Latest news

In our latest blog about the 1921 census, the story of Alvie’s family gives a fascinating insight into life in rural Lincolnshire. Both sides of my family have lived in rural Lincolnshire for centuries. In 1921 most of my relatives were living around the villages of Benington and Leverton in South Lincolnshire, which is about...

Amongst the Magistrate Court records held with us on behalf of Worcestershire County Council as part of The Public Records Act are Bankruptcy records from the early 20th century. Whilst they detail the financial situation of individuals and businesses, individual case files which are outside the 100-year closure period can provide insight into the circumstances...

Excellent News! Your wait is nearly over – our newspaper collections is set to return! Not only that but, thanks to our partnership with Ancestry.com, our  collection has been digitised and there is free access to it from The Hive via newspapers.com. Unless you want to, gone are the days of having to search date...

A recent deposit of material with connections to the Binyon and Spriggs family of Henwick Grove, Worcester has revealed a remarkable set of letters from well-known scientists, government officials and artists of the 19th century, including Charles Darwin (and with some irony, his most celebrated opponent and creator of the London Natural History Museum, Sir....

There are lots of different jobs in archaeology so for a day in archaeology, we thought we would introduce you to a talented member of our post-excavation team. Laura, our senior archaeological illustrator has recently been working on a Bronze Age beaker from Milestone Ground, Broadway. It’s so delicate it can’t be physically reconstructed but...

The festival of archaeology has got us thinking about all the many interesting and varied heritage sites there are to visit right here in Worcestershire! The beauty of these places can make us feel a lasting connection to the past and visiting them makes us feel really good! Some of our volunteers wanted to share...

Welcome back to the dig diary! As the archaeological excavations at Milestone Ground are drawing to a close, the archaeology team continues to uncover fascinating traces of the site’s prehistoric past. In the northern part of the site, close to the area where the cemetery was uncovered, excavations have revealed a series of Neolithic (4000...

This year’s Festival of Archaeology theme is ‘Archaeology and Wellbeing’. Getting out and about and feeling connected to the past and to nature can be a really good way to feel happy and healthy. We thought this would be a great opportunity to share some of our favourite heritage trails and activities from around the...

Amongst the County Court records held with us there are Bankruptcy papers dating from the late 19th to early 20th century. They provide a fascinating insight into the lives of those involved, their circumstances, personal effects, relationships and the challenges that they faced. In the first of two blogs, we outline the history of Bankruptcy,...

There are lots of bank holidays this month. But what does that mean? Bank holidays were first introduced in 1871 by banker and liberal politician for Maidstone, Sir John Lubbock. Thinking about bank holidays led us to look at our range of resources for researching local banks and the people who ran and worked in...