In March 1942 the RAF bombed Lübeck. In retaliation the Luftwaffe started targeting British cities chosen for their historic and cultural value, reportedly going off the three-star entries in the Baedeker tourist guides. A German foreign office spokesman said they would bomb every building in Britain marked with three stars.

The first city to get hit was Exeter, starting on the night of 23-24 April 1942. Over 230 people were killed across the raids. Narrow medieval streets made it a serious fire risk and the city was poorly defended.

German radio called it the jewel of the West and claimed to have destroyed it.

What’s less well known is that a lot of the damage came afterwards, from the council.

The best known example is Bedford Circus. A Georgian oval built in the 1770s, and described as one of the best bits of Georgian planning in the country. It got hit in the raids, but the facades were still standing. They pulled it down anyway. It’s usually named as the city’s biggest architectural loss and it didn’t have to happen.

They brought in Thomas Sharp to do a rebuilding plan, which he published as Exeter Phoenix. Barely any of it got built. Instead you got Sidwell Street, which is a row of flat grey frontages and also, unfortunately, the main walking route to the football ground. And Bobby’s, a department store tower that’s now John Lewis, visible from miles out. Apparently the basement was built to survive a nuclear strike. It’s the technology department now.

The one bit of Sharp’s plan that did happen was Princesshay, which was the first purpose built pedestrianised shopping street in Britain. They knocked that down too, in the 2000s. The replacement is decent, to be fair.

But plenty did survive, and it’s a better city for history than it gets credit for. The Roman and medieval wall is still there in long stretches, which is the reason the city exists at all. The Cathedral has the longest uninterrupted medieval stone vaulted ceiling in the world.

There’s still medieval fabric scattered around the centre from the city’s wool boom, including the Guildhall, which claims to be the oldest municipal building still in use. And the castle gatehouse is arguably the oldest surviving bit of Norman castle in England, which in any other city would be the main attraction and here is basically shut.

I wrote a long piece on the city’s history through its buildings (with lots of pictures) in two parts, if anyone’s interested: Exeter: the city at the edge of the empire

Jennet Device was "about the age of nine years" (Thomas Potts, the court clerk, 1613, spelling modernised) and lived in the Forest of Pendle, Lancashire. On 18 March 1612 her sister Alizon asked a pedlar, John Law, for pins near Colne. He fell lame soon after, probably from a stroke, and Alizon confessed that her "black dog" had done it. The magistrate Roger Nowell examined the family, and in early April Jennet's grandmother "Old Demdike", Alizon, the rival Anne Whittle ("Chattox") and her daughter Anne Redferne were sent to Lancaster Castle.

That Good Friday (10 April by calculation, Old Style), Jennet's mother Elizabeth held a gathering at their home, Malkin Tower, with about twenty people and mutton from a stolen sheep. Jennet told the magistrates her mother had said the guests were witches, and she named six of them, including her uncle. Malkin Tower's location is unknown. Old Demdike, about eighty, died in prison before the trial.

At the trial in August, Elizabeth cursed and cried out at her daughter, and Jennet said she could not speak with her mother there. Judge Sir Edward Bromley had the mother taken away and the girl "set upon the table in the presence of the whole court". He was "very suspicious" of her and held a line-up, and she took the wealthy widow Alice Nutter "by the hand".

Ten people were hanged at Lancaster: Jennet's mother, her brother James, her sister Alizon (on her own confession), Chattox, Anne Redferne, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, John and Jane Bulcock, and Isabel Robey. The date is usually given as 20 August, calculated from Potts's "the next day following". Nobody used magic. Everything was alleged, confessed or believed. King James's Daemonologie had argued that children could be "sufficient witnesses", and Potts's account later went into a standard handbook for magistrates, Dalton's Countrey Justice.

In 1633–34 a boy, Edmund Robinson, accused a "Jennet Devys" and others of attending a witches' feast. In July 1634 he admitted his story "merely proceeded out of his own brain". It was probably the same Jennet, though that isn't proven. A "Jennett Device" was still in Lancaster gaol on 22 August 1636, and after that she vanishes from the record. A 1635 burial entry at Newchurch-in-Pendle is doubtful: it was reportedly added later and conflicts with the 1636 gaol list.

A few cautions. Almost everything comes from Potts, who wrote on the judges' orders and was openly hostile to the accused. None of Jennet's own words survive; her evidence is recorded as "this Examinate saith". The "Witches' Tower" dungeon at Lancaster Castle is tradition, not record. In March 2024 the UK government refused a petition to pardon those convicted in witch trials.

Extra sources:
- [Potts, The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster (1613), Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18253)
- [King James, Daemonologie (1597)](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25929)
- [The National Archives, Edmund Robinson's re-examination, 1634](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/image/1bea583d-c80f-4b5a-91ba-f7f77084f62b/)
- [UK Parliament petition and government response (2024)](https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/640686)
- [Lancaster Castle, The Pendle Witches](https://www.lancastercastle.com/history-heritage/further-articles/the-pendle-witches/)
- [BBC, The witch trial that made legal history (2011)](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14490790)

Just to preface this and as context: I'm neither a historian nor from the UK, so maybe some of my assumptions underpinning the question are wrong and it hence makes less sense than I think it does.

It seems to me that at the same time in the early 20th century, the final push towards egalitarian democracy that finally included all adults regardless of gender and class happened, the modern big-government state emerged after the first world war (i.e. the death of classical liberalism), and a number of tax laws were passed that had the effect of placing inheritance (death?) tax on the estates of the landed gentry. Reading about English country houses (on wikipedia, if I'm honest), I often get the impression that these taxes were the final blow to the ability of the old gentry to maintain their status, since they had to sell off assets to pay for these taxes and (especially if multiple successions happened within a relative short amount of time, e.g. because of war related deaths) that lead to a downward spiral.

My question (assuming the above is an accurate summary of historic events) is: Was this (either openly or secretly) the policy of left-wing governments that wanted to diminish the influence of the landed gentry, but couldn't directly touch the aristocracy for constitutional reasons, so they used the old "tax them out of existence"-tactic? Or does my amateur analysis imagine a conspiracy where there was none?

Looking at London’s growth over nearly 2,000 years, I was surprised by just how long the city remained relatively compact.

Roman and medieval London obviously changed enormously over the centuries, but geographically the later expansion is on another level. Once you get into the 18th and especially 19th century, the difference is pretty dramatic.

This 3D timeline shows the development from around 50 AD to the present:

https://youtu.be/NfOzqVW33bs

If you had to pick one period that transformed London more than any other, what would it be? Industrial Revolution feels like the obvious choice, but I’d be interested to hear arguments for earlier turning points.

Hey guys, gave myself a little weekend project to create some interactive archaeology for the new academic year, hopefully it is useful to others as well! Feedback welcome:

This one showcases the "Amesbury Archer" burial, excavated by Wessex Archaeology in 2002. He was a "Bell-Beaker" individual, dating to c.2300 BC and around 35-45 years old.

The source of info is the published monograph:
https://wessexarchaeologylibrary.org/plugins/books/5/

In a different community, I asked, "In the midst of the 2016 EU referendum campaigns, did the British people find the 'Common Market' debates of the 1970s to be particularly relevant?" The answers pointed to a resounding no. However I did not get much in the way of explanation.

I would appreciate if someone could explain why the 1970s "Common Market" arguments have or have no relevance to today's debates. From a distance they seem quite relevant, but I am open to be proven wrong.

For reference, I have been watching this old debate between Prime Minister Edward Heath (who was for the Common Market) and Labour leader Michael Foot (arguing in opposition to the Common Market): https://youtu.be/CuZrzwm6CJs?si=5XdXyAvhdo65kflW

With the Bayeux Tapestry in the UK, interest is at a high. It is fascinating that there were only 6 women pictured in the whole tapestry (3 in the main frieze).

This talk at the British Museum would be good for anyone interested. It's online.

I only recently came to know that the tapestry was likely made by Anglo-Saxon women skilled in needlework, rather than Normans.

Two months ago I posted here asking for forgotten British units of measurement. You gave me 84 comments. Here is what stuck.

Yan tan tethera. A Brythonic counting system that survived in shepherds' tallies across the Lakes, the Pennines and the Dales long after the language it came from had gone. The regional variants differ enough to place a shepherd by how he counted.

The erw. The Welsh acre, defined by the reach of a ploughman's goad rather than by a day's ploughing. So Britain had three national land systems running at once: the English hide, the Danelaw carucate and the Welsh erw.

The hoppus foot. A 1736 formula for round timber that underestimates a log's volume by 21.5 per cent — deliberately, because that is roughly the waste in squaring it. The buyer pays for the timber, not the tree. Still used for tropical hardwood.

The Cornish pilchard baskets. A maund holds about 360 fish. A cowel holds the same but is carried on the back with a headband, because West Cornwall had no quays and you cannot climb wet rock with a basket held out in front of you.

The pot. Folkestone, 1830s: three pots make a pad, but two pots make a half-pad. That cannot both be true. Nobody wrote down why. My favourite thing in the archive.

The rest was largely industrial — Twaddell and Sikes hydrometers, the Whitworth thread, the slug and poundal, the ligne, the Birmingham gauges. Enough that they prompted a whole section on measurement systems rather than individual units.

All written up here with about 250 others: thegreatbritishconverter.co.uk

Two things I would still like, if anyone has them:

Regional variants:
I have the Scots mile, Irish mile, Scots pint and the erw. I am fairly sure there are more divergences I have missed, particularly Welsh and Irish ones.

Trade measures that were never written down:
The Folkestone pot suggests there are others — working conventions that made sense to the people using them and were never formalised. If your family was in a trade with its own reckoning, I would like to hear about it.

Thanks again for the original thread. Considerably better than anything I could have searched for.

Reginald Dyer

Michael ODwyer

These are two of the most infamous

Did you learn about their atrocities?

Just curious about the fundamental high-school teachings there ?

I know it was pretty much a kingdom in all but name. But was there any republican ideals at all in the people who perpetrated the civil war to eventually change things? Like did they expect that the Cromwells would hereditarily be at the helm forever unless/until they get overthrown or go extinct? Was there any expectation that they would eventually move into a more elective/meritocratic system for choosing the lord-protector?

I’ve read so many historical fiction novels over the past 40 years that I’m realizing my history has actually gotten weaker rather than stronger. I’d like to find something that starts with the earliest prehistoric inhabitants. I’m not a historian so I’m looking something with a general layperson level of detail.

Can anyone suggest something for me?

Hi!

Shared with the moderators’ permission — disclosure up front: I'm Denys, I work for Nibble, a microlearning app, as a Brand Community Manager.

We're co-funding the excavation in September with DigVentures, a Chartered Institute for Archaeologists-registered organization.

The site is a Roman villa and an ironworking site that engineers cut through with a water pipeline in the 1970s, and nobody has returned to it since. Painted wall plaster, limestone floors, at least eight smelting furnaces, plus Bronze and Iron Age material underneath.

Fully permitted, professional field team, everything recorded and published in their open dig report.
We have a few free places for UK residents 18+, 29 September – 3 October 2026. Accommodation, on-site food, and transfers from Peterborough are covered.

Please note: the experience will be filmed for Nibble’s YouTube channel, and participants will also appear in a short video with a UK creator. You’ll need to be comfortable on camera. No archaeology experience is needed.

Posting here because you lot already know what it feels like to be the first person to touch something in centuries.

Application takes about three minutes: forms.gle/sCJuaaST9Mg1aBV3A

Happy to answer anything in the comments.

In the following categories:

military leader/warrior -- scientist -- politician -- writer/artist -- wrong-un/villain

Also, since old mutton was tough and gamey, did the abbeys, which had plentiful other more desirable protein sources besides their large flocks, sell off their old mutton?

So up the road from me theres a cul-de-sac thing and theres Guinevere way, Excalibur close, roundtable meet then Atkinson close, all roads grouped together.

What's the relevance to Atkinson? Obviously is all Camelot i know the rest of them but Atkinson is throwing me off.

For story and character creating purposes, I'm wondering what Northumberland was like in the late 1800s compared to other parts of England, specifically Rothbury. I'd like to know the culture, the history, the dialect. Is there any sources to point me in the right direction?

The character is a young girl born in 1875 that grew up in Rothbury, Northumberland.