Herbs

Bay leaves are native to the Mediterranean area. Bay was well known to the Greeks and the Romans, who held it in high regard. Bay was also a popular herb in the Middle Ages and for centuries bay was medicine as well as food. Find out more in my history of herbs 

Medieval Towns

The thing that would strike us most about medieval towns would be their small size. By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 London probably had a population of about 18,000. Winchester, the capital of England, probably had about 8,000 people. At that time a 'large' town, like Lincoln or Dublin had about 4,000 or 5,000 inhabitants and a 'medium sized' town, like Colchester had about 2,500 people. Many towns were much smaller. www.localhistories.org/towns.html

History of Firefighting

In the mid 17th century the only tools for fighting fire were buckets, hooks and handheld pumps. (Gunpowder could be used to blow up buildings and create fire breaks). However, in 1672 Jan Van der Heiden invented a flexible leather hose with brass fittings. Van der Heiden also pioneered hand-pumped fire engines to use with the hose. localhistories.org/a-history-of-firefighting

Calgary

I wrote a history of Calgary in Canada

Emsworth

This is my video about Emsworth in Hampshire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHIoE0EIpQ0

Caroline Herschel

Caroline Herschel was a famous astronomer. In 1846 she was given the Prussian Gold Medal for science. She was then 96. Caroline lived from 1750 to January 1848. She died at the age of 97. So even in those days, some people did live to extreme old age. 

Horndean, Hampshire

This is my Youtube video about the history of the charming village of Horndean in Hampshire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1-vfsWJHqk