Archive

  It is an important year in the history of the LGBT+ community as 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales. The first ever Worcestershire Pride takes place this Saturday, 23rd September, and will be a fantastic opportunity to embrace the diversity of our county and give visibility...

As the Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service Book and Paper Conservator, I was recently contacted by a local organisation with a bit of a problem in some of their archives.  A small number of parchment documents had been discovered that were very dry and hard, and impossible to open.  Looking more like the dogs raw-hide...

Around 4000 years ago a 30-40 year old woman was cremated and her remains buried in an upturned pot, or burial urn. In 2015 we found this Bronze Age burial and carefully excavated the contents back in the office. Analysis of the urn and its contents has now been completed and the urn has recently...

Traditional farmsteads and their buildings contribute to local distinctiveness and the varied character of our countryside by reflecting local geology, building traditions and farming practices. The future of the majority of historic farm buildings is increasingly dependent on a new role outside mainstream agricultural use. Since 2009 Worcestershire County Council has been involved with a series...

Three recently renovated historic cottages are up for sale by public auction on Tuesday 12th September. Over the past few years The Worcestershire Building Preservation Trust have been working on rescuing and restoring these historic buildings. They are described  their listed building status as “three houses with attic workshops dating from the mid and late...

September is here, and for many people their thoughts turn to taking up a new activity or going back to an old hobby after the holidays. We often get more enquiries about starting family history in September and January, so we run workshops to help people get started and find out more about the sources....

Displays for the Three Counties Traditional Orchard Project are now up in Evesham and Tenbury libraries. The project has been raising awareness of the heritage of orchards in Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, as well as helping local people to look after and restore surviving orchards. Historical  research was an important part of the project and...

What’s so unusual about an old pot falling apart? Isn’t that just what old things do?   This particular pot is decorated and comes from a Bronze Age cremation cemetery in Staffordshire, so it is at least 3500 years old. The pot was found fairly whole, standing up in a small pit, filled with a...

  Our first Find of the Month, found on Tuesday in Gloucestershire, is a 2000 year old glass bead.   The lime green translucent bead has twisted yellow and blue glass threads wrapped around it (time has changed the blue to red). Due to the style of the bead, we believe it is early Roman,...

On Tuesday afternoon, we found a sword. Yes, you have read correctly. A sword. Despite the impression given by Indiana Jones, finds like this are very, very rare. The sword is iron, and 60cm long in total with a 48cm blade. It was found in the ring gully of a roundhouse (a shallow ditch dug...