Is there any novelist more closely linked with Yuletide than Charles Dickens? His story, A Christmas Carol, was an instant hit in 1843 and helped make Christmas fashionable again. It remains hugely popular, with its perennially relevant call for greater kindness and the end of greed. It’s perhaps less well known that Dickens wrote about Christmas many times, often with radical intent, and without the sweet gloss the Carol would get from later adaptations. To help you explore what theRead more
Posts tagged: #British History
8 Historic London Shopfronts
London streets are lined with colourful shops, clamouring for our attention. Many are of considerable age, and have survived for our enjoyment only through careful maintenance by generations of shopkeepers. Kathryn Morrison, Head of Historic Places Investigation, selects eight shopfronts that can be appreciated by anyone strolling along the pavements of London, and offer a glimpse into the city’s rich history as one of the world’s most exciting shopping centres. Presented chronologically, these shopfronts show how our shopping streets haveRead more
England’s Lost Asylums
For centuries, mental illness was regarded as a spiritual affliction rather than a medical one; thankfully social attitudes have changed. The treatment of people with mental illness can be traced through the institutions that cared for them, some of which provide us with a fascinating insight into medical history. The concept of an asylum now is outdated, and many former institutions have been repurposed numerous times since their inception in the early 19th century, but those with special architectural interestRead more
A Brief Introduction to Garden Cities
By the middle of the 19th century, over half of Britain’s population lived in towns.Read more
A Brief Introduction to Boston: the Making of a Market Town
Boston, Lincolnshire, didn’t just give its name to Boston, Massachusetts in the USA: many of its most prominent citizens actually left to become leaders in the new settlement.Read more
A Brief Introduction to… Castles of Legend
Castles were never just defensive structures. They were also centres of administration and justice, but above all they were the power bases and homes of the feudal elite.Read more