The English Heritage Podcast

This week we continue to celebrate Black History Month with a journey through time – and the streets of London. We’re joined by curatorial director Anna Eavis and historian Steve Martin to discuss a president, a doctor, a nurse, two stars of stage and screen, and a footballer, who are all commemorated with English Heritage blue plaques at their former homes in the capital. To discover more about t...

This week we’re joined by English Heritage’s poet-in-residence Jacob Sam-La Rose, emerging Poet Esme Allman and creative programme manager Caroline Moore to discuss a new month-long poetry programme taking place throughout Black History Month in October. This will see Jacob and a number of emerging African Caribbean poets write poetry inspired by the stories of English Heritage sites or their expe...

We’re joined by Cathy Power and Sarah Murden to discuss the story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate daughter of British naval officer Sir John Lindsay and an African woman named Maria Bell, who may have been enslaved. Dido spent much of her life at Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath in North London where was raised by her great uncle, Lord Mansfield, who through the 1750s to 80s was the most...

This week, we’ve returned to the turbulent Tudor period in which King Henry VIII imposed his will against the Pope through the Dissolution of the Monasteries. This saw the suppression of approximately 900 religious houses across England and Wales and the execution of around 200 members of the religious orders and laymen. Joining us to discuss how this religious revolution came about – and what hap...

Following the publication of new research revealing where Stonehenge’s giant sarsen stones were extracted from, we’re heading out on the road to meet Senior Properties Historian Dr Susan Greaney to trace their journey to Salisbury Plain. Discover how Professor David Nash from Brighton University tracked the stones back to a specific location, how Stonehenge’s builders transported them and why the...

We’re joined by properties curator Mark Douglas to discover the stories of the English Heritage sites that played their part in defending England’s northern territories. Join us on an audio tour of the key defences through the ages, from Hadrian’s Wall to Carlisle, Norham, Berwick and Dunstanburgh Castles, and find out what happened to them during peacetime until war broke out across Europe. To di...

Scupper me skull and crossbones! This week, we’re casting off for an episode all about the history of piracy and, more specifically, the pirates of the English Channel. And while this might sound like an unlikely title for a film, history tells us that the waters between southern England and northern France were, in fact, a dangerous domain for cargo vessels for several centuries. Joining us to ma...

We’re joined in the studio by senior properties historian Michael Carter to reveal the story of Richard, Earl of Cornwall and the English Heritage sites connected with him, from Berkhamstead, Tintagel, Launceston and Restormel Castles, which he owned, to Hailes Abbey, which he founded. Although his name might not be familiar, he was the second son of King John and the brother of Henry III and enjo...

This week, we’re travelling back to the 13th century and the turbulent reign of King John to discover how a rebellion, a war in France and two sieges of Dover Castle in Kent each played their part in the king’s eventual demise. Joining us to unpick the complex plot is senior properties historian Paul Pattison, who reveals the events leading up to the sieges of Dover Castle, their role in preservin...

This week we’re marking 300 years since one of the most infamous stock market crashes in English history. It was a bubble fuelled by wild speculation and driven by dubious morals – and a bubble which ruined the fortunes of many investors, including some whose estates are now cared for by English Heritage. Joining us to discuss the South Sea Company stock market bubble – and crash – are properties...

This week we’re joined by anthropologist and author Mary-Ann Ochota to discover the history hiding in plain sight in the English landscape. These features include everything from burial mounds, hill forts and stone circles, to figures carved into chalk hills and the network of ancient paths that crisscross the country. Listen on to learn about the relics the Romans left behind, the legacy of the e...

On the 75th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the Second World War, we’re looking back at the long period of military tension that followed. The Cold War between communist Russia and the democratic West was effectively a war of ideologies. But it was also a war in which newly discovered nuclear weapons had the potential to destroy civilisation. One of the eerie monu...

This week we’re joined by fashion historian Amber Butchart and makeup artist Rebecca Butterworth to discuss the history of makeup and their experiences as the presenters of our popular series of makeup tutorials on YouTube, which explain how to get iconic looks through the ages, from Roman times to the 1940s. Listen on to discover how cosmetics have evolved over time, what they discovered making t...

This week, we’re heading back to the 1930s and a property that was something of a party palace. Eltham Palace and gardens, nestled in south-east London, is rich in history, with royal residents that include Edward II, a young Henry VIII and Charles I, who was the last king to visit before the Civil War. After centuries of neglect, Eltham was then leased to millionaire socialites Stephen and Virgin...

This year English Heritage are celebrating the many ways the past has shaped our nation and this week, at a time when mobility is still restricted, we’re looking back at when a new mode of transport changed life in England forever. Before Britain fell in love with the motor car, and long before the dawn of international flights to exotic destinations, the dawn of rail travel marked a new chapter i...

On the 30th anniversary of Brodsworth Hall and Gardens in South Yorkshire being gifted to the nation, we are joined by senior curator Kevin Booth, head gardener Dan Hale and head curator of collections Martin Allfrey to chart the rise, fall and revival of this grand country home that was built for the Thelluson family and their servants in the 1860s. Discover how it came to be in English Heritage’...

This week we’re heading back the 4th century, when the strength of the Roman Empire was being tested across Europe, including here in Britain. To defend our shores from invaders, the Romans built a series of forts along the coast, which are collectively known as the Saxon Shore Forts. Join us as we interview English Heritage Senior Properties Historian Paul Pattison to find out where they were bui...

The summer solstice, which brings the longest day of the year, is due to take place on 20 June and, under normal circumstances, thousands of people would gather at Stonehenge to watch the sun rise over the Heel stone. However, as that’s not possible this year, we’re having our own socially distanced celebration. Joining us is Senior Properties Historian, Dr Susan Greaney, to discuss the importance...

To mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Charles Dickens, we’re joined by English Heritage’s senior historian for blue plaques, Howard Spencer, and Dr Cindy Sughrue, to discuss the author’s life and literary accomplishments at his London home, 48 Doughty Street. Since reinvented as the Charles Dickens Museum, this Georgian house is the only one of his former homes that can be visited by the p...

We’re back in the studio with Josephine Oxley, keeper of the Wellington Collection at Apsley House, the former London home of the 1st Duke of Wellington, to challenge the view that the duke became romantically involved with every woman he admired. Instead, as Josephine explains, letters, paintings and other objects from the collection at Apsley paint a very different picture of Wellington and the...

On the 80th anniversary of Operation Dynamo during the Second World War, we’re joined by Senior Properties Historian Paul Pattison to discover how the rescue of 338,000 allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk was masterminded by Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay from deep inside Dover Castle’s top-secret tunnels. Learn about the events leading up to it, how it was accomplished and why it was such an...

One of the questions that English Heritage staff and volunteers get asked all the time is what life would have been like inside a castle. We’re joined by head historic properties curator, Dr Jeremy Ashbee, to find out what constitutes a true castle, who would have lived and worked at them and what the typical sounds, sights and smells would have been. We also reveal what life would have been like...

On the 200th anniversary of the launch of HMS Beagle and Charles Darwin’s famous voyage that helped him formulate his theories on natural selection, we’re joined by Senior Properties Historian Dr Steven Brindle to find out more. Discover where Darwin travelled, what he found and what happened to the ship after Darwin disembarked. We’re also joined by Anthony O’Rourke, head gardener at Down House,...

This week we’re combining history and horticulture as we’re joined in the studio by the head of English Heritage’s gardens and landscape team, John Watkins, and acclaimed landscape designer Dan Pearson, to find out about the planned transformation of the gardens at Belsay Hall in Northumberland. Discover the history of the gardens, the plans to bring them back to their blooming best, and the wider...

On 16 May 1568, a small fishing boat carrying Mary Queen of Scots set sail from Scotland for English shores. After months of conflict and turmoil in Scotland, she had decided to entrust her fate to her cousin, Elizabeth I of England. Two days later Mary was escorted to Carlisle Castle in Cumbria – and so began almost 19 years as a prisoner, before her eventual execution in 1587. To find out how an...