Alex Craven
@dralexcraven.bsky.social
FRHistS. Freelance historian, working mainly for the VCH in Gloucestershire and Somerset. Interested in the English republic, radicalism, religion, and Reading FC.
Reposted by Alex Craven
Think that migration from outside Europe is only a modern phenomenon? Our research sometimes throws up evidence of the presence of people of colour centuries ago, like this payment to an itinerant Yemani man by the parish of Charlton King’s in 1733.
One for historians of migration and diversity: Just found a reference to a payment by the overseers of Charlton Kings (Glos.) to 'an Arabia Felix man' in 1733. I'd never come across the term before, but Google tells me it's an old name for southern Arabia, or the Yeman.
November 20, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Think that migration from outside Europe is only a modern phenomenon? Our research sometimes throws up evidence of the presence of people of colour centuries ago, like this payment to an itinerant Yemani man by the parish of Charlton King’s in 1733.
One for historians of migration and diversity: Just found a reference to a payment by the overseers of Charlton Kings (Glos.) to 'an Arabia Felix man' in 1733. I'd never come across the term before, but Google tells me it's an old name for southern Arabia, or the Yeman.
November 20, 2025 at 10:42 AM
One for historians of migration and diversity: Just found a reference to a payment by the overseers of Charlton Kings (Glos.) to 'an Arabia Felix man' in 1733. I'd never come across the term before, but Google tells me it's an old name for southern Arabia, or the Yeman.
Reposted by Alex Craven
See also, past activist movements which eventually achieved at least some of their aims are Part Of Our Great Heritage (anti-slavery, the suffrage movement, etc etc), unlike these horrible modern Wokes (who may even point out the oppressions and injustices they were fighting against, shock horror).
November 12, 2025 at 10:37 AM
See also, past activist movements which eventually achieved at least some of their aims are Part Of Our Great Heritage (anti-slavery, the suffrage movement, etc etc), unlike these horrible modern Wokes (who may even point out the oppressions and injustices they were fighting against, shock horror).
Medievalists! I'm writing about a church where it was said that in 1224 'there is no font to baptise boys, but one of unadorned lead in its place', and I have questions.
October 9, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Medievalists! I'm writing about a church where it was said that in 1224 'there is no font to baptise boys, but one of unadorned lead in its place', and I have questions.
Sellafirld is certainly going to make for one of the more interesting VCH Cumbria. Volumes, that’s for sure. And @vch-home.bsky.social volumes are all already incredibly interesting, obviously.
‘It’s Sellafield or nothing’: what life is like growing up in the shadow of Europe’s oldest nuclear site
‘It’s Sellafield or nothing’: what life is like growing up in the shadow of Europe’s oldest nuclear site
Young people growing up in Whitehaven on England’s north-west coast rely on the power plant for everything from jobs to civic investment. But for those who see their future elsewhere, options can be limited
www.theguardian.com
October 7, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Sellafirld is certainly going to make for one of the more interesting VCH Cumbria. Volumes, that’s for sure. And @vch-home.bsky.social volumes are all already incredibly interesting, obviously.
Reposted by Alex Craven
This volume - one of three that @vchgloucester.bsky.social are currently working on - focuses on the town of Cirencester, a medieval town on a Roman site.
Work is also under way towards volumes on #Cheltenham, and on #Yate and the Sodburys - to learn more and support these projects:
Work is also under way towards volumes on #Cheltenham, and on #Yate and the Sodburys - to learn more and support these projects:
Gloucestershire
Learn about the Victoria County History of Gloucestershire.
www.history.ac.uk
October 1, 2025 at 3:12 PM
This volume - one of three that @vchgloucester.bsky.social are currently working on - focuses on the town of Cirencester, a medieval town on a Roman site.
Work is also under way towards volumes on #Cheltenham, and on #Yate and the Sodburys - to learn more and support these projects:
Work is also under way towards volumes on #Cheltenham, and on #Yate and the Sodburys - to learn more and support these projects:
Reposted by Alex Craven
More new *draft* text from @vchgloucester.bsky.social on the parish of #Coates, near #Cirencester.
All corrections, additions, or clarifications welcome! #Skystorians #LocalHistory
All corrections, additions, or clarifications welcome! #Skystorians #LocalHistory
Gloucestershire vol. XVI - Cirencester and District
The research for the accounts of the prehistory of the area, the Abbey of Cirencester, the town and parish of Cirencester, Bagendon, Baunton, Daglingworth and Stratton.
www.history.ac.uk
October 1, 2025 at 3:02 PM
More new *draft* text from @vchgloucester.bsky.social on the parish of #Coates, near #Cirencester.
All corrections, additions, or clarifications welcome! #Skystorians #LocalHistory
All corrections, additions, or clarifications welcome! #Skystorians #LocalHistory
Out in the field taking final illustrations for the book on Herriard, and the late evening sun is picking out the mass dials on the parish church perfectly.
August 20, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Out in the field taking final illustrations for the book on Herriard, and the late evening sun is picking out the mass dials on the parish church perfectly.
Reposted by Alex Craven
But the fundamental point is that the rail network is far, far more crowded than 30 years ago. In the year to March 1996, there were 761mn passenger journeys on GB's mainline railways. In the year to March this year, there were 1.73bn, almost back to the 1.75bn peak in the year to March 2019.
August 11, 2025 at 7:47 AM
But the fundamental point is that the rail network is far, far more crowded than 30 years ago. In the year to March 1996, there were 761mn passenger journeys on GB's mainline railways. In the year to March this year, there were 1.73bn, almost back to the 1.75bn peak in the year to March 2019.
Reposted by Alex Craven
Delighted that the print copies of my first book 'Birth, Death, and Domestic Religion in early modern London', just published with @universitypress.cambridge.org, have arrived! 📚📚📚
August 7, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Delighted that the print copies of my first book 'Birth, Death, and Domestic Religion in early modern London', just published with @universitypress.cambridge.org, have arrived! 📚📚📚
Reposted by Alex Craven
Alice! Top work @hagenilda.bsky.social @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social @sharonhoward.bsky.social et al!
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
Woman’s memoirs give fascinating insight into life in 17th-century northern England
Newly reunited manuscripts by Alice Thornton show how she navigated personal crises during tumultuous events such as the civil war
www.theguardian.com
August 4, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Railway historians/enthusiasts - can anyone suggest how/where I can find photos of obscure railways and trains? I would like photos of the L&SWR Basingstoke-Alton branch - ideally of Herriard station, and the railmotors that ran on the line.
August 2, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Railway historians/enthusiasts - can anyone suggest how/where I can find photos of obscure railways and trains? I would like photos of the L&SWR Basingstoke-Alton branch - ideally of Herriard station, and the railmotors that ran on the line.
Looking through the 1921 census for one of my @vchgloucester.bsky.social parishes, and I was intrigued to find a professional footballer amongst all the ag labs and other rural workers. Intriguingly, he was actually under contract to @safc.com whilst apparently living near Cirencester.
July 9, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Looking through the 1921 census for one of my @vchgloucester.bsky.social parishes, and I was intrigued to find a professional footballer amongst all the ag labs and other rural workers. Intriguingly, he was actually under contract to @safc.com whilst apparently living near Cirencester.
Oh... oh my. So, @vchlondon.bsky.social... history of the post office??
April 25, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Oh... oh my. So, @vchlondon.bsky.social... history of the post office??
Reposted by Alex Craven
Part-time, permanent tutor job in my Department. We're looking for a local/architectural historian to teach two asynchronous online courses.
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMV263/d...
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMV263/d...
Departmental Tutor at University of Oxford
Discover an exciting academic career path as a Departmental Tutor at jobs.ac.uk. Don't miss out on this job opportunity - apply today!
www.jobs.ac.uk
April 24, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Part-time, permanent tutor job in my Department. We're looking for a local/architectural historian to teach two asynchronous online courses.
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMV263/d...
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMV263/d...
Very exciting news, especially excited for the long overdue project on Dorset. Good luck @markforrest.bsky.social!
We are SUPER excited to share the news that the #VCH network is growing & has recently added 4 new projects in #Dorset, #Kent, #Lincolnshire & #London. These are all really exciting, collaborative projects, which you can find out more about here: blog.history.ac.uk/2025/04/four...
Four New Victoria County History Projects - On History
This blog post was written by Ruth Slatter and Adam Chapman, Co-General Editors of the VCH. The Victoria County History (VCH), is delighted to announce that its national network of place-based history...
blog.history.ac.uk
April 24, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Very exciting news, especially excited for the long overdue project on Dorset. Good luck @markforrest.bsky.social!
Reposted by Alex Craven
We are SUPER excited to share the news that the #VCH network is growing & has recently added 4 new projects in #Dorset, #Kent, #Lincolnshire & #London. These are all really exciting, collaborative projects, which you can find out more about here: blog.history.ac.uk/2025/04/four...
Four New Victoria County History Projects - On History
This blog post was written by Ruth Slatter and Adam Chapman, Co-General Editors of the VCH. The Victoria County History (VCH), is delighted to announce that its national network of place-based history...
blog.history.ac.uk
April 24, 2025 at 8:38 AM
We are SUPER excited to share the news that the #VCH network is growing & has recently added 4 new projects in #Dorset, #Kent, #Lincolnshire & #London. These are all really exciting, collaborative projects, which you can find out more about here: blog.history.ac.uk/2025/04/four...
Reposted by Alex Craven
All genuine historical work is revisionist. It revises what we thought we knew, with new evidence & new interpretations, in the present, for the present, respecting the reality of the past AND the multiple things it can be made to say.
Everything else is self-interested myth-making.
Everything else is self-interested myth-making.
There's a list in here of the kinds of topics that people might cry "revisionist history!" about and they've nearly all been the subject of an EO at this point. I'm not claiming to be some visionary, just that this was all pretty clearly where these folks wanted to go, even in 2019.
"It’s not that historians are distorting the past to make a point about the present. The discomfort comes from the fact that historians are often disrupting or destroying connections people have already made between the past and the present, connections that may be based on no evidence at all."
March 28, 2025 at 10:02 AM
All genuine historical work is revisionist. It revises what we thought we knew, with new evidence & new interpretations, in the present, for the present, respecting the reality of the past AND the multiple things it can be made to say.
Everything else is self-interested myth-making.
Everything else is self-interested myth-making.
Reposted by Alex Craven
My piece for History Workshop looks back at what feels, I'm sure to me and so many other academics in the UK, like a decade-long crisis in universities. A crisis of politics, of a particularly venomous form of "education as market" ideology, and now a crisis of desperate, annihilating job cuts. 1/2
UK universities are in crisis.
Dave Hitchcock (@davehitchcock.bsky.social) on how the sector became 'broken' and why it must be approached as an interdependent system.
www.historyworkshop....
Dave Hitchcock (@davehitchcock.bsky.social) on how the sector became 'broken' and why it must be approached as an interdependent system.
www.historyworkshop....
A Decade of Crisis
The UK's universities are in crisis. Dave Hitchcock on how the sector became 'broken' and why it must be understood as an interdependent system.
www.historyworkshop.org.uk
March 13, 2025 at 7:57 AM
My piece for History Workshop looks back at what feels, I'm sure to me and so many other academics in the UK, like a decade-long crisis in universities. A crisis of politics, of a particularly venomous form of "education as market" ideology, and now a crisis of desperate, annihilating job cuts. 1/2
Reposted by Alex Craven
As has been widely noted, this country, and the whole of Western Europe, FOUGHT THE COLD WAR AND BUILT A WELFARE STATE AT THE SAME TIME.
AND TAXED WEALTH TO DO IT.
So fuck you, you neoliberal pimp.
AND TAXED WEALTH TO DO IT.
So fuck you, you neoliberal pimp.
This is the most dangerous, irresponsible framing imaginable. Not to mention it is bollocks.
The big big winners from positioning Ukrainian security against poor British people & our public services are the far right.
TAX THE RICH TO PAY FOR DEFENSE. PROTECT OUR WELFARE STATE.
The big big winners from positioning Ukrainian security against poor British people & our public services are the far right.
TAX THE RICH TO PAY FOR DEFENSE. PROTECT OUR WELFARE STATE.
March 6, 2025 at 8:54 AM
As has been widely noted, this country, and the whole of Western Europe, FOUGHT THE COLD WAR AND BUILT A WELFARE STATE AT THE SAME TIME.
AND TAXED WEALTH TO DO IT.
So fuck you, you neoliberal pimp.
AND TAXED WEALTH TO DO IT.
So fuck you, you neoliberal pimp.
Reposted by Alex Craven
Word of the day is ‘huff-snuff’ (16th century): a hectoring bully or braggart.
February 28, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Word of the day is ‘huff-snuff’ (16th century): a hectoring bully or braggart.
Reposted by Alex Craven
If you elect a clown, expect a circus.
February 28, 2025 at 7:30 PM
If you elect a clown, expect a circus.
Jesus, what a depressing car crash. Слава Україні!
February 28, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Jesus, what a depressing car crash. Слава Україні!
Enjoy it Canada. What's the betting that next time Trump insists Canada be replaced by Russia?
February 21, 2025 at 4:32 AM
Enjoy it Canada. What's the betting that next time Trump insists Canada be replaced by Russia?