Prehistoric and Roman remains uncovered during widening of the A46

Archaeologists working as part of the Highways Agency scheme to widen the A46 between Newark and Widmerpool have uncovered prehistoric flint tools and flint knapping debris dating from 11,000BC, beaker pottery and a Bronze Age ring ditch near Stragglethorpe. Roman buildings, including a stone-lined well and building foundations have also been excavated.

• Highway Agency press release
• Highway Agency Flickr Photostream

New exhibition on the history of Nottingham Castle

A new exhibition, 'Fragments from Nottingham Castle', tracing the history of this city landmark from medieval fortification to the country's first municipal art gallery outside London, has recently opened. 100 objects from the site, including stone, furniture and furnishing along with models and paintings tell the story of the castle. The exhibition is in the Nottingham Story gallery.

Further information is available on the Nottingham City Council website:
http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=11051

Who do you think you are? Monty Don's Retford connections.

I was interested to see my old home town of Retford make an appearance on this week's edition of "Who do you think you are?" Monty Don's great-great-grandfather, the Reverend Charles Hodge, was vicar of St Saviour's church on Welham Road in the 1840s and 1850s. Monty found several of his printed sermons at Nottingham University manuscripts department, one of which was a "fire and brimstone" tirade against the poor of his parish for not being sufficiently pious!

Intriguingly, his wife Anne emigrated to New Zealand in the early 1850s, leaving Charles and their nine children behind. A few years later she came back to Retford and most of the family emigrated to New Zealand. However, in 1859 Charles left the family and headed back to England but tragically drowned when the steam clipper Royal Charter sank off the coast of Anglesey on its way to Liverpool. Anne remained in New Zealand and died there in 1890.

The programme can be viewed on the BBC's iPlayer site:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tfpvn/Who_Do_You_Think_You_Are_Series_7_Monty_Don/

BBC Hands on History website

The BBC Hands on History website has recently been launched. Initially the website focuses on the Normans and includes an interactive map of the UK featuring walks, trails and great day trips to Norman sites and buildings around the country: Southwell Minster and the early Norman church of St Mary and St Martin in Blyth are included.

The website also includes free activity packs which families can download, including 'I Spy' guides for Norman churches and castles.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/handsonhistory/

New Nottinghamshire Heritage Gateway entry on railways in Nottinghamshire

I've added a section to the Nottinghamshire Heritage Gateway website on how to go about researching the history of railways in the county. The introduction offers an overview of railway developments, from the construction of Midland Counties Railway's line from Derby to Nottingham in 1839 to the opening of the East Midlands Parkway Station near Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in 2009. I've also produced a series of maps of the railway network in 1880, 1922, 1946 and 2010 to demonstrate the rapid growth of the lines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the dramatic shrinkage of the network by the close of the last century.

• www.nottsheritagegateway.org.uk/themes/railways.htm

The Road to Fotheringhay, 21st - 29th July 2010

Wakefield Historical Society is organising a journey starting this week to commemorate the 550th anniversary of the death of Richard, Duke of York, at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460. The journey will follow the route along which his body was later taken for reburial from Pontefract to Fotheringhay, staying each night at the places where the body rested. The Nottinghamshire section of the journey include the following events:

Friday 23^rd July 2010 at the Church of St Mary and St Martin, Blyth

6 pm Vespers of the Dead

6.30 pm Talk Seeing salvation and sacred imagery at Blyth Priory Church by Dr Jenny Alexander

Saturday 24th July 2010

Morning walk west of Retford

Two-mile walk led by local historian Joan Board, along a most atmospheric section of the route to the west of Retford, little altered by the developments of the last centuries but part of the main road to London at the period of Richard's funeral. Two ancient inns with a colourful history, now private houses, mark the start and finish of the walk. The walk is open to anyone, but please contact us in advance to arrange final times and place to meet on 01924 373658.

At the Church of St Nicholas, Tuxford le Clay

6 pm Vespers of the Dead

6.30 pm Talk Laxton - a medieval agricultural survival by Professor John Beckett

Sunday 25th July 2010

Afternoon walk at North Muskham

Walk led by local historian Madge Brown and the North Muskham History Group from North Muskham to South Muskham just north of Newark. The walk is open to anyone, but please contact us in advance to arrange final times and place to meet on 01924 373658.

At the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Newark

6 pm Vespers of the Dead

6.30 pm Talk Medieval Pilgrimage by Dr David Marcombe

See the Road to Fotheringhay website for further information.

Politics, Law and Society in Nottinghamshire: The Diaries of Godfrey Tallents of Newark, 1829-1839

An edition of the diaries of a Newark solicitor which throws light on the early days of the future Prime Minister, William Gladstone, when he was a local MP is being launched today.

Dr Richard Gaunt of Nottingham University has edited the diaries of Godfrey Tallents into one volume which mentions Tallent's friendship with Gladstone in the 1830s. "The diary also presents a vivid picture of local and national politics at the time of the Great Reform Act of 1832 and details some of the violently contested parliamentary elections in Newark."

Further information is available from the Nottinghamshire County Council website:

http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/prarticle.htm?id=133096&Leisure=t;

Thoroton's History of Nottinghamshire online

Dr Robert Thoroton's History of Nottinghamshire, originally published in 1677 and re-published by John Throsby in three volumes with additions in the 1790s, has been transcribed and the full text made available on the British History website:

• www.british-history.ac.uk/source.aspx?pubid=442

Two volumes of this edition of the book are also available courtesy of the Google Books digitisation programme:

• Volume 1 - www.archive.org/details/historynottingh00thorgoog
• Volume 2 - www.archive.org/details/historynottingh01thorgoog

Online exhibition on medieval Nottingham

Nottinghamshire Archives have put together a fascinating online exhibition on medieval Nottingham. Subjects covered include:

• the town's topography
• governing the town
• churches
• guilds
• markets
• law and order
• trades

A wide range of historic documents have been included to provide insights into life in the town. I particularly enjoyed reading the complaints to the Mickeltourn Jury in 1395: it appears that Nottingham was full of traders overcharging the townsfolk for poor quality goods and the inhabitants were being reported for flinging "ordure" all over the place! Some things never change...

• Nottinghamshire Archives

The Festival of British Archaeology 2010 in Nottinghamshire

Details of events in Nottinghamshire are now available on the CBA website. These include open days at the Besthorpe and Langford excavations to the north of Newark, sessions with Finds Liaison Officers, an open day at the Calverton Iron-Age roundhouse, behind-the-scenes visits to museums, family-orientated activities etc.

Go to the What's on page of the CBA website and type in "nottinghamshire" in the search box (the interactive map doesn't seem to be working at the moment!):

• festival.britarch.ac.uk/whatson

English Heritage research reports

Buried deep inside the English Heritage website are a handful of research reports on places and buildings in Nottinghamshire:

• The Urban Development of Newark-on-Trent : A Dendrochronological Approach (2002)
• Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from Ravens Farm, 8 Church Street, Misterton, Nottinghamshire (2002)
• Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from Manor Farm Barn, Town Street, Askham, Nottinghamshire (2003)
• Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from Teversal Manor Garages, Sutton in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire (2003)
• Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers from the Riding House Roof, Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire (2004)
• The Old Hall (Manor House) at Church Warsop (2007)
• St Edmund's Church, Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire : An Assessment of the Pews (2007)
• Shelford Manor, Shelford, Nottinghamshire Report on Geophysical Survey, October-November 2007 (2008)
• Nottingham: The Creation of the City’s Identity (2009)

Event: Landscape History of Sherwood Forest and Nottinghamshire, 11 September 2010

"This one day meeting will consider new and exciting research by archaeologists, geographers, historians and other scholars on the landscape history of Sherwood Forest and Nottinghamshire from the Bronze Age to the Twentieth Century. The meeting will be at The Space in the Nottingham Contemporary art gallery in the Lace Market, Nottingham."

Booking form and further details can be downloaded from here:

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B9vaVw1tjA5LOGUzMjBjZGYtNTkxMC00YTcwLWEyYTQtMjZhYmRlNTgxZDVl&hl=en

British Pathe newsreels - help wanted for Nottinghamshire collection

The archive of over 90,000 British Pathe newsreels has been digitised and made available online. Approximately 75 clips of Nottinghamshire-related material has been identified and grouped together here:

• http://www.britishpathe.com/workspace.php?id=5334&display=list

British Pathe are keen to engage with local historians and experts in the county to develop a more accurate description of these clips. The attached letter from Jack Cullen, Media Officer at British Pathe, provides further information on the project:

• http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AdvaVw1tjA5LZHI2Yzg4Zl8xMjY0dGQ5emZy&hl=en

Jack's contact details are:

Email: notts@britishpathe.com

British Pathé Ltd

The Media Centre

3 – 8 Carburton Street

London

W1W 5AJ

Tel: 0207 665 8349

Project to laser map Nottingham's ancient caves

Dr David Walker of Nottingham University is running a two-year project to map the exact shapes of all Nottingham's sandstone caves by using laser technology.

The plan is to produce an online virtual tour of all 450 caves.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/nottingham/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8682000/8682884.stm

The project website is here:

http://nottinghamcavessurvey.org.uk/

Transactions of the Thoroton Society, vol 113 (2009)

The latest Transactions of the Thoroton Society - the journal for Nottinghamshire history and archaeology is now available. Contents include:

• A Late Third-century Coin-hoard from Little Morton, Babworth, Nottinghamshire by Malcolm J. Dolby, Jen Eccles, Daryl Garton, Ruth S. Leary and Gwladys Monteil
• Excavations outside Church Hole, Creswell Crags: The First Three Seasons (2006-8) by Paul B. Pettitt, Roger M. Jacobi, Andrew T. Chamberlain, Alistair W.G. Pike, Danielle Schreve, Ian Wall, Robert Dinnis and Rebecca Wragg Sykes
• The Nottinghamshire History Lecture 2009. Stevenson Revisited: A Fresh Look at Nottingham's Borough Records, 1400-1600 by Judith Mills
• Timothy Pusey of Selston Hall, Nottinghamshire (c. 1560-1647) by Clive Leivers
• Landlord and Tenants: The Impact of the Civil Wars on the Clare Estates in Nottinghamshire, 1642-1649 by Peter Seddon
• Early Nineteenth Century Weather Records taken at Bromley House, Nottingham by John Wilson
• A Nottinghamshire Historian: Arthur Cossons (1893-1963) by Neil Cossons
• The Thoroton Society and the Victoria County History by John Beckett
• Archaeology in Nottinghamshire 2009 edited by Christopher Robinson

Further information on the Thoroton Society website.