- 22nd May 2019
The Charles Archive, held by Worcestershire Archive & Archaeology Service, contains thousands of individual sketches, drawings, photographs, plans, surveys and reports that relate to the c. 250 buildings, in Worcestershire, that Freddie, Mary and their team of architects, conserved and restored whilst they were in practice. Thanks to grant funding from Historic England, the...
- 17th May 2019
In Mental Health Awareness Week we look back at the life of the Jane Freeman, nail maker, and her extraordinary resilience in the face of poverty and illness. Here at the archives, we are fortunate to hold records from Powick Hospital, formerly known as Worcester County and Lunatic Asylum, which closed its doors 30 years...
- 17th May 2019
The next of our Explore Archives workshops is all about the Poor Law and Workhouses. It’s a topic that may bring to mind Oliver Twist (although certain details Dickens used were wrong) or you may remember an elderly relative. There were two times of the poor Law, old and new, and we’ll look at what...
- 15th May 2019
There’s a way where you can both support our work and provide a gift to yourself or a friend at the same time. Our Adopt a Document scheme allows you to select and adopt a document, whilst helping with important conservation work. Keith Parsons’ son in law adopted a document on his behalf. Keith is...
- 14th May 2019
In 2018 Historic England funded Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service, in partnership with Worcester City Historic Environment Record, to fully catalogue the practice archive of F.W.B and Mary Charles Chartered Architects. A selection of the archive was subsequently digitally captured and the resulting images have been made publicly accessible online. Now, in 2019, The Vernacular...
- 24th April 2019
Over the past year we have shared with you the Arthur Henry Whinfield centenary project where we conserved, catalogued, digitised and then made available the 2,100 glass slides in the collection donated to the Worcester Diocesan Church House Trust by his widow, Laura Jane Curtler, in March 1918. The project was kindly funded by the...
- 20th April 2019
Two timber-framed trails, inspired by the life and work of local architects F.W.B ‘Freddie’ and Mary Charles have been created as part of the Historic England funded Charles Archive Project. Freddie and Mary’s pioneering architectural practice recorded and conserved many of the counties most iconic timber-framed buildings, including the Great Barn of Bredon and The...
- 10th April 2019
Our 2019 series of Exploring Archives workshops will begin with Wills on Wednesday 24th April. Wills are a fascinating but underused source in our collections, which can help with family, local or house history. They are also a great source of stories. One of our wills has the earliest mention of a fountain pen. Another...
- 9th April 2019
The Friends of Worcestershire Archives are pleased to announce that anyone interested in our activities and events can now find out more about us at https://www.explorethepast.co.uk/about-us/support-us/. After a few problems with our previous website, The Friends of Worcestershire Archives are delighted to announce that information about us is now back online! You can find us...
- 5th April 2019
The Wolverhampton Express & Star newspaper recently announced the launch of its on-line archive of digitised images from its vast collection of photographs produced in a pioneering partnership between the Express & Star, the University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton City Archives and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Amazingly, the original archive contains over 1,000,000 photographic prints,...