Lost Cambridge

The soft launch of Celebrating Cambridge Women demonstrated how local history can be brought to the stage This is what the stage at the Cambridge Corn Exchange looked like Above-Left – Cathy Dunbar as Eqlantyne Jebb, and above-right with Simone Chalkley as Louisa Wilkins (Eglantyne’s elder sister who pioneered the Women’s Land Army) Photographs: Matt … More The women who made modern Cambridge – on stage

Stuart Orme of the Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon presented to a packed out St John’s Church Hall on Hills Road for the Cambridgeshire Association for Local History. Even though the Lord Protector was our MP for nine years, much of his history is told not by museums in Cambridge, but in Huntingdon (where he grew … More The real Oliver Cromwell – MP for Cambridge 1640-49

It has been over a decade since the once-mighty Cambridge Conservatives produced a manifesto of any real substance. It was written in the run up to the General Election 2010 in the final days of Gordon Brown’s Government that was struggling with the fallout of the Banking Crisis 2008, and the inevitable institutional fatigue that … More The Cambridge Conservatives’ Manifesto for 2010 – a look at some contemporary political history

The use of words and language is in a different league to today, from a time when the local newspapers were much more politically partisan. This from the Cambridge Independent Press of 04 Feb 1860, via the British Newspaper Archive “This long talked of banquet, given by the Conservative Club, came off at the Lion … More Conservative banquet flops – the Liberal-supporting Cambridge Independent reported with glee! 1860

Another one of Mike Petty’s finds, it now resides in the Institute of Criminology Library Store. Above – from the University of Cambridge’s online catalogue. It would be ***wonderful*** if someone could digitise and transcribe his diaries for us town people to read – only Governor Edis did lock up several of our less-law-abiding predecessors … More John Edis’ Prison Guv’nor diaries returned to Cambridge – 1968

Cambridge used to have a prominent local brick-making industry – to the extent that the the pale brick colour of the bricks became fairly well known in the industry in comparison to the red bricks of elsewhere, such as the northern industrial towns, or the granite of Aberdeen. Author Michael Rosen recorded an audiofile for … More How Duce’s pit became worth a fortune – a short tale of land and property in East Cambridge

Many of the greatest women in our city who were active during the 20th Century were members of this organisation – several standing for election under WCA sponsorship and getting elected – including Cambridge’s first woman mayor Eva Hartree. At the Cambridgeshire Collection in Cambridge Central Library I stumbled across a file containing various reports … More The Cambridge Women’s Citizens’ Association 1918-1984

Once one of the main entertainment venues north of the river, the site generated lots of noise for local residents who by the 1970s, had had enough. The man who played a leading role in the campaign for its closure was my former history lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, the late David Weigall. One of … More The battle to close the Rex Ballroom and Cinema by Shire Hall in the 1970s