I reckon I have just found the perfect historical christmas book, either to give or add to your wish list.

The Medieval Christmas by Sophie Jackson

The first thing I noticed about this book was the gorgeous cover which immediately made me want to look inside the book. These days we take so much for granted that we never ask “why do we do that?”  Sophie Jackson has obviously completed a tremendous amount of research and has come up with countless jewels of information that give the background to a traditional Christmas which began in medieval times.

Learn about the origins of Holly and Ivy and what food they ate in those times.  There are many surprises in this book and it holds your interest from the very first page especially as Sophie has included recipes so for those of you who are adventuresome enough can try and re-create Christmas in culinary respects.

This book will make you want to celebrate Christmas with family and friends even to the extent of switching off the TV, putting away the XBox and play some traditional games. Just place it on the coffee table and delve into it a chapter at a time. It is so attractive that the whole family and yiur guests will want to pick it up and find something of interest.

A beautiful book to give or even better to recieve.  Just click on the image or HERE to buy it NOW!

Christmas will soon be upon us and why not make it a historical one this year!  If you love history there are many ways you can make it historical as well as memorable, here are a few ideas to get you started ……

Take a peek at Christmas Past

The Geffrye Museum in London is holding a celebration of Christmas’s past with an exhibition of period rooms decked out as they would have been in years gone by covering a 400 year time span.

There are also historical Christmas Markets and Festivities at …….

The Bath Christmas Fair 27th November - 7th December

Ludlow Medieval Christmas Fayre 29th - 30th November

Blists Hill Victorian Christmas Weekend - Shropshire - 6th - 7th December

Caerphilly Castle Medieval Christmas Fayre - 13th - 14th December

Plus ….

Christmas Carols in the Great Hall - Edinburgh Castle - 14th December

Norwich at Christmas - Norwich is holding various events between 3rd - 14th December

A Sussex Christmas Celebration - 26th December - 1st January

So go on make it different this year and pick up a few ideas for having a Historical Christmas by visiting the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Check out your local paper and see if your town is doing something historical for Christmas.

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This documentary goes through the history of Britain from the beginning and stops just short of the Norman Conquest.

Duration : 0:9:9

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Excerpt from the historical monologue “400 Years of English History” presented by artist/historian George S. Stuart as part of an exhibit of his Historical Figures at the Ventura County Museum of Art and History in Ventura California. Visit the Gallery of Historical Figures online at http://www.galleryhistoricalfigures.com.

Duration : 0:6:37

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Technorati Tags: biography, Charles, England, history, king, KingCharlesII, royalty

A film about the persecution of women in
16th and 17th Century Europe set to Queen’s - It’s a kind of magic.

Duration : 0:8:12

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Highwaymen were the Robin Hood’s of their day in historical England and they still have romance to them even today. They were the curse of the wealthy, concentrating on the stage coaches carrying them on newly developed network of coaching routes which had been developed in the 17th century.

But there wasn’t too much romance in the highwaymans life, in those days to steal anything worth more than a shilling was punishable by death….if you got caught! Gallows were set alongside the highways to act as a deterrent but it didn’t have much success as the pickings were good. The roads crossed many areas of deserted, open countryside which made the stage coaches vulnerable to attack, until The Enclosure Acts come into force when over 6 Million acres of common land was hedged in giving the highways a modicum of security.

In fact the income from highway robbery was so good that some of the wealthy organised their own gangs of highwaymen to more than recoup there losses. One of these was organised by Jonathan Wild who was a London Magistrate, so I don’t suppose many of his gang got severe sentences when they appeared before him.

Ironically many highwaymen were Royalist Officers who when outlawed in the 1650s took to the trade using the lightweight pistols previously issued to them by the Parliament of the day. As you can see from this historical England has many strange twists and turns which is why I find it so fascinating. Like the secret supplying of arms by modern day Governments things backfired.

Stand and Deliver is the famous cry of the highwayman and it is also the title of an excellent book I recently discovered by David Brandon which I can highly recommend if you want to find out more about the life and times of the highwaymen of historical England. Find Out More Here.

The village Green has always been at the heart of life in Historical England, serving the needs of the village inhabitants a various guises. It is such a shame that so many of these marvellous green spaces are now neglected or abused.

Originally developed in Anglo Saxon settlements as places where livestock could be protected or the green used as common grazing ground the village green has developed over the centuries into a centre of village life, equally as important as the village church or manor house, it served the common peoples needs. Some of the uses are outlined here as examples of how important they were to the whole community.

The Village Pond
Among the livestock kept by villagers were ducks and geese and the pond was their sanctuary with the green itself providing grazing. Horses, sheep and cattle used it as a watering hole but since the introduction of more modern methods when livestock was moved from the green to adjacent farm land the ponds life went into decline. The invention of the tractor saw the end of the need for horses, and no need for a watering hole the ponds became overgrown an polluted with waste.

Most modern day village ponds are man made, lined with clay or even polythene and are more a place for relaxation and children to pond dip in than a village utility. Whatever their use they enhance England’s countryside, long may they live.

The Village Stocks
Punishment was a public display of law and order and a deterrent to would be law breakers and the village stocks were at the forefront of this humiliation. There were other punishment held on the greens such as ducking stools and whipping posts but the stocks are the most common of these still in evidence today.

Up until the 19th century the behaviour of the villagers was controlled by the local Squire and sometimes the church Rector and some of the crimes you could be punished for were, drunkenness, rowdiness, swearing and of course stealing. Perhaps something the Government of the day ought to consider bring back.

The Village Water Supply
As well as having the pond to serve as a water supply for livestock many villages had a village pump situated on the green. Before the advent of piped water this was the only means for locals to obtain clean, fresh water. The collecting of water from the pump was therefore a daily chore, usually carried out by the women and children of the community.

The Village Playground
One of the most charming sites when touring the countryside is to come across a village green with a cricket match being played, Englishness personified. But well before cricket was introduced the village green was used as a practice ground for the local archers before marching off to the battlefields of Agincourt. Aristocracy used the green for jousts and tilting contests which often included a Fair for the less well to do enjoy.

Various festivals were celebrated on the village green, some of which are still performed today. Spring time was welcomed in by Morris dancing and the Maypole was dressed and danced around and
on Midsummer day fires were lit and celebrations held.

So you can see that the village green was central to the life of the community and in many ways still is today. But with the closing of local shops and pubs the village green is under threat which is such a pity for residents and visitors alike. I may be getting old and cynical but I feel that some things really were better years ago.

Technorati Tags: historical England, village, village green

Archaeologists have discovered the oldest known house in Nothumberland in the North East of historical England.  Howick House as it is now called was found after stains in the sandy soil indicted to the experts that they were the remains of post holes, forming a circular stucture.

The area was formely home to Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age people who would have hunted and gathered food in the area which at the time they were there was a region of sandy beaches formed after the glaciers retreated and the sea levels rose.

From the remains the archaeologists know the the structure had a diameter of around 6 metres with a circle of inner supports hold up a roof which was probably teepee shaped. This historical discovery also uncovered fragments of red ochre which the Mesolithic people whould have used for medicine and the basis of type of paint which they often painted their bodies with.

Historical England has a wealth of these sites the length and breadth of the country showing just how far these ancient tribes traveled in there quest as nomadic hunter gatherers.

The book Britain BC is an authoritative and radical rethinking of the whole of British history before the coming of the Romans, based on remarkable new archaeological finds. So many extraordinary archaeological discoveries (many of them involving the author) have been made in the last thirty years that our whole understanding of British prehistory needs to be updated. To get more information on Britain BC Click Here.

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Watching the wonderful openinf ceremony of the 2008 Olymic Games made me wonder what weird and wonderful facts there may be regarding Englands involvement in them. Here is a bit of light Olympic entertainment for you……

The 1948 Games held in London were the last Olypmics where Artists competed in sculpture, poetry and etching for medals!

Not suprising but the 1948 London games had the worst weather in Olympic history with heavy rain washing the cinder running track at Wembley Stadium away!

Did you know that England are still the Cricket Olympic Champions having won the team Gold in Paris in 1900, the last time the event was held. Who did we beat? France of course that great cricketing Nation!

London 1908 saw the first and only motorised event, motor boats competed in what proved not to be a very good spectator event as high winds cancelled six of the planned nine races. That godd old English weather again!

Another odd Olympic title we won was for Tug of War when in 1908 when the City of London Police won Gold, the Liverpool Police took Silver and the Metropolitan Police K Division secured Bronze. Talk about the Strong Arm of the Law!

The so-called ‘Austerity Games’ were held in London while rationing was still in force in Britain. Fifty nine nations took part, but the defeated powers of Germany and Japan were excluded. London saw the first Olympic photo finish, in the 100 metres, and the introduction of starting blocks for sprinters. These were the first Games since Berlin in 1936. The 1940 Games went to Tokyo, then Stockholm, but were cancelled - as were the 1944 games - due to World War Two.

If you would like to find out more about the history of the Olympic Games andthe 1948 Games in particular click here to review some of the great books on offer.

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