Joe Saunders
@joesaunders1.bsky.social
Freelance Historian | Part-time PhD English print trade networks 1600-45 📚 Vice-Chair, British Association for Local History 📜 Tutor, Pharos Tutors. Co-editor How-to History. www.joesaundershistory.co.uk
Pinned
Joe Saunders
@joesaunders1.bsky.social
· Dec 20
Delighted to be continuing as a research assistant on the London on the Eve of the Great Fire project. To support the creation of this Atlas and Gazetteer of 1665-6 London then consider a donation to the project. @historictownstrust.bsky.social 🗃️ shop.historictownstrust.uk/product/donate
Reposted by Joe Saunders
New month, new blogging, vlogging and social media prompt! For February we have #OnePlaceNetworks – an opportunity to explore networks involving people in our #OnePlaceStudies, who were linked by a variety of familial, financial, business, charitable, religious, recreational and other relationships.
February 1, 2026 at 12:50 PM
New month, new blogging, vlogging and social media prompt! For February we have #OnePlaceNetworks – an opportunity to explore networks involving people in our #OnePlaceStudies, who were linked by a variety of familial, financial, business, charitable, religious, recreational and other relationships.
Reposted by Joe Saunders
If you want to stop this because the price is too high in terms of commuting misery, impact on the heritage buildings, and placing the local community in the shadow of another tall building, please object here: Here's our helpful Guide: bit.ly/4jLWsim #SaveLiverpoolStreetStation
'Decade of chaos' alert as Liverpool St station scheme set for approval
City Corporation sets February date for planning decision as campaigners warn UK’s busiest train station will be construction site for seven years
bit.ly
January 29, 2026 at 8:16 PM
If you want to stop this because the price is too high in terms of commuting misery, impact on the heritage buildings, and placing the local community in the shadow of another tall building, please object here: Here's our helpful Guide: bit.ly/4jLWsim #SaveLiverpoolStreetStation
Reposted by Joe Saunders
This is such a facile argument. Sure, let's have a conversation about how universities should be funded. But let's also talk interest rates, debt that functions like an extra tax, repayment thresholds, and what that's actually doing to millions of young people who did everything they were told to do
2026: Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves, "It is not right that people who don't go to university bear the cost for others to"
2020: That time Labour leader Keir Starmer said he would scrap university tuition fees
2020: That time Labour leader Keir Starmer said he would scrap university tuition fees
January 29, 2026 at 2:44 PM
This is such a facile argument. Sure, let's have a conversation about how universities should be funded. But let's also talk interest rates, debt that functions like an extra tax, repayment thresholds, and what that's actually doing to millions of young people who did everything they were told to do
Reposted by Joe Saunders
my dad didn’t go to university and he was extremely happy to pay taxes for his four children to do so; and, indeed, for the doctors who treated him at Addenbrookes to have gone to university as well.
Rachel Reeves: "It is not right that people who don't go to university bear the cost for others to." I don't use local leisure centres and I don't drive, so will I be made exempt for taxation that pays for all that stuff? Or is it only education we'll be going after
January 29, 2026 at 10:22 PM
my dad didn’t go to university and he was extremely happy to pay taxes for his four children to do so; and, indeed, for the doctors who treated him at Addenbrookes to have gone to university as well.
Researching the history of an organisation which in 1850 declared it would 'Undertake nothing that it cannot perform, and to perform everything that it undertakes’, which feels like excellent life advice. 🗃️
January 29, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Researching the history of an organisation which in 1850 declared it would 'Undertake nothing that it cannot perform, and to perform everything that it undertakes’, which feels like excellent life advice. 🗃️
Reposted by Joe Saunders
Excited to be speaking at the IHR Food History seminar on 12 February 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm.
Book a place to hear about cheesemaking and women’s dominance of the dairy in early modern England.
Online via Zoom so no real cheese this time I’m afraid.
Book a place to hear about cheesemaking and women’s dominance of the dairy in early modern England.
Online via Zoom so no real cheese this time I’m afraid.
Women, Food and Power - Joint Session
www.history.ac.uk
January 20, 2026 at 6:26 PM
Excited to be speaking at the IHR Food History seminar on 12 February 5.30 pm to 6.30 pm.
Book a place to hear about cheesemaking and women’s dominance of the dairy in early modern England.
Online via Zoom so no real cheese this time I’m afraid.
Book a place to hear about cheesemaking and women’s dominance of the dairy in early modern England.
Online via Zoom so no real cheese this time I’m afraid.
Reposted by Joe Saunders
Spoke to Shleagh Fogarty yesterday sbout why the Chancellor is wrong: our “student loan” system is not remotely fair. It’s regressive and embedding inter and intra generational wealth inequality. It’s not a loan system, it’s a bad grad tax in all but name.
youtu.be/uOC6Arrf2us?...
youtu.be/uOC6Arrf2us?...
Student loans are 'fair', says Rachel Reeves, amid backlash | LBC
YouTube video by LBC
youtu.be
January 29, 2026 at 7:41 AM
Spoke to Shleagh Fogarty yesterday sbout why the Chancellor is wrong: our “student loan” system is not remotely fair. It’s regressive and embedding inter and intra generational wealth inequality. It’s not a loan system, it’s a bad grad tax in all but name.
youtu.be/uOC6Arrf2us?...
youtu.be/uOC6Arrf2us?...
Reposted by Joe Saunders
This is a very useful thread. The government is touting this training as ‘the most ambitious training scheme since the launch of the Open University in 1971’. Which is insulting to the OU, quite frankly.
I think I might take one of these "under 20 minutes" AI skills courses the UK Govt. seems very keen on everyone doing and live-post it here... Maybe we can all learn something together! The press release sends me to aiskillshub.org.uk/aiskillsboost/ - let's go and see!
AI Skills Boost - AI Skills Hub
aiskillshub.org.uk
January 29, 2026 at 8:48 AM
This is a very useful thread. The government is touting this training as ‘the most ambitious training scheme since the launch of the Open University in 1971’. Which is insulting to the OU, quite frankly.
Excellent demonstration of the variations in early modern spelling. Four versions of William Hawkes (from the Posting Book ... for Staking Out of Foundations in the Runs of the City of London). #EarlyModern 🗃️
January 28, 2026 at 12:17 PM
Excellent demonstration of the variations in early modern spelling. Four versions of William Hawkes (from the Posting Book ... for Staking Out of Foundations in the Runs of the City of London). #EarlyModern 🗃️
Reposted by Joe Saunders
Antiquarianism, by Joe Saunders. Antiquarians have served an important part in the study of history over the last few hundred years, and their work has helped the development of the modern historical sciences. how-to-history.com/2026/01/28/a...
January 28, 2026 at 7:53 AM
Antiquarianism, by Joe Saunders. Antiquarians have served an important part in the study of history over the last few hundred years, and their work has helped the development of the modern historical sciences. how-to-history.com/2026/01/28/a...
The Parish of St Saviour, Southwark: Information about Parishioners, from Various Sources, 1550 to 1650.
Fantastic site with a huge amount of transcribed material. Example shown, Sewer Commission records. #LocalHistory #EarlyModern 🗃️ stsaviour.folger.edu/index.html
Fantastic site with a huge amount of transcribed material. Example shown, Sewer Commission records. #LocalHistory #EarlyModern 🗃️ stsaviour.folger.edu/index.html
![Transcriptions of Sewer Commission records. Example entry, Philip Henslowe to board and fill up six poles of the wharf along Maiden Lane against his playhouse, by Michaelmas, else 15s penalty for each pole not done. ['done']](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:637stqu2o2vnsqth2glmnx7m/bafkreifzppp4smtj5xemciupxvap3bbcvn6ijswke3u6wog3eatswbkree@jpeg)
January 20, 2026 at 9:11 AM
The Parish of St Saviour, Southwark: Information about Parishioners, from Various Sources, 1550 to 1650.
Fantastic site with a huge amount of transcribed material. Example shown, Sewer Commission records. #LocalHistory #EarlyModern 🗃️ stsaviour.folger.edu/index.html
Fantastic site with a huge amount of transcribed material. Example shown, Sewer Commission records. #LocalHistory #EarlyModern 🗃️ stsaviour.folger.edu/index.html
Reposted by Joe Saunders
📣3 days to go until the deadline - we can't wait to see you for our 50th anniversary in Lancaster!
📣You have just under a month to send in your proposal for our 2026 Social History Society Conference - where we will be celebrating out 50th anniversary!
👉Find out more here: socialhistory.org.uk/conference/s...
👉Find out more here: socialhistory.org.uk/conference/s...
SHS Annual Conference 2026
Our 50th anniversary conference will be held at Lancaster University, the academic home of the Social History Society. A Significant Milestone The Social History Society was founded at Lancaster Un…
socialhistory.org.uk
January 13, 2026 at 8:29 AM
📣3 days to go until the deadline - we can't wait to see you for our 50th anniversary in Lancaster!
Reposted by Joe Saunders
Today is #PloughMonday. Thomas Tusser called it one of the feasts 'belonging to the plough' that employers in #earlymodern England should never forget.
Here I explore these holidays where work & play mingled: how the festive shaped #labour relations.
ludicrushistories.wordpress.com/2026/01/12/f...
Here I explore these holidays where work & play mingled: how the festive shaped #labour relations.
ludicrushistories.wordpress.com/2026/01/12/f...
‘The Ploughman’s Feasting Days’: Festive Work Relations in Thomas Tusser
Originally posted on the University of Exeter’s History of Economy Research Blog on 23 February 2021. This blog post explores the relationship between work and festivity (and play more genera…
ludicrushistories.wordpress.com
January 12, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Today is #PloughMonday. Thomas Tusser called it one of the feasts 'belonging to the plough' that employers in #earlymodern England should never forget.
Here I explore these holidays where work & play mingled: how the festive shaped #labour relations.
ludicrushistories.wordpress.com/2026/01/12/f...
Here I explore these holidays where work & play mingled: how the festive shaped #labour relations.
ludicrushistories.wordpress.com/2026/01/12/f...
Reposted by Joe Saunders
Today is Plough Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany, when agricultural labourers would start to plough the fields in preparation for sowing and planting crops. Hopefully the end result would be as beautiful as these fields, from a manuscript map of Hunsdon House, Herts, c1820 @bodleian.ox.ac.uk
January 12, 2026 at 10:31 AM
Today is Plough Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany, when agricultural labourers would start to plough the fields in preparation for sowing and planting crops. Hopefully the end result would be as beautiful as these fields, from a manuscript map of Hunsdon House, Herts, c1820 @bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Reposted by Joe Saunders
This new blogpost from @ihr.bsky.social by Daisy Mansfield, a volunteer with our @vch-london.bsky.social project, currently working on the parish of St Anne #Soho looks at what we can learn abut the life of the area in the 18th century from the works of William Hogarth. 🗃️
Soho at Noon: Satire, Stratification, and Urbanisation in William Hogarth’s London - On History
Daisy Mansfield is volunteer with VCH London, focusing on artists in Soho. In this blog, she discusses what we can learn about Soho in the eighteenth-century from the work of the renowned artist and c...
blog.history.ac.uk
January 9, 2026 at 2:14 PM
This new blogpost from @ihr.bsky.social by Daisy Mansfield, a volunteer with our @vch-london.bsky.social project, currently working on the parish of St Anne #Soho looks at what we can learn abut the life of the area in the 18th century from the works of William Hogarth. 🗃️
Reposted by Joe Saunders
This #MapMonday we're taking you back in time ⌛
We've just added over 9,000 out of copyright Ordnance Survey maps published in 1975 to our Map Images website.
What did your neighbourhood look like fifty years ago? 🗺️
🔗: maps.nls.uk/additions/#191
#MoreMaps
We've just added over 9,000 out of copyright Ordnance Survey maps published in 1975 to our Map Images website.
What did your neighbourhood look like fifty years ago? 🗺️
🔗: maps.nls.uk/additions/#191
#MoreMaps
January 12, 2026 at 9:00 AM
This #MapMonday we're taking you back in time ⌛
We've just added over 9,000 out of copyright Ordnance Survey maps published in 1975 to our Map Images website.
What did your neighbourhood look like fifty years ago? 🗺️
🔗: maps.nls.uk/additions/#191
#MoreMaps
We've just added over 9,000 out of copyright Ordnance Survey maps published in 1975 to our Map Images website.
What did your neighbourhood look like fifty years ago? 🗺️
🔗: maps.nls.uk/additions/#191
#MoreMaps
Reposted by Joe Saunders
#ICYMI: Calling all BALH members! Join us on 29 January 2026 to have your say at our Special General Meeting.
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-b...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-b...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
January 8, 2026 at 7:00 AM
#ICYMI: Calling all BALH members! Join us on 29 January 2026 to have your say at our Special General Meeting.
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-b...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-b...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
Amazing new publication of Thomas Machell's 17th century 'Collections Towards a History and Topography of Westmorland' edited by Jane Platt. A fantastic source for study made freely available online by Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological society. 🗃️ cumbriapast.com/cgi-bin/cumb...
January 8, 2026 at 8:50 AM
Amazing new publication of Thomas Machell's 17th century 'Collections Towards a History and Topography of Westmorland' edited by Jane Platt. A fantastic source for study made freely available online by Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological society. 🗃️ cumbriapast.com/cgi-bin/cumb...
Reposted by Joe Saunders
#ICYMI: Join us on 27 January to learn about how an Atlas of London in 1666 has been researched!
This webinar is in collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust @historictownstrust.bsky.social
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-r...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
This webinar is in collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust @historictownstrust.bsky.social
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-r...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
January 7, 2026 at 7:01 AM
#ICYMI: Join us on 27 January to learn about how an Atlas of London in 1666 has been researched!
This webinar is in collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust @historictownstrust.bsky.social
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-r...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
This webinar is in collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust @historictownstrust.bsky.social
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-r...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
Reposted by Joe Saunders
I know it feels a long way off, but for those of you who think your August is missing a little early modern crime...why not sign up for the University of Oxford's summer school? I promise it will be more fun and less grim than you may think!
lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/courses/crim...
lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/courses/crim...
Crime and Punishment in Early Modern London and the Home Counties
Crime and punishment in early modern London and the home counties is a rich area of study. Students will encounter not only the changes in the law across the period, but also the very real human stori...
lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk
January 5, 2026 at 9:44 AM
I know it feels a long way off, but for those of you who think your August is missing a little early modern crime...why not sign up for the University of Oxford's summer school? I promise it will be more fun and less grim than you may think!
lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/courses/crim...
lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/courses/crim...
Reposted by Joe Saunders
Join us on 2 May for a one-day conference all about the Yorkshire Dales!
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/yorkshire26
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/yorkshire26
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
January 2, 2026 at 8:01 AM
Join us on 2 May for a one-day conference all about the Yorkshire Dales!
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/yorkshire26
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/yorkshire26
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
Reposted by Joe Saunders
Calling all BALH members! Join us on 29 January 2026 to have your say at our Special General Meeting.
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-b...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-b...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
December 29, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Calling all BALH members! Join us on 29 January 2026 to have your say at our Special General Meeting.
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-b...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-b...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
Reposted by Joe Saunders
Join us next month to learn about how an Atlas of London in 1666 has been researched!
This webinar is in collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust @historictownstrust.bsky.social
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-r...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
This webinar is in collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust @historictownstrust.bsky.social
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-r...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
December 27, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Join us next month to learn about how an Atlas of London in 1666 has been researched!
This webinar is in collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust @historictownstrust.bsky.social
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-r...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
This webinar is in collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust @historictownstrust.bsky.social
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-r...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
Reposted by Joe Saunders
Friendly Societies, by Joe Saunders. Prior to the development of government and employer health insurance and financial services, friendly or ‘benevolent’ societies were an important part of many people’s lives. how-to-history.com/2025/12/31/f...
January 2, 2026 at 8:51 AM
Friendly Societies, by Joe Saunders. Prior to the development of government and employer health insurance and financial services, friendly or ‘benevolent’ societies were an important part of many people’s lives. how-to-history.com/2025/12/31/f...
Reposted by Joe Saunders
Did medieval people buy each other Christmas gifts? New Year's Day was the main gifting day, but little is known about everyday people's present giving. Our project on London's customs records has uncovered a wealth of affordable items imported around this time: gloves and hats to toys and rattles🧵
Medieval Londoners’ cheaply imported mass-produced Christmas gifts look surprisingly familiar
We often imagine medieval life as dull, dirty and short, with little in the way of material comfort or decoration. However, medieval Londoners were importing toys, treats and trinkets by the boatload ...
theconversation.com
December 22, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Did medieval people buy each other Christmas gifts? New Year's Day was the main gifting day, but little is known about everyday people's present giving. Our project on London's customs records has uncovered a wealth of affordable items imported around this time: gloves and hats to toys and rattles🧵