On History
News, articles & research from the
Institute of Historical Research
Latest posts
London’s Surprising Medieval Ban on Tennis Balls
This blog has been written by Eliot Benbow During Wimbledon season one discovery from our AHRC/DFG funded project London’s medieval customs accounts seems particularly intriguing. We have been struck by the sheer variety of goods and commodities that were imported and...
The Complete English Tradesman
The Complete English Tradesman in Familiar Letters [1726]. Public domain mark 1.0, Google Books via Internet Archive On the 300th anniversary of Daniel Defoe’s book The Complete English Tradesman, this guest post by Jenny Mayhew makes the case for why we should be...
Bibliography of British and Irish History June 2026 update
What’s new in BBIH? The June 2026 update to the Bibliography of British and Irish History adds 3678 new publications. The new update includes books, journal articles, book chapters from edited...
Spotlight
Conflict and climate change in the Arctic: what the seventeenth century suggests about the future
By Dagomar Degroot Environment & History, essay no. 13 In the final article of our ‘Environment & History’ series, Professor Dagomar Degroot looks to early modern climate change to ask whether arctic warming necessarily results in violent...
Features & Articles
London’s Surprising Medieval Ban on Tennis Balls
This blog has been written by Eliot Benbow During Wimbledon season one discovery from our AHRC/DFG funded project London’s medieval customs accounts seems particularly intriguing. We have been struck by the sheer variety of goods and commodities that were imported and...
All the World’s a Stage: Performativity in the Life History Interview
This blog post was written by IHR Fellow Nilakshi Das. Life history interviews are rarely simple acts of narrating one’s life story. They unfold as a dynamic, relational interaction in which the interviewer and interviewee jointly shape how a life story is told and...
Advocating for History by Doing History
This blog was written by Claire Langhamer, Director of the IHR Historians are very good at crafting arguments and in recent times very many people have advanced very many arguments about why history matters. We have pointed to the skills of critical analysis that lie...
A History of England in 25 Poems
This new book from IHR Professor Catherine Clarke explores the history of England in new ways—drawing on her work here in the Institute. It’s been quite a journey. From hours in the archive to writing and revisions, from my desk at work and home to sitting behind the...
Publications News
John Aubrey and the Victoria County History: Parallel Endeavours in Systematic Local History
In this blog post, Dr Louise Ryland-Epton describes the gestation of the latest Victoria County History (VCH), publications for Wiltshire, which focus on Chippenham and its neighbourhood. In looking at how this work was informed by earlier scholarship—notably that of...
Soho at Noon: Satire, Stratification, and Urbanisation in William Hogarth’s London
Daisy Mansfield is a volunteer with Victoria County History (VCH) London, focusing on artists in Soho. In this blog, she discusses what we can learn about Soho in the eighteenth century from the work of the renowned artist and chronicler of London life, William...
The Value of Encouraging Neurodivergent Participation in Community Research Initiatives for the Victoria County History of England
This blog post was written by Dr Christopher Tinmouth, Victoria County History (VCH) Cumbria Participatory Research Officer Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway, photo by Christopher Tinmouth Autistic representation in academia, and in community participation in research...
Domesday at the IHR
In this blog, IHR Fellow Chris Lewis writes about a new publication Domesday Book is justly famous as England’s oldest public record, the source of a teeming mass of information about every aspect of English government and society around the time of the Norman...
Research & Resources News
Researching the Histories of Medicine and Health in the Bibliography of British and Irish History
In this blog post, Rachel Peacock (Queen’s University, Canada) and Jenny Lelkes-Rarugal (BBIH editor) discuss how the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) can be used to research and teach the histories of medicine and...
Bibliography of British and Irish History February 2026 update
What’s new in BBIH? The February 2026 update to the Bibliography of British and Irish History adds over 4,000 new publications. The new update includes books, journal articles, book chapters, and...
Researching the History of Emotions in the Bibliography of British and Irish History
In this blog post, Dr Eloise Grey (University of Aberdeen) and Jenny Lelkes-Rarugal (editor of BBIH) discuss how the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) can be used to research and teach the History of Emotions. BBIH and the History of Emotions BBIH is...
Researching the Histories of Social Class in the Bibliography of British and Irish History
In this blog post, Lucy McCormick (University of Birmingham) and Jenny Lelkes-Rarugal (BBIH editor) discuss how the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) can be used to research and teach the histories of social class. BBIH and the histories of social...