There are three things in this world that are true. The Sun is hot. Water is wet… and swords are awesome. As I sit here in the sword wing of my Warehouse of Bizarrchaeology, I find… Throughout ancient history there have been many weapons that have changed forever the world in which the people of the…
Author: HistoricalHoney
WEIRD HISTORY: Two scorelines achieved on the same day were world record holders for 120 years
On the 12th September 1885 a new football record was set. Dundee Harps beat Aberdeen Rovers 35 – 0 in the newly formed Scottish FA Cup. In its early years, the Scottish FA (Football Association) allowed pretty much anybody to field a cup team and test their skills against the established big clubs. (Younger readers will…
Odd Jobs At The National Trust
Sarah Merriman, Visitor Experience Manager at Wimpole Estate, has done all sorts of things in the 8 years she’s worked for the National Trust. Here she shares 10 weird and wonderful things she’s learnt how to do whilst working for Europe’s largest conservation charity – an insight to the less obvious things a career in heritage…
Notorious Ned: So Famous They Even Name Pies After Him!
Many a night, whilst drunkenly staggering home down the Corso in Manly, Sydney, I’d pop into the pie shop and order myself a ‘Ned Kelly’; a delightful pastry filled with meat, cheese, bacon and a cracked egg – yum. Now in those first few months of scoffing said pies, I didn’t have a clue who…
History is waiting for you
Like many a good thing, Puy du Fou really does gets better with age. I last visited two years ago, and although it blew my historical socks off I wasn’t emotionally invested. Fast-forward to my stay there last month, and I’m already planning future trips with friends and my unborn children. Now in their 40th…
History and The City: Only One Half Of The Story
This week I’ve been questioning the great Samuel Johnson who once said “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life”. I mean, of course he is right. I am constantly grateful to live in a city bursting with life and history. The blood of London runs fast with museums, historic buildings,…
6 Things We Learnt in HCP’s Chocolate Rooms
Valentine’s Day saw the opening of a previously undiscovered set of rooms at Hampton Court Palace. For years these rooms had been used to store unused items, until one clever Curator put the pieces of the jigsaw together (with the help of some blueprints), and realised the rooms were used to make…Chocolate. The lovely people at the HRP…
Gold Rush Ghost Town
For those not in the know, the great American gold rush was exactly how it sounds. News of vast amounts of gold deposits spread fast across the Western frontier and Montana and Bannack witnessed the greatest rush of families trying to cash in on the gold up for grabs. Meade Hotel in the now ghostly Bannack,…
The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor
When this book arrived in the post from Secret Book Club, it felt like it was kismet. In 1903, my Great, Great Aunt Mary made the journey from Queenstown in Ireland to New York. She was 16 years old. She boarded a ship called ‘The Germanic’ to begin a new life in America with an…
Empty Rooms: My Intern Experience at HRP
As I wander through the empty King’s State Apartments in Hampton Court Palace, my eyes glaze over. I am no longer myself – perhaps I am a queen, a gentlewoman or a servant. I make my way from drawing room to dressing room, opening the shutters and lifting the blinds. The view of the beautiful…