History’s greatest conundrums and mysteries solved

There are many occupations described in historical documents or censuses that almost no one is gainfully employed doing any more. People my age may remember certain jobs that have gone by the wayside.

Last Christmas, Kieran O’Brien MRCVS opened up the world of the urban horse in Victorian times. Here he describes the care of their rural counterparts

This is one in a series of articles; the intention is to provide an overview of useful family and local history records in existence, covering the period 1066-1485. Each article can be enjoyed as a st

Held in high esteem and lavished with furs, velvet and precious stones, young male choristers-turned-bishops were all the rage at Christmas in the Middle Ages, says Matthew Dennison

Is that furry handwarmer merely a decorative symbol of feminine passivity or does it conceal a meat cleaver, a pistol or a pugnacious pet, wonders Deborah Nicholls-Lee

With Hallowe’en out of the way, Christmas is the next big ghostly occasion in the UK traditional calendar. But what, one may wonder, of the rest of Europe? Ghost hunter Peter Underwood called Europe “