- 8th March 2020
How the Female Friendly Societies of the 18th and 19th centuries gave women support, friendship and financial security in the hardest of times. Before the establishment of the welfare state, support for those unable to work was limited; you could turn to the workhouse, poor relief or charity, but for many the answer was...
- 6th March 2020
Have you heard of the word Silurian? Perhaps you heard it via the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who? The Silurians, a race of reptilian humanoids first appeared in the 1970 serial ‘Doctor Who and the Silurians’ to the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee who claimed to have ruled Earth long before humans evolved. The Silurians have continued to...
- 3rd March 2020
Sheena-Payne Lunn, Historic Environment Record Officer for Worcester, investigated the First World War origins of St David’s Church, Worcester, a couple of years ago. The article was originally available via the Home Front Legacy website. With that website no longer available we’ve shared it here so people can still read the fascinating story. The recent...
- 28th February 2020
During an archaeological excavation near Worcester city, the team found a lot of evidence of expected urban activity, but two styles of pottery stuck out as particularly striking sitting in the rubble layer above the remains of an older building. Found above a layer of building demolition material dating from the 1700, one was a...
- 27th February 2020
Worcestershire Archaeological Society (WAS) has received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £62,700 for an exciting county-wide archaeology project – Small Pits, Big Ideas II. Made possible by money raised from National Lottery players, the project will enable six rural communities across Worcestershire to explore the origins of their settlements and contribute to academic...
- 12th February 2020
We are running another of our 3 part Starting Family History workshops shortly, helping people to begin looking into their family tree. We regularly get people come to our archive desk and ask us how they can begin their family history. It may be inspired by reminiscing with family members, seeing programmes like Who Do...
- 7th February 2020
In The Hive atrium are four large mosaics of photos, with faces made up of hundreds of photos. Moving to The City is a 2 year arts and archive project working with local community groups. Using the archives as inspiration, and photography as a way to engage and work with people, we explored the idea...
- 6th February 2020
If you’ve driven in Kidderminster, you’re sure to have noticed the extensive concrete relief decorating the retaining wall from Worcester Cross to Worcester Road Ring Road. Kidderminster’s inner ring road was commissioned as a solution to relieve traffic congestion through the town centre. The project comprised five stages, or sections, of which four were eventually...
- 3rd February 2020
Last summer we carried out a dig in Hanley Castle which was unusual for two reasons. Firstly, it is probably the first time our work has been paid for by a Music Festival – the local society received money from Upton Blues Festival to fund the investigation! Secondly, we were investigating a castle, which is...
- 28th January 2020
Sophie is a student on the University of Liverpool’s Archive course. She has come to us for a placement, finding out about how we do things as well as carrying out a cataloguing assignment for her course. She’s written this blog about her time here, working on the Sandilands Plan Nursery archives. I had always...