Archive

“The measure of any great civilisation is in its cities and a measure of a city’s greatness is to be found in the quality of its public places, its parks and squares” (John Ruskin) Over the past two years Worcestershire’s Historic Environment Record has been working to identify, record and better understand the significance of...

Remember your schools? Sites, buildings, structures and features relating to the provision of knowledge and skills are one of the most distinctive and often innovative examples of 20th Century architecture, particularly in terms of how their planning expresses developing ideas about children and society.   Over the past two years Worcestershire’s Historic Environment Record has...

The landscape of Worcestershire, like the landscape of many rural counties, is scattered with the remains of buildings and places associated with World War I and World War II military infrastructure, civil defence and commemoration. From airfields, army camps, military hospitals, munitions factories and prisoner of war camps to anti-invasion defences, air raid shelters, drill...

The expansion of communications networks, and in-particular cable and then electronic communications networks in the late 19th and 20th  Centuries, propelled the development of communications technology including the telephone, wireless (radio), television and computer, changing the technological, economic, political and cultural landscape, not only of the UK but the entire globe. This week we look...

From corner shops, large department stores and shopping centres to market halls and exchanges, public houses, hotels, restaurants, banks and office blocks, the scale, range and character of commercial buildings leaves an impressive legacy in the landscape.   Shops From the mid-19th Century the commercial sector – stimulated by increased mobility and the development of...

Over the past year we have shared a number of stories about the past 50 years, since James Bond was appointed the first County Archaeologist. They’ve been very popular and people have asked for links for various ones, so we thought we’d bring them together with all the links to the different articles if you...

Symbolic, reflective, challenging and often controversial, commemorative and public art of the 20th Century is an engaging part of our social, cultural and political landscape. Adding a New Layer: 20th Century Heritage in Worcestershire – Civil Buildings Over the past two years Worcestershire’s Historic Environment Record has been working to identify, record and better understand...

This week’s online resource is a bit different. Instead of an index or catalogue we thought we’d share a radio programme we feature on which is still online and available to listen or even download – Radio 4’s Open Country programme on Whittington Tump. Last summer we were approached by Karen Gregor, producer of Open...

Last  summer we gave an overview of 50 years of digging. Excavation is one of the main aspects of archaeology which people think about, and we’ve done plenty of that here over the past half century. Another important part is the Historic Environment Record (or HER), previously called Sites & Monument Record, which we have...

  Since 2009, Worcestershire County Council has been working with English Heritage (now Historic England) to characterise historic farmsteads in the county. Taking this forward to a more in-depth level, the Worcestershire Farmsteads Project was established in 2017: the project is volunteer-driven with individuals carrying out building recording, photography and historical research. Our purpose is...