Latest news

Since late March The Hive has been closed and our staff have been mostly working from home & we’ve been contactable through our online enquiry system. Over the past few weeks we have been reviewing when we can reopen our public services (Original Archives, Self Service and Historic Environment Record desk). For the moment these...

So how does our highly skilled illustrator more used to using an array of technology (light-box for back-illuminating objects, images, x-rays, etc.) do the same work at home? As part of an archaeological report, amongst all the other detailed records collected are photographs and sketches of objects as they were found in place. So, what...

School records in the archives can be a fascinating treasure trove. As well as official records, such as log books and attendance registers, there can also be scrapbooks, photos and even videos. One of our indexes on our website details the school deposits which we have, and can be searched at home ready for when...

We are fortunate to live at a time when scientific understanding, technology and powerful medicines are available alongside an incredibly dedicated National Health Service saving countless lives against deadly disease every day. In the early 19th century, however, the link between what causes disease and Germ theory had yet to be established. Cholera, Typhoid and...

Last  summer we gave an overview of 50 years of digging. Excavation is one of the main aspects of archaeology which people think about, and we’ve done plenty of that here over the past half century. Another important part is the Historic Environment Record (or HER), previously called Sites & Monument Record, which we have...

  Since 2009, Worcestershire County Council has been working with English Heritage (now Historic England) to characterise historic farmsteads in the county. Taking this forward to a more in-depth level, the Worcestershire Farmsteads Project was established in 2017: the project is volunteer-driven with individuals carrying out building recording, photography and historical research. Our purpose is...

This week’s online resource is Heritage Gateway, which provides access to some of the data in the Historic Environment Record, and is a great website to have a search and browse about the county’s archaeological past. The Historic Environment Record database is the County of Worcestershire’s primary resource for archaeological and historic environment information. Although...

Asparagus is intrinsically linked to Worcestershire, especially the Vale of Evesham where it has protected food status. This luxury vegetable has had its ups and downs, with commercial growing dwindling from the 1970s until a revival in the 21st century. It was popular among market gardeners, with plants providing a good cash crop for over...

From Police Stations and Local Government Offices to Civic Centres and Post Offices – Public Architecture is generally designed to embody institutional values and responsibilities as well as pride in public services and more recently a greater sense of community and cohesion. From the grandiose to the more modest, this group of buildings reflects who...

Each year in Volunteers Week we like to acknowledge the wonderful support our volunteers give. The equivalent of around 450 days across all aspects of what we do – archaeological finds, conservation, archive indexes, outreach projects, oral history, and research. They provide us with great support, doing tasks which we wouldn’t be able to do...