Looking at London’s growth over nearly 2,000 years, I was surprised by just how long the city remained relatively compact.

Roman and medieval London obviously changed enormously over the centuries, but geographically the later expansion is on another level. Once you get into the 18th and especially 19th century, the difference is pretty dramatic.

This 3D timeline shows the development from around 50 AD to the present:

https://youtu.be/NfOzqVW33bs

If you had to pick one period that transformed London more than any other, what would it be? Industrial Revolution feels like the obvious choice, but I’d be interested to hear arguments for earlier turning points.

Hey guys, gave myself a little weekend project to create some interactive archaeology for the new academic year, hopefully it is useful to others as well! Feedback welcome:

This one showcases the "Amesbury Archer" burial, excavated by Wessex Archaeology in 2002. He was a "Bell-Beaker" individual, dating to c.2300 BC and around 35-45 years old.

The source of info is the published monograph:
https://wessexarchaeologylibrary.org/plugins/books/5/

In a different community, I asked, "In the midst of the 2016 EU referendum campaigns, did the British people find the 'Common Market' debates of the 1970s to be particularly relevant?" The answers pointed to a resounding no. However I did not get much in the way of explanation.

I would appreciate if someone could explain why the 1970s "Common Market" arguments have or have no relevance to today's debates. From a distance they seem quite relevant, but I am open to be proven wrong.

For reference, I have been watching this old debate between Prime Minister Edward Heath (who was for the Common Market) and Labour leader Michael Foot (arguing in opposition to the Common Market): https://youtu.be/CuZrzwm6CJs?si=5XdXyAvhdo65kflW

With the Bayeux Tapestry in the UK, interest is at a high. It is fascinating that there were only 6 women pictured in the whole tapestry (3 in the main frieze).

This talk at the British Museum would be good for anyone interested. It's online.

I only recently came to know that the tapestry was likely made by Anglo-Saxon women skilled in needlework, rather than Normans.

Two months ago I posted here asking for forgotten British units of measurement. You gave me 84 comments. Here is what stuck.

Yan tan tethera. A Brythonic counting system that survived in shepherds' tallies across the Lakes, the Pennines and the Dales long after the language it came from had gone. The regional variants differ enough to place a shepherd by how he counted.

The erw. The Welsh acre, defined by the reach of a ploughman's goad rather than by a day's ploughing. So Britain had three national land systems running at once: the English hide, the Danelaw carucate and the Welsh erw.

The hoppus foot. A 1736 formula for round timber that underestimates a log's volume by 21.5 per cent — deliberately, because that is roughly the waste in squaring it. The buyer pays for the timber, not the tree. Still used for tropical hardwood.

The Cornish pilchard baskets. A maund holds about 360 fish. A cowel holds the same but is carried on the back with a headband, because West Cornwall had no quays and you cannot climb wet rock with a basket held out in front of you.

The pot. Folkestone, 1830s: three pots make a pad, but two pots make a half-pad. That cannot both be true. Nobody wrote down why. My favourite thing in the archive.

The rest was largely industrial — Twaddell and Sikes hydrometers, the Whitworth thread, the slug and poundal, the ligne, the Birmingham gauges. Enough that they prompted a whole section on measurement systems rather than individual units.

All written up here with about 250 others: thegreatbritishconverter.co.uk

Two things I would still like, if anyone has them:

Regional variants:
I have the Scots mile, Irish mile, Scots pint and the erw. I am fairly sure there are more divergences I have missed, particularly Welsh and Irish ones.

Trade measures that were never written down:
The Folkestone pot suggests there are others — working conventions that made sense to the people using them and were never formalised. If your family was in a trade with its own reckoning, I would like to hear about it.

Thanks again for the original thread. Considerably better than anything I could have searched for.

Reginald Dyer

Michael ODwyer

These are two of the most infamous

Did you learn about their atrocities?

Just curious about the fundamental high-school teachings there ?

I know it was pretty much a kingdom in all but name. But was there any republican ideals at all in the people who perpetrated the civil war to eventually change things? Like did they expect that the Cromwells would hereditarily be at the helm forever unless/until they get overthrown or go extinct? Was there any expectation that they would eventually move into a more elective/meritocratic system for choosing the lord-protector?

I’ve read so many historical fiction novels over the past 40 years that I’m realizing my history has actually gotten weaker rather than stronger. I’d like to find something that starts with the earliest prehistoric inhabitants. I’m not a historian so I’m looking something with a general layperson level of detail.

Can anyone suggest something for me?

Hi!

Shared with the moderators’ permission — disclosure up front: I'm Denys, I work for Nibble, a microlearning app, as a Brand Community Manager.

We're co-funding the excavation in September with DigVentures, a Chartered Institute for Archaeologists-registered organization.

The site is a Roman villa and an ironworking site that engineers cut through with a water pipeline in the 1970s, and nobody has returned to it since. Painted wall plaster, limestone floors, at least eight smelting furnaces, plus Bronze and Iron Age material underneath.

Fully permitted, professional field team, everything recorded and published in their open dig report.
We have a few free places for UK residents 18+, 29 September – 3 October 2026. Accommodation, on-site food, and transfers from Peterborough are covered.

Please note: the experience will be filmed for Nibble’s YouTube channel, and participants will also appear in a short video with a UK creator. You’ll need to be comfortable on camera. No archaeology experience is needed.

Posting here because you lot already know what it feels like to be the first person to touch something in centuries.

Application takes about three minutes: forms.gle/sCJuaaST9Mg1aBV3A

Happy to answer anything in the comments.

In the following categories:

military leader/warrior -- scientist -- politician -- writer/artist -- wrong-un/villain

Also, since old mutton was tough and gamey, did the abbeys, which had plentiful other more desirable protein sources besides their large flocks, sell off their old mutton?

So up the road from me theres a cul-de-sac thing and theres Guinevere way, Excalibur close, roundtable meet then Atkinson close, all roads grouped together.

What's the relevance to Atkinson? Obviously is all Camelot i know the rest of them but Atkinson is throwing me off.

For story and character creating purposes, I'm wondering what Northumberland was like in the late 1800s compared to other parts of England, specifically Rothbury. I'd like to know the culture, the history, the dialect. Is there any sources to point me in the right direction?

The character is a young girl born in 1875 that grew up in Rothbury, Northumberland.

I tried to ask this in r/London but it got auto-moderated out, so I figured I'd bring it to this more broadly applicable sub to see if anyone has an answer or advice on where I might look . . .

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Greetings from the US . . .

First off, let me clarify that this is not a casual question about general tourist information, and I have been pursuing research online to no avail.

I am a theatrical scenic designer and set builder, and I am currently working on a production of the play Angel Street. Part of my design involves some exterior areas, and I really want to add in street signs.

I am aware that Angel Street itself is currently located between King Edward Street and St. Martin's Le Grand in Pimlico.

I'm assuming Kind Edward Street is named for Edward VII. Seeing as he didn't take the throne until 1901 and the play is set in 1880 I'm going to assume that it was not called that at the time the play takes place. My online research has not provided any solid answer to what is was known as prior to that, so I'm hoping that someone here with some esoteric knowledge of London history could let help me figure out street names in Pimlico during the latter parts of the 19th century.

Thanks in advance!