The summer of 1381 saw one of the biggest popular uprisings in Medieval Europe. Now, an innovative online resource is revealing how the Peasants’ Revolt impacted the lives of women, children and whole communities. 

This week, Amy Matthews is joined by English Heritage’s Dr Will Wyeth to unlock the complex social and political issues of the revolt and how we feel these forces today. 

The University of Glasgow’s Dr Andrew Prescott and The University of Reading’s Dr Helen Killick share snapshots of lives from the People of 1381 database and explore how stories are pieced together from documents and records of this period to add depth to popular chronicles. 

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show. 

Join: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/  

Support our work: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/  

People of 1381 database: https://www.1381.online/

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This week on the English Heritage podcast, Amy Matthews dips into the rivers of Northern England for an insight into Roman beliefs and the celebrity culture of gladiators. 

English Heritage’s Dr Frances Mcintosh and Dr Philippa Walton from the University of Leicester discuss gladiator memorabilia and the celebrity status of these icons in Roman Britain, with the aid of some amazing objects. The offerings made by Romans to the rivers at Piercebridge Roman Bridge and Corbridge Roman Town give us a snapshot into everyday lives, diverse beliefs and rituals. 

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show. 

Join: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/  

Support our work: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/  

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Today we head to Brodsworth Hall and Gardens in Yorkshire and step back in time to discover a love story from the early 20th century. And it all starts with a camera.  

Join Amy to unravel the story of two country house servants who met and fell in love against the background of the First World War in a Downton Abbey-worthy tale. English Heritage curator Eleanor Matthews explains how a very special bequest of items revealed valuable insights into Brodsworth Hall and its past residents – including the lives of Alf and Caroline Palmer. Their grandson Gordon also joins us to share their story, their memories of life in service at a country house, and a surprising inheritance.  

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.  

Join English Heritage: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/  

Support our work: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/  

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The shadow of the Cold War loomed over the 20th Century. But how did this affect day-to-day life for ordinary people and how was anxiety about the possibility of conflict normalised? 

Starting with an innovative piece of technology from York's Cold War Bunker, Amy and her guests discuss civilian volunteers, the protest movement and the ever-present threat of war, using living memory and oral history to connect the past to our present.  

Megan Thomas, a PhD student at the University of Liverpool, tells us about her research into imagined futures in our culture. Kevin Booth, Head Collections Curator at English Heritage, shares stories from Noreen, a Royal Observer Corps volunteer who spent 30 years serving in York’s bunker as part of the British nuclear deterrent. 

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.  

Join: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/  

Support our work: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/  

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What does the view from London’s tallest building have in common with your kitchen tea towels and your favourite summer holiday outfit? 

This week on the English Heritage Podcast, Amy Matthews and her guests dive into the history of Shrewsbury Flax Mill and the industrial revolution.  

Find out how a humble bobbin can unravel a story about the linen and textile industries; how technical innovation changed the lives of working people and how it offered us the architecture that makes modern day skyscrapers possible. English Heritage’s Dr Steven Brindle and Barrie Trinder, a historian with a passion for industrial Shropshire explore the minds and the hands behind the mill, all the way through to its present-day impact.  

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.  

Join: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/  

Support our work: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/  

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When Wrest Park’s Jemima, Marchioness Grey, was widowed, she unleashed her purse strings to install lavish Chinese art across the Bedfordshire estate: perfect for taking tea with friends. 

You can get lost in the intricate birds, plants and people featured in Wrest Park’s Chinese wallpapers, but how was this part of a wider fashion in textiles, design and landscaping?  

Dr Andrew Hann and volunteer Richard Luscombe join writer and comedian Amy Matthews to find out how trade between Europe and China started a centuries long love affair with Chinese design and textiles, and how consumer demand and exotic ideals were used by skilled manufacturers to develop the Chinoiserie style we still enjoy in our clothes, homewares and furnishings today.  

You can plan your visit to see Wrest Park and its Chinese wallpapers at https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/wrest/  

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show. 

Join: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/  

Support our work: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/  

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How does a fish connect us to a story of working women’s rights?  

Join comedian, writer and history fangirl Amy Matthews and her guests find out about tough and resilient seasonal workers in the Great Yarmouth fishing industry. From frozen fingers to salty cuts and a work hard play hard attitude (not to mention the stench of fish at the end of the day), working women travelled the coastlines on the trail of herring shoals, bolstering local fishing industries with seasonal work and bringing a whole new vibe to the towns they landed in. 

English Heritage’s Dr Megan Leyland and researcher Dr Jill de Fresnes explore the lives of working people in Great Yarmouth’s Row Houses during the peak of the fishing industry, and the essential role of women in the supporting textile industry in the early 20th Century. 

You can find out more about Great Yarmouth Row Houses at https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/greatyarmouthrowhouses 

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show. 

Join: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/ 

Support our work: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/  

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We’re still busy behind the scenes, so in the meantime we wanted to share a special series with you called Speaking with Shadows.  

Framlingham Castle was home to the fiercely powerful Dukes of Norfolk for 400 years – so how did it end up as a workhouse in the 17th century? Join Josie Long as she delves into the castle’s second life and English society’s changing attitudes towards poverty over the centuries. Hear about people who lived and worked in the workhouse, and why life wasn’t always like a scene from Oliver Twist. 

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We’re still busy behind the scenes, so in the meantime we wanted to share a special series with you called Speaking with Shadows.  

It sees Josie Long teaming up with English Heritage to uncover some of the most fascinating forgotten stories from England’s past. We hope you enjoy it.  

At Pevensey Castle in East Sussex, we learn about Joan of Navarre, the medieval Queen of England who was accused of witchcraft and imprisoned at the castle by her stepson, Henry V.   

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