The main filming location for hit series and brand new film Downton Abbey, Highclere Castle in Hampshire, holds a fascinating history, as well as its more contemporary cinematic claim to fame. The Sphere | 14 April 1923 Using articles found in the British Newspaper Archive, in this blog we explore Highclere Castle – from its building to its famous inhabitants – and discover a history with as much drama as an episode of Downton Abbey. Architectural Origins Downton Abbey’s iconic exterior, …
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This week we have added 110,926 new pages to The Archive. All updated and new titles this week have a decidedly Gaelic twist, as we continue to augment our holdings for both Scotland and Ireland. We welcome this week to our collection two newspapers that cover the historic county of Dumfriesshire. Both weekly publications, the Eskdale and Liddesdale Advertiser was published in Langholm and the newspaper continues to this day, and the Galloway News and Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser was published in Dalbeattie. Rounding off …
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This week sees 100,598 brand new pages joining The Archive, with updates to fourteen of our existing titles, as well as five new titles joining our collection. We are delighted to continue to augment our Scottish newspaper holdings, with four brand new Scottish titles added this week. This includes the Ayrshire Post, a weekly title which was founded in 1880 and covers south and east Ayrshire, and another weekly title, the Wishaw Press, which covers north Lanarkshire. Making up our trio of local Scottish titles …
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During the Second World War the government requisitioned country houses across the United Kingdom for the war effort. No house was exempt, with the grandest stately homes re-purposed to house everything from schools to maternity homes, from military hospitals to war supply depots. Using photographs and contemporary articles found in the British Newspaper Archive, we will look at the myriad of purposes for which stately homes were used during the six year conflict. Many houses were taken over to be …
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Over eighty years since the first children were evacuated from cities across Britain, and as part of our history of childhood month here at The Archive, in this special blog we will take a look at how country houses were requisitioned by schools and their evacuated children. Want to learn more? Register now and explore the Archive The grandest of stately homes were not exempt from requisition, with some of the country’s largest and most famous houses, including Blenheim Palace, …
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This week we have added an impressive 147,928 new pages to The Archive, covering exactly one century of news. We have added five brand new titles this week, with four of these new additions being Scottish publications. Joining The Archive is the Alloa Journal, the Forfar Herald and the Dalkeith Advertiser, as well as the Clyde Bill of Entry and Shipping List. The latter title was published by the Custom House in Glasgow, and recorded the declarations of goods being imported and …
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The bathing machine, once a familiar sight at British seaside resorts, has all but become extinct, its legacy only really reflected in the beach huts which still line coasts up and down the United Kingdom. In this special blog we take a look at some of the wonderful photographs and illustrations of bathing machines that can be found using the British Newspaper Archive. The Bystander | 7 August 1912 There is some conjecture as to where the bathing machine originated – …
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This week we have added 94,482 new pages to The Archive, covering 123 years of history across the British Isles and Ireland. We have updated seven of our existing titles, with significant updates to Newcastle publication the Newcastle Daily Chronicle, to which we have added over 60,000 pages spanning the years 1870-1914. We also have significant updates to society publication The Queen, as we continue to augment our early twentieth-century holdings for this newspaper. We have added pages to regional titles covering the North West …
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This week we have added 123,844 brand new pages to The Archive. We are delighted to have added four new Scottish titles to our collection, as we continue to augment our holdings for Scotland. We have two new titles covering the Moray area, namely the Forres News and Advertiser and the Northern Scot and Moray & Nairn Express. Our third new Scottish newspaper is the Renfrewshire Independent, for which we have so far published the years 1858 to 1877. Our final new addition this week is …
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This week we have added 113,770 pages to The Archive, with the inclusion of several brand new Scottish titles such as the Dalkeith Advertiser, the Banffshire Advertiser, the Hawick Express (pronounced “Hoick”!), and the Coatbridge Express. The years we’ve added to the Coatbridge Express expose a time in distinct contrast to the quaint and bright North Lanarkshire town you’ll see today – or, indeed, you would have seen in the 18th century before the town became one of the primary mining towns in industrialist Scotland. Lush forest and greenery paved …