January 2021

Today’s blog starts with a picture of a delightful allotment plot in Prague, Czech Republic, this copied from the Allotments site on Wikipedia – this site focusses on allotment allocation around the world, giving the whole issue a global perspective. Continuing the 20th century history of English allotments (s.p.b.) we come to the important Land […]

Allocations of land so that ‘all men’ might have their connection with the land has been a recurring theme of radical movements in History, these often alarmed at the growing disconnect between ordinary people and land ownership – this was the case, for example, during the Peasants Revolt of the 14th century, of the ‘Diggers’

The photo above is taken from Wikipedia and shows a group of boys (presumably the girls were indoors sewing!) in London in 1942 vigorously creating a growing area on part of a bombsite. Such activity was indirectly encouraged by the government by the Second World War version of the Dig for Victory campaign. Official figures

The photo above is a view west from near the top of the chalk scarp slope above the village of Worlaby, North Lincs., it shows the Vale of Ancholme in the middle distance with the dip slope of the Middle Jurassic limestone escarpment beyond. Worlaby is a spring-line village about five miles south of South

Just a final word about 19th century publications by subscriptions as discussed in the context of Poulson’s History of Holderness. My edition of Ball’s History of Barton (s.p.b.s) is a reprint so am not sure if his original publication of the 1850s had a list of subscribers, if so I don’t have that list. He

Ball’s The Social History and Antiquities of Barton-upon-Humber, published 1856 and edited by George Poulson (s.p.b.) was different in style to Poulson’s earlier works on the histories of Beverley and Holderness (s.p.b.s) as well as being published in A5 size rather than wide A4 used by Poulson. Also, only a few sketches were included by