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Sarah

@sarahhistory.bsky.social
455 followers 526 following 436 posts

Historian, community archaeologist, family tree research, and Computing teacher, LBDAHS Archaeologist. Wing Heritage Group, One Place Study, OU Graduate

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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
This week I lost a friend. Not just a friend, but someone who I greatly admired and helped me during the loss of my mum. He was my mentor, and the one who convinced me to write a book. I saw him a few days before he died. Our town’s history custodian. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/a...
theguardian.com
Paul Brown obituary
The Guardian’s environment correspondent at a time when international concern over the climate began to take hold
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
This is such a perfect find for my #OnePlaceStudy! This came out of our trench today. A Corbet family livery badge. This links our excavated cottage directly to the manor of Linslade. Needless to say we are all very excited! #Archaeology #LocalHistory
A small livery badge with the crest of the Corbet family - an elephant with a castle on top. Not very clean. A dark green background as it was taken in a finds tray.
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
My archiving today hit my #OnePlaceStudy street history and the manor. What did I discover? Far too much to post here. The key takeaway though was an archaeologist confirming an earlier mansion house, something I had been saying for ages! History and archaeology go hand in hand!
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Substackers - I am thinking of getting back on but hearing about AI being used and people moving away. Is it worth it or trying to move to a new platform? #Substack
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Another sweltering afternoon. Sorted through more archive boxes. So much stuff! Started sorting into places, so though it felt like moving from one box to another, they are now with their relevant towns. Still a few more boxes to do, but it feels slightly more organised! #LocalHistoryArchive
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Taking a bit of a break in the sun. Another day of above 30 temps today. The archive work has come home for a bit, get far more done! With the help of Gemini I wrote a python script yesterday to scan documents and record names and places. Now need a decent copy to try it out on! #LocalHistory
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Back in the archive this afternoon. 2 more boxes sorted! Just a reminder for fellow researchers:- If you create an archive as you go along you don’t forget you did it and do it all over again! I am guilty of this digitally, but when it is physical paper, it becomes a different problem! #LocalHistory
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Back in the archive today. Finished sorting out the ‘To be sorted’ box to go back tomorrow. I think we have a lot of duplicate information, so that will be a lovely project for the winter! I have tomorrow afternoon to do more before another lot of boxes get added! #LocalHistory
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Swapped digging in the archive for digging in muck, yes, we still have wet sand, despite no rain for 50 days, that’s happens when you dig a natural spring! Star find of the day!
What looks to be a Neolithic hand axe, broken at the top. Highly polished and made of quartzite.
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Went through a box called ‘Needs sorting’. Yup, it definitely did! I am not sure how many copies of the first page of Sir Thomas Leigh’s Will we need, but 5 might be a bit much! #LocalHistory
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Part of the physical artefacts of our history archive came down from the loft on Wednesday. Today I have to start looking in boxes, creating the first part of the catalogue and some semblance of order! #LocalHistory
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Back to the wills again this morning. Really interesting how the wording differed as the religion changed. From Henry VIII to the wills in the Commonwealth. Not really what I am supposed to be doing, must not get sidetracked!!
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
This morning is a Will morning. Going through 133 wills and taking note of names and places mentioned. They date from 1550s to the 1800s. Some are transcribed, some are original. Did it all have to be written so small?! Luckily I scanned them first, so can zoom in.
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Currently sat in the garden, enjoying the end of the day. Came back from holiday yesterday lunchtime but visited our archive team in the afternoon, and dig day today. Now sat trying to work out archival processes into the new database I have designed. Yes, this is how I relax, wine may be involved.
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Finishing off archiving our Society’s laptop. Down to the last few PowerPoints to be made into videos (they have a soundtrack), and the databases. Created in 2010, not touched since. Creating new ones with LibreOffice so they will not need a subscription to keep them updated!
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Transition days for the next two days. Get to spend it with my new form. Quite an interesting mix! 10 hours over 2 days with one year 7 class. Hopefully I will survive, can’t be worse than the last few weeks……
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Another dig day in my #OnePlaceStudy. This time we actually found the surface we were looking for (cue Ben Kenobi) and a couple of bits of pottery to go with it. If our dating is correct, this could be highly significant for my study. So I might be really excited, or hugely disappointed!
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Dig season is now well underway in my #OnePlaceStudy. Though all I managed to find were oyster shells, the total amount for the whole day was building rubble, 2 pieces of green glass and 1 piece of medieval pottery. I don’t think this part of the field was very busy…..
An oyster shell covered in dirt. 
Another oyster shell, this time white and flaking.
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Last day of May, but our first of a new dig season in my #OnePlaceStudy. Not had chance to write anything for #OnePlaceArchaeology so here are some photos instead!!
A test pit 1m x 1.2m. This was a geophys anomaly that looked like a platform and tied up with an 1800s map showing buildings. Only opened today! Lots of building material, but one piece of medieval pottery and a 1930s face cream tin. This shows the cottage foundations in the background. It would have been a one floor single storey building. In the front is the medieval wall it is built up against and the ranging poles mark out the place of the possible Holy Well. The Well was banned in 1299 by the Bishop of Lincoln. This is the old cottage foundations with the sheep visiting. The site was there only source of water last year. There is a canal barge in the background as the site is next to the Grand Union Canal.
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
So more #NotMyOnePlaceStudy this week. Checked in on the archive team this week, took home the first catalogued box file to digitise. Changed our Society’s laptop to Linux Mint with Vivaldi and LibreOffice. Now working through 50Gb of files, cataloguing them. Only 7 weeks of school left! Yay!!
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
@juliegfamily.bsky.social I have found an article in our records about living on a boat between 1913 and 1935. Not sure if you have seen it, it was published in Waterways World.
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Half term. Didn’t think I would make it. I need a new job……
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Currently researching a farm for my #NotMyOnePlaceStudy and came across an account of a court case in the newspapers. The farmer was found guilty of killing a pigeon and had to pay compensation, as well as court costs. It was a fan tail pigeon and he greeted the owner with a gun and feathers…..
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
That moment you realise that of course the local miller will employ his son at the farm he has just taken over! Why didn’t that click slightly earlier????
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Yay!! House hunting commence! Sadly I don’t earn enough from teaching to buy a family home round where I live, so we are living with my dad in my childhood home. He told me tonight he can help me buy a house! One I walk past every day is up for sale and now we can afford to move to our own home!
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Had a visitor in the garden this afternoon. Been a few times recently, we have a heronry about 2 miles away, as well as lakes, river and canal all within that radius. Beautiful, but dangerous round the pond!
A very proud young heron standing on grass looking to the right of the picture. A path and plants to the right of it.
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
What better way to start Easter. Curry on the way, and this wine to be opened. Why not a lovely Rothschild! Xmas present from my lovely nephew, I would love to think it is because he knows how much I have researched them, but then again probably not lol!
Picture of a bottle of white wine. Baroness Nadine Chardonnay from the Rupert & Rothschild winery.
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
My current #OnePlaceStudy project is the Lloyd George Domesday Book. Adding it into a spreadsheet so I can analyse it and then map it. This might take a while, I know there are over 900 records, I am on 72…….
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Stepped in to replace a speaker at another history group this evening. Small crowd, some had seen it before but it went down well. My first line is ‘As a teacher it is a pleasure to talk to people who want to be here rather than a captive audience’, always guaranteed a laugh! #localhistory
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
On our way back from yet another amazing Young Voices at the 02. Tired children and adults!
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
That moment you think you are in the middle of a new project, go to find something, and realise you have already done it……
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Spent the morning at the local ‘archive’, aka my friend’s library. Found a list of field names, the extension plans for my #OnePlaceStudy vicarage and more maps…. I think I have counted about 100 so far!! More time there tomorrow, aiming to look to see what other treasures lurk in folders!
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Broke up on Friday for half-term. After 2 days of working I have just finished the work I couldn’t finish last week. This was due to other stuff that took priority over the priority stuff from last Monday. School is a never ending cycle of here have some more work - needs to be done yesterday.
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
So I need a new job and career. Education is just not the thing I want to do for the next 20 years until I retire. I think I need to do something history/archaeology related so I can use my qualifications!
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Did you know that Coprolite mining was a thing?? I found out yesterday we had a local mine, not only that but we have the maps of the tramways as they loaded directly to the Grand Junction Canal! #localhistory
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
A Happy New Year to one and all! It has been a real struggle over these last few months, wanted to end 2025 on a different type of history. Mum saw me writing fiction, sadly she never saw me published at all. This is my attempt at mixing both! sarahroehistory.substack.com/p/a-pound-an...
sarahroehistory.substack.com
A Pound and a Song
As a final bow out to 2025 a final post of something a bit different!
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
Just managed a Xmas drink with my youngest! This is a first for both of us drinking alcohol! Merry Christmas!! 🎄🧑‍🎄
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Today’s #LocalHistory research is into the pubs of my OPS. The history is fascinating, but the bits I have found with the research are just as interesting! A typed note from Benskins Brewery on the rise of tea over beer, an auction receipt from the 1990s and an article about Casper the pub ghost!
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
This is fascinating. I don’t think people realise how much still comes in! An archive isn’t a closed room, it is constantly being added to. Being at the start of an archive I am more than aware that systems we put in place have to be scalable, new technology proof, consistent and easy to use!
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Yay!!! Last day of term finally here! Time then to catch up on books, research and actually getting round to writing stuff that isn’t school work!
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
Due to illness our history society’s ex-chair has had to relinquish everything he does. I seem to have taken on his the role as archivist. This week I have been given the following:- thousands of photos from a local newspaper, a conveyance document for land from 1864 and a book (72nd in 2 weeks)
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
This weekend is the start of the archiving of our vast collection. The only issue is the archive has expanded in the last week! Currently wading my way though donated books today! It does mean I finally get to use the archive software I have had for years! #localhistory
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
2 brilliant talks about Dunstable Priory today. The first on the Dunstable Swan (got to hold the replica but forgot to take photos!) and the 2nd on the only known manuscript written at the Priory. #BedfordshireHistory #LocalHistory www.bmimages.com/preview.asp?...
bmimages.com
The British Museum Images
This is a British Museum Images licensable image titled 'The Dunstable Swan Jewel' by British Museum Images All rights reserved. You may not copy, publish, or use this image except for sample layout (...
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
Celebrating Bedfordshire Day at the Priory Church in Dunstable. #Localhistory #BedfordshireDay
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
@juliegfamily.bsky.social This just popped up on a social media site and I thought of you! This is part of the canal at Linslade.
A black and white photo of the ramp way down to the Grand Union Canal. Barges on the canal and buildings on the opposite side.
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Just been donated this! Any pottery experts who can help? Our expert doesn’t do post-medieval! #Finds #Pottery
White pottery with a simple flower pattern design.
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Our lovely ex-Chair of our Society is keeper of the “Archive’ (well, the documents part.) He is now very ill and we need to get it all sorted. It is not a proper archive, so even he doesn’t know what is in it. It is also very extensive, several rooms worth. Our museum is 3-4 years away.
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Today was a special day for our town. We had both BBC Look East and ITV filming a blue plaque reveal for Remembrance Day today. I have written a couple of Substack articles about it. substack.com/@sarahroehis...
substack.com
Somewhere in England - Part 1.
Are you sitting comfortably?
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
This morning was spent at our Remembrance Parade. I do not think I have seen so many uniformed groups as I did today. The town was packed. So proud to be a part of it! This year is a very special year. Will post about that later!
The Monolith war memorial with the 175ft spire of All Saints Church towering in the background.
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Sarah @sarahhistory.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Had a great time talking history at the local church Christmas fair. Even sold a few of my own books! #LocalHistory
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