Local & Community

In the UK millions of people volunteer to support activities in their local area and communities. The preservation of historical places, artefacts and sites is a valuable part of that community volunteering, while the research and promotion of local history to the communities that it can affect is an important way of connecting people to history and to each other. In this section articles and information will be included on local history activities such as ‘Local History Month’, the activities and concerns of local history societies, and community action and engagement projects around particular aspects of history.

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  • The Waggoners’ Memorial

    Article

    Paula Kitching introduces a very remarkable First World War memorial to a specific group of Yorkshire workers.

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  • Good Evening Sweetheart

    Article

    The talk given by Sue and Pete Mowforth to the Glasgow Branch, reading from a selection of their parents’ war-time letters, resulted in a flurry of media interest from the national press and radio, including an appearance on the BBC’s The One Show in February 2017. Olga and Cyril Mowforth married in June...

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  • My Favourite History Place: Edinburgh's Royal Mile

    Article

    Maggie Wilson whets our appetite for exploration of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. Edinburgh’s Royal Mile runs between the Castle and Holyrood Palace. In addition to these and other well-known sites such as St Giles Cathedral, John Knox’s house, the Canongate Tolbooth and Canongate Kirk, and stories of Deacon Brodie, David Hume, James Boswell, Robert Burns and, obviously,...

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  • The German prisoner-of-war camp in Dorchester

    Article

    Dave Martin investigates why there is a war memorial for German soldiers, ‘buried in a foreign field’, in a Dorset churchyard.

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  • A year in the life of a branch coordinator

    Article

    Jenni Hyde takes us through an exciting year with the Bolton Branch and provides some great ideas for other branch secretaries.

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  • Out and About in Oxford

    Article

    The Sheffield Branch of the Historical Association is a very active one. In addition to our monthly meetings we organise a range of study visits, from one-day trips to longer residential tours in the UK and occasionally in mainland Europe. In recent years, these have included visits to Portsmouth, Lincoln and Newark, Newcastle and Northumberland, and the battlefields of Waterloo....

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  • My Favourite History Place: The Guild Chapel

    Article

    Trevor James highlights a very important building to visit and celebrate during the HA's Annual Conference in Stratford-upon-Avon in May 2018.

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  • The initial impact of the Battle of Jutland on the people of Portsmouth

    Article

    This local study by Steve Doe draws together the human effects of what happened at the Battle of Jutland in June 1916 with accounts of how the families of those who fought in the battle and the wider local community dealt with the tragedy.

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  • My Favourite History Place: Lord Street, Southport

    Article

    Trevor James introduces an international dimension to local history, revealing how a future French Emperor interpreted his affection for Southport’s Lord Street into the extensive redesign of Parisian streets.

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  • The Great Yarmouth Suspension Bridge Disaster of 1845

    Article

    Many communities have cataclysmic disasters which tend to dominate or define their local history. Gareth Davies reveals that the sudden collapse of the Great Yarmouth Suspension Bridge is a telling example of this trend. Beside the waters of the River Bure in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk stands a shiny black memorial...

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  • The National Archives

    Article

    The National Archives holds millions of records which can help you find out about people's lives and careers. Their website includes useful guides for those starting out with research, including a dedicated Family History tag. Their online catalogue Discovery holds more than 32 million descriptions of records held by The National...

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  • England's Immigrants 1330-1550

    Multipage Article

    An HA Podcast with Professor Mark Ormrod of the University of York looking at the research project England's Immigrants 1330-1550.  In this podcast Professor Ormrod explores the extensive archival evidence about the names, origins, occupations and households of a significant number of foreigners who chose to make their lives and livelihoods in...

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  • Memories of Croydon Airport - Film (Bursary Project)

    Multipage Article

    The Historical Association was left a legacy by Joan Lewin which became the Joan Lewin Education Bursary Fund. Each year, applicants apply for grants for education projects surrounding aspects of teaching and learning, resources, or education research. A Film by students of John Fisher School, Croydon, looking at the history of Croydon's...

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  • Untold Lives - Sharing Stories from the Past

    Article

    Untold Live - British Library History Blog The British Library's collections contain stories of people's lives worldwide, from the dawn of history to the present day. They are told through the written word, images, audio-visual and digital materials. The Untold Lives blog shares those stories, providing fascinating and unusual insights...

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  • 'How to' research local and family history

    Multipage Article

    An HA Podcasted Guide to researching local and family history featuring Dr Nick Barratt.

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  • The use of personal heritage in education

    Multipage Article

    In this podcast Dr Nick Barratt discusses the use of personal heritage in education.

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  • Short guides to Records

    Multipage Article

    A series of short guides to different types of public and other records, including rate books, wills, probate inventories and poll books.

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  • Newspaper Collection

    Article

    Richard Heaton's collection of newspapers consists of over 800 free searchable extracts and full transcripts of English and Irish, Georgian and early Victorian Regional newspapers. It is one the largest free collections on the web full of unique material bringing you one step closer to your ancestors and their world,...

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  • England's Past For Everyone

    Article

    England's Past for Everyone was a local history project run by the Victoria County History. Volunteers throughout the country worked alongside authors and researchers to produce a whole range of new resources. From a series of books to learning resources for schools, it sought to bring local history to life.  The EPE project was...

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  • Victoria County History

    Article

    Local history is the study of places and communities. It dates from the time of the great antiquarian county histories from the sixteenth century onwards. Local history is taught in universities, often at postgraduate level, and each county as well as many villages and towns, have their own societies. Family history,...

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