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England

The remains of this medieval castle at Castell Llwyn Gwinau, Tregaron, were almost completely plowed over, but they show clearly under parched conditions.

A Heat Wave is Revealing Centuries-Old Sites in Wales

Hot, dry weather creates perfect conditions for crop marks to form above historic settlements

Trending Today

The EU Mulls Ditching Daylight Saving Time

The European Commission is polling citizens about whether the 28-nation bloc should keep springing forward and falling back each year

“A great deal of slow poisoning is going on in Great Britain,” Birmingham doctor William Hinds wrote in 1857, as widespread coverage of arsenic-related deaths began to turn the public away from the toxin

Arsenic-Laced Books Discovered in University Library

During the Victorian era, the toxin was commonly found hidden in wallpaper, paints and dyes

Save the crumpet

A Carbon Dioxide Shortage Is Threatening the U.K.’s Supply of Beer and Crumpets

The food industry uses carbon dioxide in several ways, including packaging and meat processing

Neolithic Roadway, Possibly a Ritual Site, Discovered in England

Archaeologists also found the skull of an extinct ox that is 2,000 years older than the trackway

Westminster Abbey's hidden “attic”

Europe

“Hidden” Attic in Westminster Abbey Is Opening as a Museum

Visitors can view more than 300 relics from the Abbey’s 1,000-year history and peer out at one of the best views in Europe

The champion cheese chaser, brie-umphant.

Europe

Holey Swiss: Man Breaks Record in British Downhill Cheese Race

Fromage fiends have been participating in this unusual tradition for centuries

Cool Finds

Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Casket Rediscovered in Former Wine Cellar

Parishioners at St. Michael’s Church in Highgate hope to refurbish the crypt after identifying where exactly Coleridge’s final resting place was

New Research

This Ancient Reptile Was One of the Most Massive Creatures That Ever Lived

A fossil jawbone found in England suggests the ‘sea monster’ was nearly the size of a blue whale

Crown, gold and gilded copper with glass beads, pigment and fabric, made in Ethiopia, 1600-1850

London Museum Says It’s Willing to Return Looted Ethiopian Artifacts on Long-Term Loan

A new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum grapples with Britain’s seizure of cultural treasures during the 1868 Battle of Maqdala

Cool Finds

“Lost” Feminist Dinner Set Goes on Public Display for the First Time

The 50-plate “Famous Women Dinner Set” by Bloomsbury Group artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant includes portraits of the well-known and the overlooked

Two related images from The Book of Ishness, a
sketchbook of abstract paintings that Tolkien
began while he was an undergraduate at Exeter
College, Oxford. The images date from early
1914 when Tolkien was in his third year.

Europe

Unseen Illustrations by J.R.R. Tolkien Are Coming to Oxford

“Tolkien: Maker of Middle Earth,” opening at the Bodleian libraries this summer, will include manuscripts, letters, maps and artwork

Trending Today

Artifacts Stolen in Massive Archaeological Theft Recovered in Canterbury

Police have recovered most of the 2,000 coins, bones, beads and other items lifted from the Canterbury Archaeological Trust in January

Black clay indicates that what is now a west London suburb was once a marsh near what was then the ocean.

Britain’s Prehistoric Coastline Uncovered in West London

Excavators found a black clay-like material that formed about 56 million years ago, marking the location of an ancient coastline

A team is working to conserve a collection of iron cannonballs found on The Mary Rose, Henry VIII's famous Tudor ship.

To Save Cannonballs on Henry VIII’s Flagship, Researchers Looked to X-ray Tech

The more than 1200 cannonballs found on The Mary Rose are facing a major problem—corrosion

St. Mary's church in Norfolk

How Churches Are Improving Wi-Fi Access in Rural England

A new program is outfitting places of worship with wireless transmitters and fiber cables

Fragments of Famed ‘UFO’ Discovered in Archives of London Museum

Though experts deemed it a hoax, the ‘Silpho Saucer’ created a sensation when it was discovered in the 1950s

Hyundai Pavilion designed by Asif Khan at PyeongChang Winter Olympics 2018

Winter Olympics

Artist Coats Olympic Pavilion With the Blackest Black Pigment

The pavilion is also studded with thousands of light rods to resemble the twinkling night sky

Early Briton Had Dark Skin and Light Eyes, DNA Analysis Shows

The study of ‘Cheddar Man’ adds to a growing body of research that highlights the complexities of human skin color evolution

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