throughout...
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Portrait of Omai - Sue Purkiss
In recent months, you may have read about a drive to keep in Britain a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds of a young Polynesian man called Omai, or Mai. The portrait, painted in 1776 or thereabouts,...
View ArticleVISITING HARRY'S HARROGATE by Penny Dolan
I am sure that many History Girls have acted, in one way or another, as historical guide for a location, an event, or on a specific study trip. Sharing your enthusiasm with others can be a real...
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The Coronation - Inevitably! - Celia Rees
Coronation Mug - 1953I'm not a royalist, by any means, but as my allotted History Girls post falls the day before the Coronation, I didn't think that I could ignore this great national occasion....
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Just how Depraved was Ancient Rome? By L.J. Trafford
From the Wellcome CollectionI suffer dreadfully from insomnia which means that I am often scrolling through social media trying to fill the long, lonely night time hours. During my 3 a.m. rummage...
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Meonstoke's "glittering" past by Carolyn Hughes
All the historical novelists I’ve met seem to enjoy researching their books almost as much as writing them – some even more so. Documentary sources are manifold, and what you need to use depends of...
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The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell, reviewed by Judith Allnatt.
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023, the novel opens with a gripping scenario. Sixteen year-old Lucrezia, bride of less than a year, is taken to a hunting lodge deep in the country by...
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Decoders of the WW2 Special Operations Executive
by Deborah SwiftAfter the fall of France and Belgium, a new organisation was formed – the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to strengthen subversion and sabotage in occupied territory and behind enemy...
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