iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Kirsty Hartsiotis @stroudstory.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Seriously pistoffle owl mocked on this misericord @gloucestercathedral.org.uk #Gloucester for #OwlishMonday - HUGE thank you to the kind gentleman who let me look at them all! It was greatly appreciated, and constituted my weights class for the day - remove cushion, lift, photograph, lower...

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

A correction in the Cheltenham Chronicle, 6 Oct 1836: At the end of a police report, a note was added that in the previous week's report, the names of 3 policemen had been given instead of 3 people convicted of intoxication. Oops! (Image via British Newspaper Archive.)

[In our report last week, the names of three policemen named Thomas Trigg, Robert Green, and Daniel Browning, were inserted instead of the names of three persons convicted of intoxication.]

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I do love an Illustrated Police News sketch! This one depicts a brawl in Tetbury, Gloucestershire in 1878, which resulted in one young man being fatally stabbed and another sentenced to 12 years penal servitude for manslaughter. (IPN, 10 Aug 1878, via British Newspaper Archive)

Black and white sketch showing eight men fighting, one knocked to the ground. One older, worried-looking man at the rear of a building entrance which has a sign saying 'FINE ALES' at top left hand corner. Caption at bottom reads 'ALLEGED MURDER AT TETBURY'.

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Nick Moyes (Peat free) @nickmoyes.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Please sign and/or Retweet. #RNLI

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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

About 1,000 years ago, this ‘Tables’ game board was smashed up with an axe and thrown into a rubbish pit at Gloucester Castle! 🪓 😳 Ancient evidence perhaps of a sore loser!? 😂 Ironically it is the world’s oldest surviving complete tables set! Gloucester Museum 📷 by me #Archaeology

My photo shows the circa 1,000 year-old Gloucester 'Tables' game set. The set consists of 24 obelisk-shaped bone strips with pointed ends, and a bone panel border, which were originally inlaid onto a wooden base which has not survived, together with thirty disc-shaped bone counters (not all shown in my photo). The bone inlays are decorated with carved interlace and ring-and-dot patterns. Each game counter is intricately carved and decorated with a human or animal figure. The tables set is displayed on a sandy surface in a museum display case at Gloucester Museum. Tables is an early version of backgammon. It is the oldest complete tables set in the world

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Fiona Chartres @chartresfi.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Tom Denny's glorious windows at Tewkesbury Abbey were installed in 2002 and commemorate the anniversary of the Benedictines arrival 900 years previously. Entitled Work and Prayer they reflect the Benedictines motto 'To work is to pray'. #StainedGlassSunday

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

A photo in the Gloucester Citizen (21 April 1931) of Inspector Alan Bent, who retired from the Gloucestershire Police in 1931. His surname made me laugh, but when, I wonder, did the term 'bent copper' come into use in the UK? (Image via British Newspaper Archive)

Black and white photograph of a police officer, facing to right, wearing a peaked cap with chinstrap and sporting a moustache. Headline reads: POPULAR POLICE OFFICER TO RETIRE. Text underneath photo reads: Inspector Alan Bent, of Coleford, who is retiring after 30 years service in the Gloucestershire Constabulary.

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Durotriges Dig @durotrigesdig.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

A small portable stone altar with a carved figure of a deity from Chedworth Roman villa #Gloucestershire Possibly Mars Lenus, whose name has been suggested from an inscription elsewhere on site The holes originally held glass marking out the eyes, nipples, navel and (ahem) genitalia #FindsFriday

Stone altar with the carved outline of a human figure, probably meant to represent a deity, with holes for decorative glass, now lost

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Durotriges Dig @durotrigesdig.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Nearly 2,000 years ago, a dog walked across a wet clay tile as it lay drying at Chedworth #Roman villa in Gloucestershire 🐾🐕 "Every dog knows, deep in his heart, that he is a Bad Dog" (Terry Pratchett) Canis malus. Nulla tibi cena 📷 August 2026 #TilesOnTuesday #Archaeology

An orange / red Roman tile in a museum case with a dirty great big dog paw print near the middle. Bad boy. No cena for you

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

For International Cat Day, here is a tenuous link in the form of a story about a suspected cat burglar operating in Gloucester, from the Gloucestershire Echo, 2 Jan 1935 (Image from British Newspaper Archive).

CAR BURGLAR THEORY
Glo'ster Greyhound Track Manager's House Rifled
When Mr. John Charles Morgan, of Oxstall's-road, Gloucester, the manager of the Gloucester and Cheltenham Greyhound Track, and his wife and family were attending a meeting at the track an intruder broke into his house.
It is thought that he climbed up a drainpipe and entered through a bedroom window. He ransacked the whole house, turning out drawers, trunks, wardrobes and other receptacles.
When Mr. and Mrs. Morgan returned home they found the house in a disordered condition, and some money and a gold watch missing, and they immediately notified the police.
Despite his search, the burglar missed £20 in notes which were in a handbag. He apparently opened the bag and threw it on the floor without noticing that there were notes inside.

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The Backtracker History Show @backtrackeruk.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Rosa was a pioneering police officer who joined #Gloucestershire Constabulary in 1927 because she could ride a motorbike. At Staple Hill, she investigated high-profile cases and helped break barriers for women in policing. #History #Podcast #Crime #Police #Bristol #Trailblazer #Legend

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Found in the Horsley House of Correction registers: 4 people committed in October 1825 for being rogues and vagabonds and carrying 'instruments of gaming' in Tetbury (Glos) called Black & White Cock, Hap-Hazard, Gold & Silver Lottery and Teetotum. A variety of ways for folk to lose their money!

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

New on my website - a chronological list of prisoners executed in Gloucestershire between 1722 to 1790. There are 203 of them, so I hope someone finds it interesting! gloscrimehistory.uk/gloucestersh...

gloscrimehistory.uk

Gloucestershire Executions, 1722-1790

Executions took place at the County Gallows (Alney Island) unless stated otherwise. DATENAME(S)CRIMEOTHER INFOMarch 1722[—] Bantone [—] Harver [—] KingRobberiesBitton/Kingswood27 …

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Blimey, Monty, calm down mate!

Colour photo of Monty Don (presenter of BBC's Gardeners World) with caption reading, "Monty Don warns gardeners to harvest one crop immediately or there will be consequences."

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HIGNFY @hignfy.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

If elected, Count Binface may face a parliamentary standards investigation after it’s revealed he often makes collections on the wrong day

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

From Cheltenham Chronicle, 6 June 1896 - a constable named "Grabham", which was, the report commented, 'a very appropriate name for an officer of the law'. (Image via British Newspaper Archive.)

Walter Williams, of Eastgate-street, and Arthur Thomas Gardner, two small boys, were charged with stealing six bamboo canes, of the value of 3d, "the property of Samuel Bland." - Park-constable Grabham (a very appropriate name for an officer of the law) said he saw the prisoners pull the canes through the railings in front of Wells Dene. When they caught sight...[continues]

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Fiona Chartres @chartresfi.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

An enigmatic face looking down from the roof at Tewkesbury Abbey. #SundayStonework

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Jonathan Healey @jonathanhealey.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Historians on social media: ‘Erm, actually….’

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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 30/06/2026

A Japanese fan broke down crying after his country's elimination, but a group of Brazilians fans went to console him and Mexican fans made him soar. You gotta love the World Cup! ❤️🌎⚽️ Video: RÉCORD

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ianVisits @ianvisits.co.uk · 27/06/2026

In 1836, Henry Cole found a dead rat with a stomach full of chewed-up documents in the public records office. It was used as proof that the archives needed a better home, becoming the National Archives. Today, the National Archives shop sells soft toy rats.

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Postcard From The Past @pastpostcard.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

I've not even got a cardigan on.

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Sketch in the Illustrated Police News (4 July 1935) showing prisoner Arthur Franklin being taken into the execution chamber at Gloucester Prison. He was hanged on 25 June 1935 for shooting and killing Gladys Nott. (Image via British Newspaper Archive.)

Black and white sketch, headed MURDERER PAYS THE PENALTY ON THE SCAFFOLD. Reluctant man dressed in a loose shirt and trousers, arms tied behind him, being taken into the chamber by two prison warders, who seem to be propelling him forward. A priest in long robes walks in front, reading from a prayer book. Inside the room a man in a suit on the left peers round the open door. On the right, another man, probably the executioner, pulls a rope (presumably with noose on end) which is suspended from the ceiling towards him. He has one foot placed on the trap doors, on which the prisoner will stand. The lever mechanism that will open the trapdoors is just visible to the right.

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

It's not cheese-rolling in Gloucestershire, you know!

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Someone was in big trouble with his wife, according to this notice in the Gloucester Journal, 24 June 1776. (Image from British Newspaper Archive.)

WHEREAS I Daniel Hendy, in the Parish of Bromsberrow, in the County of Gloucester, did, by the Persuasion of my Friends, advertise Nancy Hendy my Wife in the Gloucester Journal, for no Person to trust her in my Name, for which I acknowledge myself to have been ill-advised, and beg her Pardon, as Witness my Hand, DANIEL HENDY.

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

I have been notified by WordPress that I have achieved 'Perfectionist' status. They must have noticed how many edits I do to my posts! 😄

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

The shocking news for me was that Farage is believed to have been paid over a million pounds for 'I'm a Celebrity'!

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

The General Strike started #OTD in 1926. Later in May, 14 Gloucester dock-workers were tried after trying to prevent a loaded tug from getting to Sharpness. 13 of them were jailed for 14 days. Photo from the Daily Mirror, 22 May 1926, via British Newspaper Archive.

Sepia photograph, headlined 'THIRTEEN DOCKERS SENT TO PRISON.' Photo shows a line of men in flat caps, led by a policeman (probably an inspector) with other police walking alongside and behind them. A group of people stands on the left, including children anda woman with a baby in a pram. Caption underneath photo says it shows 'fourteen dockers leaving Gloucester Gaol for the police court, where they were charged with offences under the Emergency Regulations during the general strike. One was discharged and the remainder were sentenced to fourteen days hard labour. It was alleged that by intimidation they prevented work on a canal.'

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Gloucester (UK) had a more exciting Monday than usual (probably) on 29 April 1912. A man was arrested and taken to the police station to be booked in. Standing in the foyer, he saw that the front door was open and legged it. He ran through the city, with the police in pursuit. In a lane [1/3)]

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

My Mum called these "sweethearts".

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Gloucestershire National Garden Scheme @glosngs.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Explore the landscaped grounds of Highnam Court, Gloucester, when it opens for the National Garden Scheme on Sun May 3. Spring bulbs, lakes, a listed Pulhamite water garden, and mixed borders make up the 40 acres. It's open from 11-4.30 and entry is £6. Details: buff.ly/qY7tvFJ #OpenGarden

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

It never fails to make me smile when I come across a passage in a book published in 1975 about the history of Gloucestershire's prisons, in which the author, when describing a dirty protest by a prisoner, wrote: "it was found that he had excused himself down the ventilator."

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

In 1759, a woman was held in Cirencester House of Correction for refusing to wear a badge to show that she was in receipt of parish relief in Painswick. (From Gloucestershire Gaol Calendars, Michaelmas 1759, in Gloucestershire Prison Records on ancestry.co.uk. Image from Ancestry.)

Handwritten entry in a prison register:
'Sarah Powel, Committed September ye 11 By Giles Garner Esq., on the Oath of Daniel Merrett Overseer of the Poor of Painswick for her Refusing to Wear Such Badge or Mark as the Poor who Receive Relief of the Parishes ought By the Statute in that Case made and Since By Him Discharged.'

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

From the Daily Mirror, 28 June 1934: A man walked over 120 miles from London to Lydney, Gloucestershire, to appear in court on a motoring charge. He was fined £2 (and costs). (Image from British Newspaper Archive)

120 Miles Walk to Court
LOST HIS JOB AND FINED £2!
[Small photo on left of a young man, white with dark hair. Text wraps round photo.] After having walked over 120 miles to answer a summons for a motoring offence, a London lorry-driver was fined £2 and costs at Lydney (Glos) yesterday.
He was John Emmins, twenty-three, of Roshel-road, Stratford, E. He started his walk on Monday and arrived at Lydney yesterday.
It was stated in court that he had been given breakfast by a Lydney business man who had also arranged for his defence.
Emmins pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving a motor-lorry without due care and attention. He crashed into a traffic light standard in trying to avoid a pedestrian.
It was stated that his employer dismissed him on learning of the accident.
"My son walked to Lydney because he had not the money to get there in any other way," Mrs. Emmins told the Daily Mirror last night. "After receiving the summons he told the police that he could not afford his fare to Lydney. They replied that he must appear there, so he decided to walk."

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Jill Evans @jillrevans.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

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Angry People in Local Newspapers @apiln.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Happy tenth anniversary of the Great Cheltenham Dropped KFC disaster. Everyone remembers where they were when they first heard about it, and it was the first in a series of cursèd takeaway food incidents in the town, which left residents quivering in fear.

Gloucestershire Echo: Entire KFC feast of fried chicken breasts and fries strewn across Cheltenham pavement this morning.

Picture shows a KFC meal on the pavement.

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Kevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

10th century Saxon sculpture from the Church of the Holy Rood at Daglingworth in Gloucestershire depicting the Cruxifiction. 📸 My own. #GoodFriday #Easter

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Weird Bristol @weirdbristol.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

The grotesque reframing of AI as something all authors secretly use is a nasty lie. I write my books due to an urge to create art - to guide words out of my head and into the real world. It’s a taxing, slow, sometimes infuriating process - but it’s also beautiful and entirely human.

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