Before the village pub, there was the village forge. You couldn't have a working village without one: the smith made the ...

The brightly coloured little beach huts at the seaside have a rather curious Victorian ancestor: the bathing machine. Designed to preserve modesty and dignity, these little huts on wheels rolled into ...

Welcome to Lyme Regis, the ‘Pearl of Dorset’, situated at the heart of the world famous Jurassic Coast. Lyme’s existence depended upon the Cobb, a small artificial harbour dating from the time of ...

“There were opium dens where one could buy oblivion, dens of horror where the memory of old sins could be destroyed by the madness of sins that were new.” Oscar Wilde in his novel, ‘The Picture of ...

The mortal remains of monarchs of all people would seem most likely to receive respectful treatment after death. Yet this isn’t always the case. Notorious examples include the treatment of William the ...

Richard III is perhaps most well-known now due to the discovery of his remains in a car park in Leicester. He was however an important figure in England’s medieval monarchy: brother to Edward IV, he ...

In the crime-ridden underworld of Victorian London, dominated by violent men, a group of women were able to carve out a space for themselves; specialising in shoplifting, they soon became so prolific ...

Throughout the centuries smuggling has been considered by the British people to be a very profitable way of life! “Something for nothing” has always had an attraction and during the 17th and 18th ...

All wars have names, and England has taken part in many. The Wars of the Roses, The War of Spanish Succession, The Boer War and of course World War I and World War II, but the War of Jenkins’ Ear, now ...

One of the most important battles in English and Welsh history took place at Bosworth during the 15th century Wars of the Roses. Early in August 1485 the would-be Lancastrian king, Henry Tudor sailed ...

The Scottish city of Dundee is famous for many things, from its football teams, its achievement of becoming the UNESCO City of Culture in 2014, to its dormant volcanic plug which nestles beneath ...

The Puckle Gun, or Defense Gun as it was also known, was invented and patented in 1718 by the London lawyer James Puckle. This early automatic weapon was rather bizarrely designed to fire round ...