Category Archives: History

All Saints’ Church

Posted on 17/08/2015 by carolinemmurray

I was walking up Jesus Lane the other day, and All Saints’ church was open. This Victorian pile was, for a long period in my Cambridge life, locked and threatened with demolition. Only about one hundred years after it was … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Cambridge, History | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Plant of the Month: August

Posted on 14/08/2015 by carolinemmurray

This month’s plant is the dahlia: they are everywhere at the moment, in their incredible variety, and I know almost nothing about them. I’m not even sure I like them all that much – their colours, and especially the complex … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Gardens, History | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Twelve Things I Didn’t Know About Regensburg

Posted on 10/08/2015 by carolinemmurray

We have just spent a long weekend in Regensburg, about which I thought I knew one Big Thing: the Diet of Ratisbon, 1541 (how A-level history still lingers, 50 years on…). But with the aid of some determined mooching about … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Art, History, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

The Phone Book

Posted on 05/08/2015 by carolinemmurray

One of the less likely treasures of the Museum of Cambridge is the two-sheet Cambridge telephone directory for 1896–7. (The National Telephone Company set up in Cambridge in 1892.) It is interesting equally for the names it lists as for … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, History | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Paper Flowers Revisited

Posted on 02/08/2015 by carolinemmurray

The British Museum has on display one of the copper plates which Sir Joseph Banks commissioned to be engraved for his planned ‘Natural History’ of the Endeavour voyage. I’m grateful to Sarah McDonald (@Artboretum), Heritage Collections Manager at the RHS … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Botany, History, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

A Man and a Brother?

Posted on 29/07/2015 by carolinemmurray

Hindsight is inevitably a snare for the serious historian – how much more so for the dabbling amateur? How could so many normal people (and not just Germans) support the Nazi party? How could so many people (and not just … Continue reading →

Posted in History, London | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Garden Museum

Posted on 27/07/2015 by carolinemmurray

What do the following museums have in common: Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge, The Queen’s House in Greenwich, and the Garden Museum in Lambeth? The answer is a good news/bad news one: all three are about to undergo refurbishment, extension or … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Gardens, History, London, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Graves of the Great and Good

Posted on 24/07/2015 by carolinemmurray

I had been meaning for ages to visit the Ascension Burial Ground in north Cambridge, and a tweet from Zoe Cormack about the grave of J.G. Frazer and his wife finally got me off the sofa and out of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, Gardens, History | Tagged , | 5 Comments

The Professor of Basket-Making

Posted on 21/07/2015 by carolinemmurray

In the Museum of Cambridge (formerly the Folk Museum) not far from Murray Edwards College (formerly New Hall) but somewhat north of John Lewis (formerly Robert Sayle) there is a bizarre object donated in 1925 by Thomas Okey (1852–1935), first … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge, History, London, Museums and Galleries | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments