History First, London (2025)

17/01/2024

Archival detective work and scientific analysis by archaeologists have revealed the likely origin of one of the largest and most unusual hoards of late Roman artefacts discovered in Britain.

Given the new light shed on its provenance and archaeological context, the researchers said that, after 150 years in relative obscurity, the Knaresborough Hoard “can rightfully claim its place as one of the most important collections of late Roman metalwork from Britain and the western provinces of the Roman Empire.”

Although the hoard was discovered in North Yorkshire around 1864, no detailed analysis of the items was previously undertaken and the circumstances of the find were unknown. Newcastle University archaeology student Jessica DeMaso carried out the first comprehensive study of the hoard as part of her MA degree and the results are published in The Antiquaries Journal.

She said: “The Yorkshire Museum have a research initiative called Old Collections, New Questions and had written up some research prompts. I thought, ‘This Knaresborough Hoard sounds so interesting — why has no one studied it before?' And it turns out to be an incredible story [ . . . ]" Click on the link to read on.

Archival detective work and scientific analysis by archaeologists have revealed the likely origin of one of the largest and most unusual hoards of late-Roman artefacts discovered in Britain. Given the new light shed on its provenance and archaeological context, the researchers said that, after 150 y...

09/01/2024

A Roman dodecahedron unearthed on a community dig in Lincolnshire is the “find of a lifetime” and one of the finest examples of the rare mystery objects, archaeologists say.

Scores of the hollow 12-sided artefacts, cast in copper alloy, have been found across the Roman Empire’s former northern and western provinces — mostly in England and Wales, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. They are not mentioned in Roman literature and their purpose or significance has been a topic of speculation and debate since the 18th century.

The new example comes from the village of Norton Disney, near Lincoln, close to the site of a Roman villa discovered in 1933. Excavations between 1934 and 1937 found evidence for the villa’s occupation from the mid-first century AD to the mid-fourth century. During that time, it evolved from simple timber structures to a complex of mostly stone-built buildings with features such as mosaic floors and underfloor heating [ . . . ] Click on the link to read the full story.

A Roman dodecahedron unearthed on a community dig in Lincolnshire is the "find of a lifetime" and one of the finest examples of the rare mystery objects, archaeologists say.

29/12/2023

It was the most shocking loss of a Royal Navy warship in the Second World War, and may have been completely misunderstood. HMS Hood did not sink due to a “lucky hit” from the German battleship Bismarck, but as a result of catastrophic metal fatigue, a new paper suggests.

The British battlecruiser, which had been the world’s largest warship for over 20 years, sank only six minutes into the Battle of the Denmark Strait in the early morning of May 24, 1941. All but three of the 1,418 men on board perished. The New York Times‘ Washington Correspondent wrote: “The gravity of the blow to British naval supremacy could be measured here by the stunned silence with which the news of the Hood was received.”

The action unfolded in rough seas in the strait between Greenland and Iceland when Hood, along with the battleship Prince of Wales, sought to prevent Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen breaking out into the North Atlantic to prey on Allied merchant shipping [ . . . ] Click on the link to read the full story.

It was the most shocking loss of a Royal Navy warship in the Second World War, and may have been completely misunderstood. HMS Hood did not sink due to a "lucky hit" from the German battleship Bismarck, but as a result of catastrophic metal fatigue, a new paper suggests.

26/12/2023

Medals awarded to a British soldier who took part in one of the most audacious missions of the Second World War — a 48-day 4,000 mile round-trip commando raid on Singapore Harbour — are expected to make £60,000-£80,000 at auction.

Acting Sergeant Ronald George “Taffy” Morris was attached to the Special Operations Executive and Special Operations Australia when he served as medical orderly on the fishing boat MV Krait for Operation Jaywick. The 14-man mission, commanded by Captain Ivan Lyon, resulted in sinking or damaging six enemy ships totalling over 25,000 tons. With no uniforms or ID tags, and flying the Japanese flag, the men risked certain death if captured [ . . . ] Click on the link to read the full story.

Medals awarded to a British soldier who took part in one of the most audacious missions of the Second World War — a 48-day 4,000 mile round-trip commando raid on Singapore Harbour — are expected to make £60,000-£80,000 at auction.

20/12/2023

Remains of a man buried near a rural farmstead in Roman Britain may hold the first genetic evidence for the presence of Iranian-speaking Sarmatians in the province, according to scientists.

The bones of the man, who lived sometime between 126 and 228AD and died in early adulthood, were found in 2017 during excavations for the A14 road improvement scheme near the village of Offord Cluny in Cambridgeshire.

The man, known as Offord Cluny 203645, was buried alone without any personal possessions in a trackway ditch, so little could be inferred without scientific analysis. Now, in a study published in Current Biology, researchers from Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), the Francis Crick Institute and Durham University, show that he grew up over 1,000 miles away and carried ancestry related to Sarmatians and other ancient inhabitants of the Caucasus.

The nomadic Sarmatians spoke a Middle Iranian language and were renowned horse riders who lived around today’s southern Russia and Ukraine before some groups moved south and west. Herodotus claimed, fancifully, that they were descended from unions of Scythian men and Amazon female warriors [ . . . ]

Remains of a man buried near a rural farmstead in Roman Britain may be the first genetic evidence for the presence of Iranian-speaking Sarmatians in the province, according to scientists.

18/12/2023

Pablo Picasso had his vision for his masterpiece Guernica weeks before the bombing of the Basque town and based its composition on a painting by Francisco Goya and two famous war photographs, according to a new analysis that overturns traditional assumptions.

The mural, displayed at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, was painted at the height of the Spanish Civil War and is one of the best-known antiwar artworks. However, while its title links the painting to the Nationalists’ aerial attack on Guernica on April 26, 1937, much about its genesis and meaning has remained mysterious, due partly to the artist’s reticence.

Now researchers in Canada have concluded that, earlier in 1937, Picasso had already conceived of the mural as a triptych, or three-part composition, with dimensions based on Goya’s The Second of May 1808. They argue that the artist used that 19th-century masterpiece, depicting an uprising of Spanish civilians against tyrannical French rule, as the inspiration for the central, largest section. And they believe he appropriated civil war photographs by Robert Capa and David “Chim” Seymour, showing a falling soldier and a breastfeeding mother, on the right and left-hand sides.

According to their review of the masses of relevant literature, none of these three works — each very well-known — has previously been recognised as a central inspiration for the painting. The study’s lead author, Michael Young, a retired lecturer in art theory and ceramic sculpture at Okanagan University College, said: “I could not believe that other people hadn’t looked at Goya’s The Second of May and gone, ‘There it is!" [ . . . ]

Pablo Picasso had his vision for his masterpiece Guernica weeks before the bombing of the Basque town and based its composition on a painting by Francisco Goya and two famous war photographs, according to a new analysis that overturns traditional assumptions.

13/12/2023

An 1820s railway pub built before the development of train stations and still serving pints is one of some 227 historic buildings and sites added to the National Heritage List for England this year. Others include a drive-in “carriage splash” likened to a 17th-century carwash, a Second World War radar station, and a Norfolk manor house that has had so many additions over the centuries that it resembles an entire village street.

Altogether, over 400,000 sites have been granted protection through addition to the list, which is managed by Historic England on behalf of the government. Here are eight of the most interesting new, upgraded or amended entries of 2023 [ . . . ]

An 1820s railway pub built before the development of train stations and still serving pints, is one of some 227 historic buildings and sites added to the National Heritage List for England this year.

12/12/2023

A Roman town once considered so unpromising that no one bothered to excavate it boasted a bustling river port, rare roofed theatre and fine monumental buildings — and rewrites the history of Italy, according to archaeologists.

The newly released findings of a 13-year investigation, including excavations and comprehensive geophysical surveys, show that Interamna Lirenas was a far more significant and impressive settlement than historians had realised. It was evidently part of a complex regional trading network that prospered well into the imperial period, when Italy was thought to have been in steady decline.

Archaeologist Dr Alessandro Launaro, the study’s author and Interamna Lirenas Project lead at Cambridge’s Classics Faculty, said: “There was nothing on the surface, no visible evidence of buildings, just bits of broken pottery. But what we discovered wasn’t a backwater — far from it. We found a thriving town adapting to every challenge thrown at it for 900 years [ . . . ]”

A Roman town once considered so unpromising that no one bothered to excavate it boasted a bustling river port, rare roofed theatre and fine monumental buildings — and rewrites the history of Italy, according to archaeologists. The newly released findings of a 13-year investigation, including excav...

07/12/2023

Ancestry from early medieval Slavic migrations is widespread right across the Balkans, including in Greece and other countries that do not have Slavic national identities, according to the first major study of ancient and modern DNA from the region.

Historical records indicate that during the sixth and seventh centuries, while the Eastern Roman Empire was afflicted by plague and warfare, large numbers of people migrated from Eastern Europe into the Balkan Peninsula. The new research, from an international team, confirms this influx but also shows mixing and continuity with earlier local populations such as ancient Greeks, Thracians and Illyrians.

It indicates that today’s Balkan residents have around 30-60 per cent Slavic ancestry, with the higher levels in the north. “We found this genetic signal of Slavic migration all across the Balkans,” said paleogenomicist Professor Carles Lalueza-Fox of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Natural Sciences in Barcelona, senior author of the study published in Cell. “This could have important social and political implications given that the Balkans has had a long history of conflict associated with their perceived identities [ . . . ]”

Ancestry from early medieval Slavic migrations is widespread right across the Balkans, including in Greece and other countries that do not have Slavic national identities, according to the first major study of ancient and modern DNA from the region.

05/12/2023

An obelisk in Yorkshire celebrating the achievements of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who introduced smallpox inoculation to Britain in the 18th century, has been awarded a higher listing status and named as one of England’s most important historic sites.

Erected in the gardens of Wentworth Castle, near Barnsley, in the 1730s or 1740s, and dedicated to Lady Mary’s memory between 1762 and 1785, the monument was listed at grade II in 1968.

The upgrade to grade II* by the government, on the advice of Historic England, means the obelisk, known as the Sun Monument, is considered to be among the top 10 per cent of England’s most significant heritage landmarks. Conservators said this doesn’t only reflect Lady Mary’s contribution to tackling the deadly disease but also the obelisk’s rarity as an early landscape monument to a woman who was not royalty [ . . . ]

An obelisk in Yorkshire celebrating the achievements of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who introduced smallpox inoculation to Britain in the 18th century, has been awarded a higher listing status and named as one of England's most important historic sites.

04/12/2023

A hoard of over 400 silver coins buried during the collapse of Roman rule in Britain is expected to make £20,000 at auction after it was discovered by a metal detectorist.

The coins, found in Norfolk, include a rare commemorative issue depicting a phoenix — a symbol of Roman immortality and renewal — that may have been given to soldiers in 380AD, after the defeat of a Gothic army in the Balkans. By the time the coin was stashed, a generation later, barbarians were threatening Italy and Britain was in disarray.

It was in 2020 that the detectorist, who wishes to remain anonymous, found the first coins of the Colkirk hoard on arable land a few miles outside Fakenham. After hours of searching that produced a medieval halfpenny and a few buttons, he had decided to call it a day. Starting back to his car he found a single siliqua — a late Roman silver coin. Searching the immediate vicinity, he found more of the coins almost at once and had recovered around 40 by the end of the day, from an area of about 20m2 [ . . . ]

A hoard of over 400 silver coins buried during the collapse of Roman rule in Britain is expected to make £20,000 at auction after it was discovered by a metal detectorist.

29/11/2023

Two inscribed metal tablets discovered in York were left as offerings by a Greek traveller whose exploratory mission to islands off the coast of first-century Britain is described by Plutarch.

That’s according to new analysis which considers the information contained within the artefacts, and their broader historical context, in unprecedented detail. It revives a link between the tablets and the ancient author Plutarch’s Demetrius of Tarsus that was first made in Victorian times but had fallen out of favour as insufficiently supported and too good to be true.

If the identification is accepted, the tablets — which may have been hung on the walls of a shrine or on devotional statues or statuettes — are extraordinarily rare examples of Roman artefacts that can be linked to an individual known from literature who was not an emperor, empress, general or politician [ . . . ]

Two inscribed metal tablets discovered in York were left as offerings by a Greek traveller whose exploratory mission to islands off the coast of first-century Britain is described by Plutarch.

29/11/2023

Skins of Tasmanian tigers in a Cambridge museum are reminders of ties between natural historians and colonial policies of genocide and eradication of species, a study says.

Remains of 12 thylacines — the extinct carnivorous marsupials also known as Tasmanian tigers — were sent to the University Museum of Zoology by Hobart-based solicitor and naturalist Morton Allport in 1869 and 1871. These include five skins that are among the finest examples of the animal's original colour as they have never been displayed.

Now research by Jack Ashby, assistant director of the UK museum today, has found that Allport built a reputation as "foremost scientist in the colony" [of Tasmania] by providing grave-robbed Aboriginal remains and specimens of endangered animals to European institutions [ . . . ]

Skins of Tasmanian tigers in a Cambridge museum are reminders of historic ties between natural historians and colonial policies of genocide and eradication of species, a study says.

24/11/2023

It has been likened to “the Kylie Jenner treatment” on a 17th-century society beauty. Conservators have discovered that a portrait of a noblewoman hailed in her lifetime as the wonder of her s*x was altered by unimpressed Victorians to plump her lips and lower her hairline.

Following conservation, which reverses the makeover to reveal a truer likeness of Diana, Countess of Oxford and Elgin — and brings back the vivid original colours of her dress — the painting will go on display at Kenwood House in North London, from November 30.

Alice Tate-Harte, Collections Conservator (Fine Art) at English Heritage, said: “As a paintings conservator I am often amazed by the vivid and rich colours that reveal themselves as I remove old, yellowing varnish from portraits, but finding out Diana’s features had been changed so much was certainly a surprise! While the original reason for overpainting could have been to cover damage from the portrait being rolled, the restorer certainly added their own preferences to ‘sweeten’ her face. I hope I’ve done Diana justice by removing those additions and presenting her natural face to the world [ . . . ]"

It has been likened to "the Kylie Jenner treatment" on a 17th-century society beauty. Conservators have discovered that a portrait of a noblewoman hailed in her lifetime as the wonder of her s*x was altered by unimpressed Victorians to plump her lips and lower her hairline.

18/11/2023

“Exceptionally rare” drawings and paintings that show the First Indochina War and Vietnam War through the eyes of a North Vietnamese soldier and war artist are coming up for auction in Britain.

The seven wartime sketches by Pham Thanh Tam (1932-2019) each have estimates of £400-£600 ($500-$750) in Chorley’s sale of Modern Art & Design on November 21 — although auctioneers believe they could sell for significantly more. Most of the sketches were made in the field and they include a study of a young female soldier holding a rifle and another of soldiers riding on a tank at the Fall of Saigon in April 1975 [ . . . ]

"Exceptionally rare" drawings that show the First Indochina War and Vietnam War through the eyes of a North Vietnamese soldier, journalist and war artist are coming up for auction in Britain.

16/11/2023

A blue plaque to painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant has been unveiled at their former home in the London district that gave its name to the Bloomsbury Group.

The marker is the second at 46 Gordon Square, which already has one for their friend and fellow group member, the economist John Maynard Keynes. There are over 1,000 blue plaques in the capital, but No 46 is now one of only 20 “double blue” properties.

Vanessa first lived at the house with her siblings, including Virginia Stephen (later Woolf), after they moved there from their Kensington childhood home following their father’s death in 1904. In spite of Bloomsbury’s opulent architecture and cultural landmarks such as the British Museum and Slade School of Art, it was then down at heel and relatively affordable.

The Scottish artist Duncan Grant moved in with Vanessa and her husband, the art critic Clive Bell, in 1914. Vanessa and Grant — a conscientious objector in the First World War — become close there before moving to Charleston Farmhouse in Suss*x two years later, along with Vanessa’s two sons and the writer David Garnett, a lover of Grant’s [ . . . ]

A blue plaque to painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant will be unveiled today at their former home in the London district that gave its name to the Bloomsbury Group.

13/11/2023

It is an exquisite piece of jewellery that may have been dropped by a marauding Dane and was mistaken for fairground tat when it was discovered a thousand years later.

Now a rare Anglo-Saxon gold and enamel ring found by a metal detectorist in West Suss*x is expected to fetch up to £12,000 at auction.

Peter Pawel, 46, unearthed the ring on Father’s Day in 2021 after telling his nine-year-old daughter Maya that he would “bring home gold today”.

Pawel, who owns a construction company, was taking part in a morning search of a pasture field at Greatham, near Pulborough, with other members of his metal detecting club. His first finds were commonplace: a musket ball and shotgun cartridge.

His subsequent discovery, at around 9am, had a more promising glint [ . . . ]

It is an exquisite piece of jewellery that may have been dropped by a marauding Dane and was mistaken for fairground tat when it was discovered a thousand years later.

09/11/2023

It is a once-in-a-generation chance to look into the eyes of dozens of Tudor courtiers who seem so real they might blink or cough.

A new exhibition at The Queen’s Gallery in London is the largest UK show of art by Hans Holbein the Younger in over 15 years. It features 50 works by the 16th-century German artist in the Royal Collection, most of which are not normally displayed.

Central to Holbein at the Tudor Court are over 40 of Holbein’s intimate portrait drawings of the English royal family, nobility and gentry. Drawn from life, in preparation for paintings that are mostly lost, the closely observed studies arguably bring viewers as near as they will ever get to meeting the personalities of Henry VIII’s circle.

Kate Heard, the exhibition’s curator, said: “Holbein’s unparalleled ability to capture the essence of his subjects still astonishes nearly 500 years later. These drawings cannot be on permanent display for conservation reasons, so this is an exceptional opportunity for visitors to see for themselves the exquisite skill that made Holbein one of the greatest draughtsmen who ever lived [ . . . ]"

It is a once-in-a-generation chance to look into the eyes of dozens of Tudor courtiers who seem so real they might blink or cough.

History First

17/01/2024

09/01/2024

29/12/2023

26/12/2023

20/12/2023

18/12/2023

13/12/2023

12/12/2023

07/12/2023

05/12/2023

04/12/2023

29/11/2023

29/11/2023

24/11/2023

18/11/2023

16/11/2023

13/11/2023

09/11/2023

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share

Category