Ruth Slatter

Digitising the Victoria County History: first new volume added to British History Online   - On History In this blog post, Dr Ruth Slatter (Co-General Editor of the Victoria County History and the VCH Digitisation Project Manager) celebrates the publication of new digitised VCH material on British…

New #OnHistory blog post fro @ruthslatter.bsky.social updating us on progress of the @vchlondon.bsky.social and @bho.bsky.social digitisation project. blog.history.ac.uk/2025/07/digi...

A new VCH volume available @bho.bsky.social - for more detail, please have a read of this blog from our co-General Editor, @ruthslatter.bsky.social:

Lecturer in Historic Environment:London Senate House

#Job alert! Come and join us for 12 months in our lovely @chppc.bsky.social team @ihr.bsky.social. We're seeking a fixed-term #Lecturer in Historic Environment, who'll work on @vchlondon.bsky.social projects & more. Closing date 29 August. Please share!
www.jobs.london.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Professor Claire Langhamer confirmed as new British Academy Fellow IHR Professor Claire Langhamer has been appointed a British Academy Fellow

Brilliant news as my exceptional colleague, @ihr.bsky.social Director @clairelanghamer.bsky.social, is made Fellow @britishacademy.bsky.social. It's a privilege to work with Claire as she ensures the IHR is a supportive, inspiring & inclusive home for all #historians
www.london.ac.uk/news-events/...

Kent Learn about the Victoria County History of Kent.

We're very pleased to welcome @themakingofmaidstone.org, a Victoria County History project working on the development of Maidstone in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Led by @jack-newman.com, this three-year project restarts our work in the county. For more:

#Skystorians #LocalHistory

"You Can't Sit With Us": Austen's Lady Karens and the British Slave Trade CHPPC Layers of London Map

It was brilliant to host Tre Ventour-Griffiths in our seminar series earlier this term, talking about the ways in which adaptations of #Austen novels have overlooked her female characters’ role as (absentee) enslavers. The recording is now available here www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

RSMSJ events in Mayfair & St James, London, UK Events | RSMSJ events in Mayfair & St James, London, UK

Are you interested in the history of #London? #Francisboorman from #VCH London will be giving a lecture on the development of #Mayfair as a London Suburb on 15.07.25 for the Residents’ Society of Mayfair & St James’s. More info here www.rsmsj.com/events

This was a really warm & collaborative event, which highlighted the value of historians working in all sectors coming together & sharing their experiences of the joys & challenges of collaborative research. Thank you to everyone who came along & generously engaged in the workshop in this spirit!

Great to see this blog post mention several members of the #VCH community who attended the workshop & shared their practical experiences of engaging in #placebased #publichistory

They are now redeveloping it again, largely sparked by the mass closure of shops & banks in the town centre in the 21st C.

Basingstoke Reinvented, 1800–1925: from Agricultural Town to Manufacturing Centre, edited by Jean Morrin — Hobnob Press Basingstoke is frequently seen as a modern town, the product of the last decades of the 20th century. In reality it has a long, rich and prosperous history dating from the medieval period. This study ...

*NEW BOOK* (yes, the second in a fortnight).

Basingstoke Reinvented, 1800–1925: from Agricultural Town to Manufacturing Centre is the latest in our 'Partnership Publications' series, this title in collaboration with @hobnobpress.bsky.social.

#LocalHistory #Skystorians

You can buy Cradley online from @uolpress.bsky.social:

uolpress.co.uk/book/the-vic...

But not only from there! [cont.]

A book, 'Cradley', by Anastaisia Stylianou and Fergus Eskola-Oakes, with a cover featuring a timber framed building in an autumnal landscape. The gable end of the same building, Cradley parish hall, formerly the church ale hall, built in the 15th century is the backdrop, below a deep blue sky.

The authors, Anastasia Stylianou (left), in a long dress, smiling, and Fergus Eskola-Oakes, wearing a blue shirt and black jeans, holding their book against the backdrop of Cradley parish hall, a timber framed building which is also on the cover.

Our latest book from #Herefordshire, Cradley, was launched last night on a beautiful summer evening.

The authors, Anastasia Stylianou and Fergus Eskola-Oakes and our director, @cathamclarke.bsky.social joined an appreciative audience.

We sold plenty of copies, but if you would like one [cont.]

Many thanks to Tre for sharing in such an open & personal way in this seminar last night. So much food for thought in his reflections on how the representation of white women in Austen screen adaptations is another way of dismissing the violence & trauma of enslavement. Recording coming soon.

Herefordshire Learn about the Victoria County History of Herefordshire.

In Herefordshire, like all out VCH counties, work is dependent on the support of volunteers and donations. To learn more about the project and how to support it, please see our website. #Skystorians

Cover of The Victoria History of Herefordshire, Cradley. Grey title band with, below, an image of a timber framed building against a backdrop of trees in autumn yellows.

NEW BOOK! We are delighted to announce the publication of our latest book from our colleagues in Herefordshire - Cradley is a large parish beneath the Malvern hills, joining VCH Shorts on Eastnor, Colwall, and Bosbury.

Buy direct from @uolpress.bsky.social, or (soon!) from bookshops in #Ledbury. 🗃️

For all you locals, the archivist at the Diocese of Cleveland is really nice and has been extremely helpful for my grad students doing research on old Irish history in Cleveland and the like.

This was a brilliant session. I learnt so much about how Catholic archives have(n’t) been curated & where to look for documents for place-based research. Hugely grateful to @catholicrs.bsky.social @carmenmangion.bsky.social @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social & #LawrenceGregory for sharing their wisdom.

The next event in our summer events series will take place 11.06.25, 5.30-7pm (BST), online only. Tre Ventour-Griffiths will explore female absentee enslavers in #JaneAusten ‘s novels. Everyone is welcome. Use the link below to sign up 👇

My @vchlondon.bsky.social #PartnershipPublication on the history of Langley Burrell, Wilts has been called ‘excellent’ by the reviewer!!! Out July.
It threw me so many great anecdotes, not least the lust loving c17 church minister who I absolutely loved writing about (maybe a bit too much). 😁

ENG-W vs PAK-W Cricket Scorecard, 2nd ODI at Loughborough, July 03, 2013 Get cricket scorecard of 2nd ODI, ENG-W vs PAK-W, Pakistan Women tour of England 2013 at Haslegrave Ground, Loughborough dated July 03, 2013.

A little window into a distant past courtesy of a bit of editing I'm doing on a book for @vchlondon.bsky.social on #Loughborough.

Women's internationals were played at Loughborough for five years ending in 2013. A lot of familiar names, some still playing today, but what a different context.

The lengths our researchers go to…!

I’m really looking forward to chairing this session in a couple of weeks time. Tre is an innovative ECR who is asking important new questions across various aspects of his research into Black communities in the history of Britain’s rural spaces.

This is happening tomorrow 28.05.25. Online only. Everyone is welcome. Use the link below to sign up 👇

Always amazing to celebrate the work of our @vchlondon.bsky.social network. Sarah’s hard work recruiting & training VCH volunteers & researching & writing VCH histories is just one of many examples of how the VCH increasing uses collaborative methods to produce authoritative & trusted histories.

So exciting to see @lrylandepton.bsky.social ‘s hard work collaborating with local communities to simultaneously produce @vchlondon.bsky.social red books & community focused publications recognised & celebrated last week.

Sarah is the sort of person that makes @vchlondon.bsky.social a special outfit to work for.

She's a fine scholar, indefatigable organiser, patient and generous with her support to volunteers, fellow authors and the project more generally (yes, she's also a friend). [1/2]

Lancaster historian honoured with VCH Outstanding Contribution Award - Lancaster University Dr Sarah Rose has received a prestigious Outstanding Contribution Award from the Victoria County History (VCH) of England in recognition of her transformative work with the VCH of Cumbria.

#DidYouKnow - we rely on a lot of hidden labour to support volunteers, research, write, edit, fundraise and to keep the show on the road.

As such, we have awards for outstanding achievement. Among this year's recipients, Dr Sarah Rose of @lancasteruni.bsky.social, for her work with VCH Cumbria. 🗃️

A pleasure to share this wonderful news - and a lovely photo of a very happy occasion. Congratulations to Dr Sarah Rose of @lancasteruni.bsky.social & VCH #Cumbria on her #VCH Outstanding Contribution Award - the 'Gold Blue Peter Badge' of @vchlondon.bsky.social. It was an honour to make the award.

For some reason @vchlondon.bsky.social have decided I have made an ‘outstanding contribution’ 😱 to the project and awarded me 👇