Rob Hedge
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robhedge.bsky.social
Rob Hedge
@robhedge.bsky.social
1.5K followers 470 following 230 posts
Archaeologist. PhD research at University of Leicester: peasant perspectives and medieval settlement in the Severn Valley. Freelance artefact analysis, education & illustration. Scribbles a lot. MCIfA 🏺
https://incurablearchaeologist.wordpress.com/
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robhedge.bsky.social
Spent the morning turning this into a tiny zine. Printing, cutting, folding - a tiny analogue act of resistance to the news we’ve had this week about cuts to History at Leicester.
I’ll bring them along to the @leicesterucu.bsky.social demo on Weds 12th November if you’d like your own copy.
November 7, 2025 at 2:59 PM
robhedge.bsky.social
Teifi Marshes Nature Reserve* Parkrun this weekend was an excellent opportunity to pay a Samhain visit to an old friend.

*yes, it is lovely. But yes, the hill at the end is every bit as horrible as they warn you.
Photograph of a sign on a bench saying “Teifi Marshes Nature Reserve Parkrun”, with the nature reserve in the background Photograph of Pentre Ifan, a Neolithic dolmen. It is taken on 1st November. Someone has lain a wreath hanging from the northern stone, presumably to mark Samhain. Photograph of Pentre Ifan from the west.
November 2, 2025 at 9:32 PM
robhedge.bsky.social
Sorry, my reply was unhelpful. My manager is telling me that nothing good ever came from discussing a joke on the internet, and she is a wise old hound, so I offer this picture by way of apology.
Photograph of an elderly Irish Terrier lying in a dog bed.
October 15, 2025 at 10:57 AM
robhedge.bsky.social
#ArchInk 4: bronze; 5: flint; 9: ivory
#archaeology #illustration 🏺🏛️🗃️
Combining three prompts to look at early-19th century views of early Bronze Age artefacts.
Ink and graphite sketch of a dagger and arrowhead. Text reads: #ArchInk The early Bronze Age was a time of remarkable transformation in material and social lives. People and materials came together in new ways. I’m interested in how early observers interpreted these changes. The early-19th century excavators of these artefacts, Colt Hoare and Cunnington, were not afraid to draw parallels with continental Europe. “Some may think it derogates from the dignity of our country to allow a Gaulish (i.e. foreign) original; but, be the consequences what they will, whenever we are in search of truth, although we discover her in ruins and rubbish, we must acknowledge and revere her.” Richard Colt Hoare, 1812 *Colt Hoare and Cunnington were, by the standards of the day, pretty good at recording. But in a sheepish footnote in their discussion of barrows in the severely area of Wiltshire, Colt Hoare admits that he’s not sure which of the barrows this dagger came from! #5 flint One of four arrowheads within a burial in a bowl barrow: Which Show affinity with those from Armorica, NW France. FLINT ARROWHEAD, WIMBORNE ST GILES. 4: Bronze BRONZE DAGGER, SILK HILL MILSTON* 9: ivory The pommel is ivory from a marine mannal, possibly a walrus. It is very worn, suggesting it might have adorned other artefacts before this dagger The wooden handle was re-constructed based onCunnington's dig notes. * Or is it ? Colt Hoare and Cunnington - and their illustrator /surveyor Philip Crocker- were pretty good at recording their f, by the standards of the day. But in a sheepish footnote in their discussions of barrow-digging in the Everley area of Wiltshire, Colt Hoare admits the dagger was "in one of these, but I cannot specify which!'
October 11, 2025 at 2:43 PM
robhedge.bsky.social
#ArchInk 2: shell; 3: residue; 6: horn; 7: textile; 8: stratigraphy
#inktober #medievalsky #skystorians 🏺🏛️🗃️
Combining a few prompts to tell the story of Worcester Cathedral’s Cockleshell Pilgrim.
#ArchInk Ink and graphite sketch of a grave. Accompanying text labels read: The Cockleshell Pilgrim In 1986-7, Excavations within Worcester Cathedral uncovered the body of a man wearing woollen clothing and leather boots, and artefacts suggesting an association with pilgrimage. Research by Katherine lack points to his identity: Robert Sutton, c15th Worcester dyer 6: horn Decayed remnants of a horn tip were found at the top of a 1.55m wooden staff buried next to the body. 8:stratigraphy The burial post-dates construction of the choir wall in 1374. The head and neck were missing: cut by a brick wall that truncated the west end of the grave. 3: residue Remnants of soft tissue, skin, spinal cord, ligaments and muscle were found on the spine and pelvis. 2: Shell Next to the Staff, and a bronze lace end, was a 5cm cockle shell, pierced at the top. Shells were a common Symbol of pilgrimage, but usually Scallop Shells associated with St James'Shrine at Santago de Compostela. The cockle is therefore odd - it may have been intended as a general SymboLof pilgrimage 7: textile He was buried wearing an undershirt and a fine cloak made from a type of woollen cloth called 'worsted' They were of good quality, but plain and undyed -Befitting a pilgrim. Sutton's 1454 will contained a wish to be buried “before the image of StJames in the cathedral.” The man was in his sixties, at least - but had been fit and active before arthritis set in. After anillustration by Helen Lubin, 1990
October 9, 2025 at 8:11 AM
robhedge.bsky.social
#ArchInk 1: pigment
#inktober #medievalsky #skystorians 🏺🏛️🗃️

Not sure how much I’ll be able to contribute this year, but I’ll try to chip in when I can.
Ink and graphite sketch showing a woman in medieval dress, holding writing implements in each hand and an expression of intense focus, sat in front of a writing desk with an open manuscript. Text reads: # archink I: pigment Medieval writers and artists used a huge range of compounds & colours - you can find out more abort their techniques at fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/illuminated. The staple of the medieval manuscript was the deep purple-black of iron gall ink, made by mixing iron sulfate with tannic acid, usually sourced from fermented oak galls. MARIE DE FRANCE, LATE CI2th WRITER After a late c13th illustration of her from BnF Arsenal Library, MS 3142 fol 256
October 7, 2025 at 3:01 PM
robhedge.bsky.social
Panel 8/8
Panel from comic strip: 8 Image of Len Garrison as a young man, on a residential street, dressed in a suit and tie, opening the door of a blue Ford Anglia. Text reads LEN GARRISON, FOUNDER OF THE BLACK CULTURAL ARCHIVES, STUDIED FOR AN MA IN LOCAL HISTORY AT LEICESTER. HIS WORK - COLLECTING, WRITING AND SHARING STORIES OF BLACK BRITISH LIVES - WAS CRUCIAL IN EDUCATING THE NATION IN BLACK HISTORIES AND INSPIRING BLACK VOICES. THE CENTRE FOR REGIONAL AND LOCAL HISTORY OFFERS MA SCHOLARSHIPS IN HIS NAME. HISTORY AT LEICESTER TEACHES PEOPLE FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE AT ALL STAGES OF UfE. BECAUSE THE KEY TO OUR PRESENT LIES IN OUR PASTS. BY ROB HEDGE, UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER HISTORY PAD STUDENT
October 2, 2025 at 11:19 AM
robhedge.bsky.social
Panel 7/8
Panel from comic strip: 7 Top right: image of three young South Asian women, striking workers at the Imperial typewriter factory in 1974. The woman on the left holds a megaphone. Bottom left: three Sikh men at a Vaisakhi procession, 2006. Text reads: HISTORY AT LEICESTER REFLECTS THE CITY. TELLS STORIES THAT NEED TO BE HEARD. ASKS THE DIFFICULT QUESTIONS. WE ARE CITIZENS OF CHANGE. VAISAKHI, 2006 FROM A PHOTO BY COLIN HYDE STRIKING WORKERS AT THE IMPERIAL TYPEWRITER FACTORY, LEICESTER, 1974 HISTORY AT LEICESTER IS THE HOME OF THE EAST MIDLANDS ORAL HISTORY ARCHIVE, WHICH COLLECTS, PRESERVES AND STUDIES THE STORIES OF THOSE WHOSE VOICES DESERVE TO BE LISTENED TO.
October 2, 2025 at 11:19 AM
robhedge.bsky.social
Panel 6/8
Panel from comic strip: 6 Top left: Image of 'Shoes on the Danube Bank', a Holocaust memorial in Budapest Bottom right: image of KS Ranjitsinhji, posing in cricket whites and pads at the crease. Text reads: IN 1990, AUBREY NEWMAN ESTABLISHED THE STANLEY BURTON CENTRE -THE FIRST DEDICATED RESEARCH FACILITY IN BRITAIN FOR HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE STUDIES. SHOES ON THE DANUBE BANK, BUDAPEST HISTORY AT LEICESTER HAS ALWAYS MADE GLOBAL CONNECTIONS -FROM BUCKLERS EARLY CRITIQUE OF COMPANY COLONIALISM TO PRASHANT KIDAMBI'S WORK ON POLITICAL UNDERTONES OF ANGLO-INDIAN SPORTING RELATIONSHIPS. KS RANJITSINHTI
October 2, 2025 at 11:19 AM
robhedge.bsky.social
Panel 5/8
Panel from comic strip: 5 image of historian Joan Thirsk, in wartime uniform. Text reads: JOAN THIRSK'S WARTIME WORK AS A BLETCHLEY PARK INTELLIGENCE ANALYST INSPIRED HER INTEREST IN CAUSATION. AT LEICESTER IN THE 1950S AND 1960s, HER CLOSE ANALYSIS OF REGIONAL PATTERNS REVOLUTIONISED AGRICULTURAL HISTORY. HER METHODS INFLUENCEO GENERATIONS OF HISTORIANS OF EVERYDAY LIFE, INCLUDING LEICESTER'S CHRIS DYER & RICHARD JONES. HER FOCUS ON THE UNWRITTEN LIVES OF ORDINARY WOMEN WAS TRAILBLAZING, AND IS CARRIED FORWARD BY TODAY'S LEICESTER SCHOLARS LIKE ANGELA MUIR & ELIZABETH HURREN
October 2, 2025 at 11:19 AM
robhedge.bsky.social
Panel 4/8
Panel from comic strip: 4 Image of WG Hoskins, in front of a rural landscape, holding papers, dressed in a jacket and tie. Text reads: WG. HOSKINS CAME TO LEICESTER IN 1931. A CHAMPION OF THE ORDINARY AND OVERLOOKED, HE FOUNDED THE COUNTRY'S FIRST DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL HISTORY HERE IN 1947. A PIONEERING LANDSCAPE HISTORIAN, HOSKINS' 1954 BOOK 'THE MAKING OF THE ENGLISH LANOSCAPE' WAS A KEYSTONE OF THE DISCIPLINE AND CONTINUES TO INSPIRE.
October 2, 2025 at 11:19 AM
robhedge.bsky.social
Panel 3/8
Panel from comic strip: 3 Image of historian Rosalind Hill in her later years, wearing a green cardigan. Text reads: LEICESTER'S REPUTATION GREW IN THE 1930s, ATTRACTING BRIGHT YOUNG SCHOLARS. AMONG THE FIRST WOMEN TO TEACH HISTORY WAS ROSALIND HILL, WHO HAD A PROFOUND EFFECT ON HER STUDENTS: "SHE WAS VERY YOUNG AND NERVOUS... YET SHE MANAGEO TO BRING THE MEDIEVAL WORLD ALIVE. SHE KNEW THE PROBLEMS IT WAS VITAL FOR A YOUNG HISTORIAN TO KNOW ABOUT " JOHN H PLUMB
October 2, 2025 at 11:19 AM
robhedge.bsky.social
Panel 2/8
Panel from comic strip: 2 Image of historian FW Buckler in academic dress FW BUCKLER WAS LEICESTER'S FIRST HISTORIAN. HE WAS ONE OF THE UNIVERSITY'S FIRST TWO PERMANENT LECTURERS IN 1922. BORNIN GROBY... "A SCHOLAR OUT Of HIS TIME" -T.R. TRAUTMANN ... MADE IN CHENNAI. BUCKLER WAS A BOLD, RADICAL CHOICE HE HAO TAUGHT IN INDIA... ...AND IN 1922, HE SHOCKED THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY WITH A LECTURE - 'THE POLITICAL THEORY Of THE INDIAN MUTINY'- EMPHASISING INDIAN PERSPECTIVES, WITH A SHARP CRITIQUE OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY.
October 2, 2025 at 11:19 AM
robhedge.bsky.social
Panel 1/8
Panel from comic strip: 1 Image of the appearance of 'University College Leicester' in the 1920s Text reads: THE UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER WAS FOUNDED IN 1921. INITIALLY A COLLEGE OF THE UNIVERSIM OF LONDON, IT WAS INTENDED TO BE A LIVING MEMORIAL TO THOSE THE CITY LOST IN THE GREAT WAR. FOR OVER A CENTURY, LECESTER'S HISTORIANS HAVE HONOURED THAT LEGACY, RESEARCHING THE EVENTS, PEOPLE AND FORCES THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD, COMMITTED TO THE UNIVERSIM 'S MOTTO: UT VITAM HABEANT "SO THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE"
October 2, 2025 at 11:19 AM
robhedge.bsky.social
A new comic: A brief history of History at the University of Leicester.
You can download the originals and find links to further reading on my blog: incurablearchaeologist.wordpress.com/2025/10/02/l... #skystorians 🏛️🏺🗃️
Individual panels are threaded below:
An 8-panel comic illustrating the history of teaching and research in History at the University of Leicester since the university's foundation in 1921
October 2, 2025 at 11:19 AM
robhedge.bsky.social
Brian Patten has died. Thawing Frozen Frogs was given to me as a small child: the first poetry I really *got*. The fact that I had to fish this dog-eared volume out of my son’s bedroom is testament to his gift: surreal, silly, funny, and moving. Sometimes all at once.
Photograph of a tattered Puffin paperback edition of Brian Patten’s ‘thawing frozen frogs’.
October 1, 2025 at 9:44 AM
robhedge.bsky.social
…So forgive the shonky phone footage, accompanied by 5yo singing gently to the ‘spotty iris’. First time I’ve seen them in Worcestershire.
September 29, 2025 at 9:07 AM
robhedge.bsky.social
Family walk around NT Croome yesterday. “What are those birds, daddy?” Glossy ibis, right in front of us! Inevitably, I’d left my camera at home… #worcsbirds
Photograph showing back of head of small child standing on a path at bottom right. In centre left of image are two glossy ibis feeding in the shallow margins of a lake. One is just taking off.
September 29, 2025 at 9:07 AM
robhedge.bsky.social
Photograph of a cast of the skull of Ninjemys oweni, a giant horned turtle that would have weighed circa 200kg. One of many impressively oddball megafauna species that roamed Pleistocene Australia. And yes, it is named after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
September 22, 2025 at 7:40 PM
robhedge.bsky.social
Still buzzing from Worcestershire’s #OneDayCup triumph last night. Took the boy to Trent Bridge, spent the day dodging the rain. Skies cleared for just long enough to witness an all-time classic. Stands full of friends, family and the grassroots #cricket community 🏏
Two small girls in Worcestershire cricket shirts. One holds aloft a home-made sign reading ‘Go Rapids’. Photograph of a cricket pitch. Hampshire Bowler is in his follow-through. Worcestershire batter Ethan Brooks punches the ball square on the off-side Photograph of Worcestershire batter Henry Cullen hitting his first ball behind square on the leg side to win the match. Photograph of a celebrating group of Worcestershire players: Henry Cullen and Ben Allison, wearing blue match shirts, applauding. In front of them, injured club captain Brett D’Olivera wearing green training kit applauds, crutches dangling from his forearms.
September 21, 2025 at 1:36 PM
robhedge.bsky.social
It’s been quite a week (+month, year etc), so here’s a little #FindsFriday / #FlintFriday treat for your timelines: a gorgeous little Mesolithic ‘mèche de foret’ (drill bit) from my desk. Retouched edges abraded to a smooth sheen by repeated use. 🏺🏛️
Photograph of a honey-coloured flint artefact, a blade about 22mm long with the two long edges retouched to form a point. It is balanced on the photographers index finger. In the background are a set of calipers and an open notebook.
September 19, 2025 at 4:08 PM
robhedge.bsky.social
Joined a friend for the southern leg of his solo Malverns marathon this morning, over the marvellous hillforts at Midsummer Hill and British Camp. Started warm and dry. Then several hours of unremitting downpour, brightened only by abundant lightning.
How it started vs how it’s going:
Two men in running kit on top of a hill. They are dry. They look happy. The same two men, on top of another hill. The camera lens is covered in rain. They are leaning on a trig point. They are drenched. One is smiling slightly manically. The other wears the grimace of a man who knows he’s got 20km to go and would, right now, welcome a quick, warm demise at the hands of the approaching thunderstorm.
September 7, 2025 at 8:02 PM
robhedge.bsky.social
Couldn’t resist the lure of a medieval World Heritage Site AND a #Parkrun! Fabulous course around and amidst the ruins of Fountains Abbey this morning.
Photograph of a sweaty man in running kit standing in front of a sign reading ‘Parkrun Fountains Abbey’. In the background is the ruins of Fountains Abbey, a medieval Cistercian monastery.
August 16, 2025 at 3:00 PM
robhedge.bsky.social
50th #Parkrun and a PB this morning at Worcester Pitchcroft.
After a challenging week, it really is the best way to start the weekend!
Photograph of a tired-looking man trundling towards middle age, wearing sweaty running kit, standing next to a horse racetrack fence ringing a bell. A sign says ‘Worcester Pitchcroft Parkrun PB Bell’.
August 9, 2025 at 12:36 PM
robhedge.bsky.social
…and this definitely falls into that category. But I had an assistant for this one (who rightly thought it needed more purple), and she wanted to ‘put it on social media for her fans’. No idea where she picks these concepts up. She’s 5. But she worked hard and helped me think, so here it is.
Photograph of a small child sat at a dining table, enthusiastically adding purple to the picture from the previous post.
July 22, 2025 at 2:50 PM