Latest news

  • 3rd February 2015
Love (& Death) in the Archives

Love is in the archives, and you can find out more on Tuesday 17th February at our workshop about parish records, which will be held at The Hive. Within the many parish records held here at Worcestershire Archives are the parish registers, including marriage registers, and the baptisms which then resulted from many of these...

  • 25th January 2015
Sir Winston Churchill’s visit to Worcester

Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of Winston Churchill, one of the most notable figures in British and world history 75905 – photographer RJ Collins Churchill came to Worcestershire to receive the Freedom of the City of Worcester in 1950. It was a very memorable event for the city, and when the subject...

  • 20th January 2015
Prehistory sessions now available for schools

With the addition of Prehistory to the National Curriculum we have been contacted by a number of schools for help and advice. Many teachers have never taught the subject and are not sure what it covers. Central guidance just mentioned the main national sites such as Stonehenge, Avebury or Orkney’s Skara Brae. Worcestershire has a...

  • 16th January 2015
Accounting for Croome

‘Accounting for Croome’ has been a conservation project funded by the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust enabling essential conservation work to be carried out on a series of financial records from the archive of the Earls of Coventry, based at Croome Court. The Household Accounts give costs and names for the apothecary, fishmonger, butterman, crops, turnpikes,...

  • 27th December 2014
Introducing… Our Skills for the Future graduate trainee

My name is Sarah Ganderton. I love museums, charity shops, crafts, movies, chocolate and warm woolly socks. I joined the Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service as a Skills for the Future Trainee in July.  This is through a Heritage Lottery Funded project called Growing Worcestershire’s Treasures.  On our training scheme seven of us have the...

  • 25th December 2014
A Christmas truce in the trenches

Christmas is upon and in the season of good will we bring you evidence of how the same sentiments we value at this time of year still rang true even amongst those fighting in the trenches during the First World War. An extract from the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment War Diary  for Christmas Day 1914...

  • 23rd December 2014
The Case of the Stolen Christmas Goose

Our Learning and Outreach Manager, Paul Hudson, has found a festive treat of a story amongst our Quarter Sessions papers: “Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat…” …so goes the rhyme, and until recently many families had a goose at the centre of their Christmas meal. So it was a bad time for you...

  • 17th December 2014
Algars Manor: Oats and more underneath the floor

The owner of Algars Manor at Iron Acton in Gloucestershire recently lifted some floor boards on the first floor of his house during building renovations, and was surprised to find a bed of material that looked like wheat, chaff or straw beneath. He was interested to find out what this material was, and if it...