Posts Tagged With: history

The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Broughton Lodge, Willoughby-on-the-Wolds Exhibition, University of Nottingham Museum

Posted on March 10, 2026 by Louise Jayne

A few weeks ago I went along to the University of Nottingham Museum to visit an exhibition on the discoveries made in the 1960s at what turned out to be an Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Broughton Lodge in Willoughby-on-the Wolds, a small village in Nottinghamshire. The site was excavated between 1948 and 1968 and contained about 120 graves, including evidence of horses being buried alongside people. The items from the dig were held jointly by Nottingham City Museums and the University of Nottingham Museum and had never been seen all together until this exhibition.

Gilded and silver decorated brooch.

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Categories: England, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

St Mary’s Church, Shrewsbury

Posted on March 3, 2026 by Louise Jayne

St Mary’s proved to be the most welcoming of the churches I visited in Shrewsbury, kept open daily by volunteers. I was greeted as I entered by a very enthusiastic volunteer, whose name I never got, who offered to give me a brief rundown of the church which I really enjoyed and told me which parts of the church to take a closer look at. The church is pretty popular because the day before while dining out at a restaurant I got chatting to a couple at the next table and they also told me what to look out for at St Mary’s.

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Witness for the Prosecution at County Hall, London

Posted on February 3, 2026 by Louise Jayne

I don’t generally write up my theatre visits here however I decided to make an exception for Witness for the Prosecution since it is performed in such an interesting location. I’ve read the play and seen other productions – film and TV – but never on stage which is why I was so keen to see it on my last London trip. Rest assured however there will be no spoilers here, though I will say this is Agatha Christie at her best.

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Categories: England, London | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

Sir John Soane’s Museum, London

Posted on January 27, 2026 by Louise Jayne

Sir John Soane’s Museum has been on my want to visit list for a very long time but I’ve always put it off particularly because of their bag policy (more on that in a bit) and not having time in my schedule to fit it in when I might need to queue for a long time (pre-booking is only for large groups or special events). However on this most recent visit I had the entire morning free before I had a matinee to get to and decided that I would finally visit what turned out to be just as intriguing a museum as I had hoped.

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Categories: England, London | Tags: , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

St Alkmund’s Church, Shrewsbury

Posted on January 20, 2026 by Louise Jayne

St. Alkmund’s Church is nestled between the buildings that have sprung up around it. Founded in 912 it stands as the highest part of the town – indeed is reached up some steep steps – and after renovations over the years is now largely of Georgian design. The tower and spire were added around 1475.

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Categories: England, Shrewsbury, Shropshire | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Cut: Shropshire Wildlife Trust Garden

Posted on January 13, 2026 by Louise Jayne

After I finished up at Shrewsbury Abbey I spotted a sign across the road for Shropshire Wildlife Trust and decided to take a look. The garden is free to enter and volunteers each have their own part of the garden they look after – no one paid the slightest bit of attention to me as I wandered around.

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Categories: England, Shrewsbury, Shropshire | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

Shrewsbury Abbey

Posted on January 6, 2026 by Louise Jayne

I’d heard of Shrewsbury Abbey of course which is why it was on my list of things to see in the town but I had completely forgotten that the Cadfael series of books was based there (I’ve seen the TV series with Derek Jacobi but never read any of the books). I mention this to start with because the lovely friendly volunteer who greeted me on entry was surprised that Cadfael wasn’t my main reason for visiting and directed me to a very nice stained glass window dedicated to Cadfael author Ellis Peters (real name Edith Pargeter).

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The Quarry and the Dingle, Shrewsbury

Posted on December 9, 2025 by Louise Jayne

The Quarry is a 29 acre, Grade II listed park in Shrewsbury that borders the town and the River Severn. I found myself walking around here quite a few times on my visit to the town – on my arrival after checking in to my B&B to stretch my legs and as a convenient place to sit and watch the world go by when I needed a break from walking around.

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Christmas Post: Christmas Tree Festival at Chesterfield Parish Church

Posted on December 2, 2025 by Louise Jayne

I recently decided to take a trip out to Chesterfield in Derbyshire to visit the Christmas Tree Festival at Chesterfield Parish Church, often also known as the Crooked Spire Church, for obvious reasons. I’ve never actually been to the town before even though it’s a direct 35 minute train ride from Nottingham but I’m very glad I made the trip. I’ll get on to the history of the church later, but firstly the Festival. It finished on the 30th of November and was free but there were donation buckets dotted around (I donated some money but also bought a few things in the gift shop).

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Categories: Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Marie Antoinette Style @ The V&A

Posted on November 18, 2025 by Louise Jayne

I managed to get tickets to see Marie Antoinette Style on the same day as the Cartier exhibition, so after visiting that exhibition and having a cup of tea and a very nice slice of cake in the cafe I headed into my second event of the day. On display were a surprising amount of Marie Antoinette’s belongings as well as items contemporary to her life and items that were inspired by her life and fashion choices centuries after her execution.

Robe à la française silk dress dating from around 1775 in the style of Marie Antoinette’s court.

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Categories: England, London | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

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