Latest news

Our new events guide for 2020 is now out! Details can also be found here on website at www.explorethepast.co.uk/events along with links for bookings. We’re repeating many of our popular workshops, helping people start their research or to expand and introduce new sources. Following the success of the Reading Latin in Old Documents workshop we...

In the past we’ve told you about the Case of the Stolen Christmas Goose, but that wasn’t the only seasonal crime to have taken place in Worcestershire in the past. Holly, Ivy and Mistletoe were also targets, whether by individuals for themselves, or from enterprising people to sell it on. Tenbury is a big mistletoe...

Christmas cards feature in several of our collections, some of which we have shared before on our blog. Within the Vesta Tilley archive there are several Christmas cards which were sent to her, particularly during the First World war. Vesta Tilley, born Matilda Powles, was one of the top worldwide Music Hall artists of the...

Going through the Christmas catalogues was one the great traditions of Christmas for children, writing up a long Christmas list whilst going through it. For many that catalogue would be Kays, especially here in Worcester where it was based. The company employed many people locally, as well as many people being local agents. Over the...

This is the fourth and final of our compilations of the letters of Gunner Bert Clements, which were read by Naomi Taylor as part of the Worcestershire World War One Hundred Project. It meant we were able to share them more easily via social media to a wider audience, and also use them with school...

We come up to date with our look back at 50 years of County Archaeologists in Worcestershire with Victoria Bryant. Victoria took over from Malcolm Atkin as Head of Worcestershire Historic Environment & Archaeology Service and oversaw the merger with Worcestershire Record Office and the move to The Hive. I joined Worcestershire County Council in...

The 3rd set of letters of Bert Clements letters cover early 1916. Twenty-one letters by Gunner Bert Clements of Kidderminster are here in the archives, providing one man’s perspective on the war. They were read by Naomi Taylor for the Worcestershire World War One Hundred project to make them more accessible, and we are combining...

We are looking for a volunteer to join our Redditch Military Tribunal project which will start in January 2020, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to conclude our WW100 work. This project will carry out research into the records of the Military Service Tribunals held in Redditch during the First World War. Redditch Tribunal...

A lump of rusty old iron – nothing to write home about, or is it? Unlike copper and bronze, iron quickly rusts and easily distorts beyond recognition. With the recent discovery of Iron Age ironwork at a site south of Worcester, we thought it was time to explore the tricky topic of identifying iron artefacts....

Within our collections we have many wonderful images. Some of these we share on social media and, unsurprisingly, they are a big hit with lots of re-shares, likes and comments. Other images you may have found yourself  when you used our collections at The Hive . On our Website we now have an image gallery....