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British History

Structures unearthed at Achtriochtan may be linked with the bloody massacre

Archaeologists Are Excavating Site of Scottish Massacre That Inspired the ‘Game of Thrones’ Red Wedding

In 1692, members of the Campbell clan turned on their MacDonald hosts, killing at least 38 men and sending women and children fleeing into the hills

The board was likely used in the bath house at Vindolanda, one of 14 forts along Hadrian's Wall, but was repurposed as a floor stone in the adjacent building after it was broken.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Uncover an Ancient Roman Game Board at Hadrian’s Wall

The cracked stone board was likely used to play ludus latrunculorum, Rome’s favorite game

Cool Finds

Historians Are Looking for Images of the HMS Beagle’s Anchors

Researchers are hoping to confirm that they have discovered an anchor from the ship that carried Darwin stuck in the mud of an Australian river

Elizabeth and Edward IV married in secret, attracting the ire of the king's advisors and most of the court

Did Elizabeth Woodville, England’s ‘White Queen,’ Die of the Plague?

A 500-year-old letter recently found in the National Archives suggests the queen was buried quickly and without ceremony due to fear of contagion

Cool Finds

‘A Clockwork Orange’ Follow-Up Found in Burgess Archives

‘The Clockwork Condition’ was intended to be a philosophical examination of themes raised in his most popular and problematic novel

Wainright watches over Livingstone's body on the trip back to Britain.

Cool Finds

Diary of Livingstone’s Intrepid African Attendant Jacob Wainwright Digitized

He traveled with the Scottish missionary and explorer searching for the source of the Nile, and he’s responsible for bringing his remains to Britain

Cool Finds

Ring Containing Charlotte Brontë’s Hair Discovered in Attic

The piece of mourning jewelry includes an inscription and a little door covering a plaited lock of the Jane Eyre author’s hair

A Neolithic woman was buried with her arms bound behind her head and her amputated feet placed on either side of her body

Cool Finds

U.K. Construction Finds Neolithic Skeletons That May Have Been Victims of Human Sacrifice

Archaeologists have recovered 26 sets of human remains, as well as artifacts including pottery and a decorative comb

Avebury stands some 25 miles north of Stonehenge and is large enough to fit two Stonehenge-sized circles.

Stone Circles at Avebury May Have Surrounded House for Neolithic ‘One Percent’

Researchers theorize that the monument, near Stonehenge, was erected to commemorate the site of later generations’ ancestral home

Experts believe the Neolithic dog is the first canine to undergo forensic facial reconstruction

Thanks to Facial Reconstruction, You Can Now Look Into the Eyes of a Neolithic Dog

The collie-sized canine was buried in a cavernous tomb on Scotland’s Orkney Islands around 2,500 B.C.

New Research

Computer Analysis Says ‘Beowulf’ Is the Work of a Single Author

Academics have argued about the origins of the Old English epic for two centuries

Adam Smith and William Shakespeare

How the Invisible Hand of William Shakespeare Influenced Adam Smith

Born more than 150 years apart, the two British luminaries each encountered rough receptions for their radical ideas

Artist's depiction of "Henry," a teenaged sailor on the Mary Rose.

Cool Finds

DNA Shows Ethnically Diverse Crew Sailed Henry VIII’s Flagship

The research on the skeletons found near the wreck suggests there were sailors and marines on board who came from North Africa and the Mediterranean

New Research

Stonehenge Pig Roasts Drew People From All Over Neolithic Britain

Isotopic analysis of pig bones in feasting sites near the monument show people were traveling as far as Scotland with their own pigs

Virginia Woolf (pictured above), Margaret Kennedy, Rebecca West, Stella Benson and Hilaire Belloc are amongst the writers who answered the survey

Literary Confessions Penned by Virginia Woolf, Margaret Kennedy Unearthed

10 prominent English writers answered a 39-question survey detailing their opinions of literary predecessors and peers

Illustrated Police News periodical detailing the murders

New Book Chronicles the Lives of Jack the Ripper’s Victims

Contrary to popular belief, the five women were not all prostitutes, but rather individuals down on their luck

The bluestone quarry at Carn Goedog.

New Research

Secrets of Stonehenge Found in Quarries 180 Miles Away

Archaeologists believe the builders popped out “ready-made” bluestones at a quarry in Wales and dragged them overland to Salisbury

Author Charles Dickens (1812-1870) pictured with his wife, Catherine Dickens (1815-1879), and two of their daughters, seated in a horsedrawn carriage, circa 1850.

Trove of Letters Reveal Charles Dickens Tried to Lock His Wife Away in an Asylum

Catherine’s side of the breakup tale comes back with vengeance thanks to new analysis of 98 previously unseen missives

The three-seater was unearthed from the banks of the River Fleet between the late 1980s and early 1990s

12th-Century Toilet Flush With New Lease on Life

The three-holed oak plank seat likely served a tenement building owned by a capmaker and his wife

Antique dealer Ian Coulson purchased the bed, then advertised as a Victorian era frame, for £2,200 in 2010.

Cool Finds

Henry VII’s Marriage Bed May Have Spent 15 Years in a British Hotel’s Honeymoon Suite

Some experts say the ornately carved oak bed was commissioned for the wedding of the first Tudor king and his queen, Elizabeth of York

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