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Battle of Marston Moor English Civil War on this day Uncategorized

A great and significant date… The Battle of Marston Moor (1642)

One of the greatest assets of a general is a reputation for invincibility. If you have it you are playing down hill and if you are against it you have a big battle to fight. It was today in 1642 the Prince Rupert rode onto the field with his reputation and his poodle and left with only his poodle.

In 1642 the civil war was going badly for the royalist forces in the North. Royalist forces had been pushed back and then besieged in the city of York, the capital of the north. A relief force of Royalist cavalry evaded the parliamentary army and linked up with the royalist foot and then turned to bring the parliamentarians to battle. Facing a royalist army under Marquess of Newcastle and Prince Rupert was an allied force of Scots and Parliamentary forces under Fairfax and Manchester. Exhausted but willing to follow Rupert anywhere his soldiers prepared for battle but being late in the day Rupert was convinced the battle would be delayed. He went to dine and Newcastle retired to smoke so both were taken by surprise as the Parliamentarians started to advance at 7pm. Whatever you think of Rupert he was a very brave man and was able to engage the Parliamentarians and contested the field for several hours before being forced to retire. This was a side show because it was the foot who inflicted serious casualties on the Royalists and won the day. The day was won meaning that the Royalists lost their baggage and their artillery. The battle that should have buttressed the Kings holding in the north led to their unwraveling and after the surrender of York the North was lost to the King.

Prince Rupert lost his reputation but the Iron Sides under Cromwell gained status and renown that would soon become legendary. The loss of the North was a problem of long term significance. Much of the population and wealth lay in the south but the North had important trading ports with the continent which were now lost to the King. By winning and the

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Who were the Anglo-Saxons? — Notes from the U.K.

Until recently, if you asked who the Anglo-Saxons were the answer would’ve been that they were people from two northern European tribes who invaded England during the fifth and sixth centuries and then put down roots and stayed. They pushed the Britons (mostly Celts who’d been Romanized) to the corners of the island and formed […]

Who were the Anglo-Saxons? — Notes from the U.K.
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A lovely day at a lovely school… Kingsthorne

Today I went to one of my favourite schools to do a new workshop. We did the Great Fire of London, an exciting workshop for KS1. Working with extremely young children is one of those fun things in life. They are enthusiastic, over excited and often unable to keep to the point. Whilst we were dramatically exploring 17th century London one little boy put up his hand to tell me that his nanny was in heaven.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

During the last week or so I have been researching the Great Fire of London and trying to think of ways to explain and immerse the children in the 17th century. Obviously there are many things in history that we just can not tell children about. Which is right and proper until they are adults and they ask you why you left out all the good bits when they were at school! And some things can be hidden whilst others are too wonderful not to be shared. One of our activities was making wattle and daub. We made the hurdle and then used airdrying clay to represent daub. “Of course, children, they did not really use air drying clay… they used PIG POO!”

On a serious note the Great Fire of London is one of those really terrible disasters. It was so awful at the time that the French King was moved to offer to send food and aide to London. As I read the accounts from the time I reflect that the only comparable description that I have heard is the description of the Coventry Blitz by a man who watched it from Baginton. I remember one person saying that they were in a train and saw the sky red with fire. He asked the guard what it was and the Guard replied that it was Coventry. At its height the Great Fire of London could be seen from Oxford.

London had endured fires before and it struck me that it was strange that they dealt with this one so badly. The Mayor gave no leadership and left the city on the first day, the people ran keen to protect their own property rather than deal with the fire and so many laws and ordinances had been ignored and not enforced which made this fire trap, a fire trap with fire traps inside it. The Romans knew the importance of preventing fire and forbade thatch, smithing and other fire related professions in their cities as did Charles II who repeatedly passed laws and comment on the dangerous nature of the slums of the city of London. The reasons for this are that Royal authority was suspect after the Civil Wars. The city of London had been an important Parliamentary stronghold and the magistrates were old enough to have served in the war against Charles father. It is probable that they were not going to be told what to do by this jumped up poodle keeper. It is probable that this was the reason the Mayor rejected the help of James soldiers. The idea of Royalist soldiers marching through Parliamentary London was incredibly dangerous. Second the slums of London were growing very quickly and needed cheap materials to build. There was no central planning and the medieval city expanded upwards creating tenements that met over the street and put dangerous industries in the centre of a tinderbox dry city.

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The ECR Editorial Internship — History Journal

HANNAH PARKER and LAURA DOAK History: The Journal of the Historical Association is currently looking for a new ECR Editorial Intern to maintain this site and develop the journal’s online presence. Here, Hannah Parker (intern for 2019-2020) and Laura Doak (current intern) discuss their time with History. If you are an early career historian and […]

The ECR Editorial Internship — History Journal
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A fantastic day in a lovely school

My job is history and this involves reading, writing and teaching. Yesterday I had a brilliant day in a school in Birmingham. James Brindley school is a trust that provides education to none mainstream children. These are children who suffer from crippling anxiety, issues around food or are in prison. As I have said in my introduction this is an issue that is very close to my heart and as a dyslexic I can emphasise with all those children who struggle to read or are anxious about their spelling.

I taught two very interesting groups of children. The first group did not say a word for the first hour. I rolled through the material giving plenty of opportunity for them to interact and suddenly after an hour BANG! they opened up. They had an hour to work out that I wasn’t horrible and was doing something interesting and then it was like working with university students.

The second group did not need any warming up. They were hot from the start and very excited about everything and very keen to give their opinions. Again very exciting with lots of questions including “Why are you dressed like that?” Well its because I am teaching Stone Age today.

A lovely school that I would love to go back to in the future.

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10 Spectacular Sites to Visit in Suffolk — The Historic England Blog

Home to the most easterly point in England, Lowestoft Ness, the county of Suffolk is the first place in the country to see the sun rise each morning.

10 Spectacular Sites to Visit in Suffolk — The Historic England Blog
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A short history of the 1918 flu pandemic — Notes from the U.K.

Now that we know at first hand what a pandemic is, this might be a sensible time to learn more about the 1918 flu–that thing most of us know as the Spanish flu.  Spain’s connection was minimal. The disease first got public recognition there and that’s about it. World War I was still being fought, […]

A short history of the 1918 flu pandemic — Notes from the U.K.
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Things I miss…

As we all know we are in the middle of a pandemic and if you are a good boy like me you have largely been in the house for the last ten plus weeks. Now I am lucky because this kind of thing doesn’t really bother me. If I have a cup of tea and a book I am largely happy but there are things I am missing that I would like to get to see again.

Church Crawling

From a very early age I have been going into church for fun. I am religious but I am also curious and love a good medieval or earlier church. To be honest I prefer the medieval because of the decoration. One of my favourite cathedrals is Carlisle Cathedral. We visited it after walking some of Hadrians Wall and I thought that it was one of the highlights of my holiday.

Museums

Now anyone who knows me knows that I never go to the Coventry Transport Museum unless I am compelled to do so. But I do miss going to museums and looking at exhibitions. Long after leaving the museum service I am still a member of the Museums Association. As I said in my previous post about being a historian one of my favourite songs is by the Levellers.

Performing

I am really looking forward to performing again. This is me performing Beowulf at Fargo in Coventry. I no longer have the big beard because I shaved it off in solidarity with my friends in the NHS. Beowulf but I also deliver lectures and discussion groups.

Meeting Friends

One of the best things about being interested in culture is how social it can be. I love coming to this bookshop and meeting my friends. You can have a good cup of tea, browse the books and chat.

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My Roman Fort

My first job in Coventry was working as a guide at the Lunt Roman Fort in Baginton near Coventry. In all honesty it was a mixed bag as all job are. I have some nice stories and some horrible ones but I think it best to dwell on the good and let the bad fade away. The work was mostly with schools but we also had special schools and sometimes adult learners. One of the most fun days was with the Cambridge Classical Association.

A map of all the different periods of archaeology at the Lunt site. Note that the site was not occupied continuously but repeatedly from the first century to the fourth.

The Lunt Roman Fort is one of the most important Roman sites in the country. It is unique in that it is the only reconstruction in situ, actually using Roman post holes, and the gyrus. The gyrus is a circular feature inside the walls which has been interpreted in various ways. I personally do not agree with the accepted interpretation, a horse training ring, but rather think that it was an enclosure for prisoners.

I had the privilege of meeting Brian Hobley at the Boudica conference which was one of the most exciting moments of my career.

I recently bought this on eBay because I love the Fort and like collecting information about it. Its an excellent report and really puts the vision (never realised) forward that the archaeologists intended.

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Why I am a historian

I have been thinking of why I am a historian and trying to work out why I ended up here.

I think that the first reason is that when I was growing up as a I hated school and found the whole thing impossible except for history. When I was studying history I had an excellent teacher who I really liked. I could do it and I was able to flourish.

Second I really like old things. I think that they have a value beyond their physical value. Yesterday I went for a walk in a stream and found prehistoric wood, broken pot from around 1600 and roman pottery. All completely worthless financially but a touchstone from another age, other people and other values. I am a terror to my wife in junk shops, on eBay and walking past skips. I want to save everything and passionately collect all sorts of nonsense.

Finally I am romantic. I love the song by the Levellers “Do I belong to some ancient race, I like to walk in ancient places.” and I do. I dislike the modern age that seems so desperate to divide itself from the past and set its face against our ancestors. Do people not realise that the luxury of the modern age is only possible by the hard work of the past?

And that is it. I think we owe the people of the past a debt of gratitude. We need to value the past as we look to the future and seek to preserve the best of the past to hand onto our children.

Rant over.