Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

British History

Records uncovered by researcher Christopher Moore indicate that stones from Sandown Castle were repurposed in a Victorian-era extension of Constable's Gate at Dover Castle (pictured here).

Cool Finds

Stones From One of Henry VIII’s Fortresses Spent More Than a Century Hidden in Plain Sight. New Research Suggests the Victorians Repurposed Them as Building Materials

Recently discovered archival records indicate that workers constructing an extension of the Constable’s Gate at Dover Castle in the late 19th century reused fragments of the Tudor-era Sandown Castle

Toby Rawlinson in his Hudson roadster after the First Battle of Ypres, November 1914.

Some of the Earliest Automobile Enthusiasts Signed Up to Help the Allies in WWI. They Also Ushered in the Mechanization of War

When the gentlemen drivers of Britain’s Royal Automobile Club Volunteer Force shipped their roadsters and racers to face the Germans, they became chauffeurs, couriers and inadvertent combatants

The digital facial depiction was created by the Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University.

New Research

See the Digitally Reconstructed Face of an Ancient Man Who Witnessed England’s Greatest Upheaval

The so-called “Conquest Man” was buried in England in 1079, just over a decade into the reign of William the Conqueror. Researchers recently analyzed the skeleton’s DNA and teeth to learn more about him

Freddie Mercury in the "Made in Heaven" music video

Freddie Mercury’s Boundary-Pushing Costumes Take Center Stage at the Victoria and Albert Museum to Mark the 80th Anniversary of His Birth

Eight ensembles from the Queen frontman’s career will be displayed across six stops in the London museum’s permanent galleries, offering a glimpse into the clothes behind his legendary stage persona

The fragments shed light on Guernsey's literary culture during the late medieval period.

Cool Finds

These Medieval Manuscript Fragments Were Reused as Parchment, Inadvertently Preserving Them for Centuries

Recently discovered on Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, the pages include Bible passages, poems, plays and other texts. They were repurposed as book bindings during the 16th and 17th centuries

Archaeologists found human remains inside a mysterious pit in northern Scotland.

A Human Skeleton Was Found Inside a Mysterious Stone Structure in Scotland. Archaeologists Still Don’t Know Why It Was Buried There

Built with fitted stone and a clay-like material that may have helped retain liquid, the unusual structure has left researchers searching for an explanation

An illustration of Merlin's Cave, an attraction commissioned by Queen Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach

This 18th-Century British Queen Turned King Arthur Into a P.R. Strategy, Drawing on Myth to Promote Her Dynasty’s Claim to the Throne

In 1735, Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach commissioned a cottage called Merlin’s Cave, which linked the German House of Hanover to both Britain’s ancient heritage and its future success

A Whitehead torpedo tube located on the bow of the HMS Tiger

Shipwreck Hunters Discover the Ruins of a British Destroyer That Split in Half During a Tragic Peacetime Accident 118 Years Ago

Minutes after it collided with a 10,000-ton cruiser, the HMS “Tiger” sank to the bottom of the English Channel. Divers and historians have spent the past four years searching for the Royal Navy vessel

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting Bishop Odo rallying William's army during the Battle of Hastings in 1066

How Should the Bayeux Tapestry End? A New Competition Invites Children to Reimagine Its Missing Final Panel

Some historians think the 230-foot-long artwork is missing its final panel, which may have once depicted William the Conqueror’s coronation. As the tapestry goes on view in London, students will be drafting endings of their own

A woman kneels in prayer in front of children's coffins in Freckleton, England, on August 26, 1944.

When an American Airplane Crashed Into a School in 1944, an English Village Lost Almost All of Its Youngest Children. Why Has WWII’s Worst Civilian Aviation Accident Been Forgotten?

On August 23, 1944, a test flight over the village of Freckleton, located in northwest England, ended in disaster, claiming the lives of 61 people, including 38 students between the ages of 4 and 6

A modern-day view of Stirling Castle, the Scottish stronghold where the skeleton was found in 1997

A Medieval Man’s Injuries Reminded One Archaeologist of Modern-Day Car Crash Victims. They Turned Out to Be the Work of an English Trebuchet

A skeleton unearthed in Scotland likely belongs to a soldier struck by a high-speed projectile during Edward I’s 1304 siege of Stirling Castle. The man suffered more than 160 fractures

A John Trumbull painting of George Washington's capture of Hessian soldiers in Trenton, New Jersey, in December 1776

America's 250th Anniversary

The Hessians Were Supposed to Quickly End the American Revolution. Instead, They Endured Years of Battles and Suffered Thousands of Casualties

Some 30,000 German soldiers fought for the British during the war. Contrary to popular belief, they weren’t mercenaries, and not all were actually Hessians

The sealed Guinness bottle was found at the shipwreck of the Mindoro.

Shipwreck Divers Discovered a 162-Year-Old Bottle of Guinness Brewed During the Reign of Queen Victoria—and They Want to Take a Swig

The beer was preserved in a sealed glass bottle and may be safe to sample. The team is also hoping to sequence the DNA of the yeast to recreate what the stout would have tasted like in the 19th century

The artifact’s original owner may have viewed the penis-topped fingernail cleaner as a good luck charm.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists in England Preparing for Road Construction Unearthed a Roman-Era Fingernail Cleaner With a Handle Shaped Like a Penis

The Romans considered the phallus a symbol of good luck and used it to decorate objects, mark walls and inspire sculptures

A label from an outfit by Horrockses Fashions

A British Museum Is Searching for a Rare 1940s Housecoat From a Fashion Brand That Dressed the Queen—and, on Special Occasions, Ordinary Women Too

Patterned with a map of the British Isles, the housecoat was an early design by the pioneering brand Horrockses, which turned cotton cloth into whimsical women’s wear after World War II

Visitors with regular admission tickets are not usually allowed inside the monument.

Want to Spend Some Alone Time With Stonehenge? This August, Lucky Visitors Get the Chance to Enter the Stone Circle Before the Site Opens to Tourists

Almost every day next month, management of the prehistoric landmark in England will draw a winning ticket and offer a unique experience to a visitor before the daily bustle begins

Students and volunteers have been excavating the Roman mosaic from a field near near Halberton, Devon.

Cool Finds

A Metal Detectorist Discovered Tiny Tiles in a Farmer’s Field. A Spectacular Ancient Roman Mosaic Was Buried Beneath the Surface

The polychrome mosaic once decorated a small room in a lavish villa complex. Researchers, students and volunteers have been working together to excavate the rare site in southwestern England

A man discovered the wreckage while picking berries.

Cool Finds

A Man Picking Berries in the Forest in Poland Might Have Stumbled Upon the Wreckage of an Allied Airplane From World War II

Experts are still investigating but note that an earlier discovery nearby identified part of the wing of a British Lancaster bomber

Kids learned about historical laundry tasks on the museum’s reopening day.

Kids Can Try Out the ‘Oliver Twist’ Lifestyle at This English Museum Revealing Conditions for Poor People in a Victorian Workhouse

After a restoration, the Ripon Workhouse Museum reopened to the public, showcasing the sights, sounds and rules of England’s 19th-century “solution to poverty”

A 1937 photo of Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, the maharaja of Nawanagar

This Indian Maharaja Saved Hundreds of Polish Orphans During World War II, Offering Them Refuge When No One Else Would

Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, ruler of the princely state of Nawanagar, opened his realm to young Poles who had been detained in Soviet labor camps as the children of the intelligentsia

Page 1 of 67