Remains of Roman villa near Aberystwyth discovered

From the BBC

"Archaeologists have discovered a 4th Century Roman villa near Aberystwyth. 

It is the most north-westerly villa found in Wales and has forced experts to reconsider the whole nature of Roman settlement across mid and north Wales..."

Oldest Briton, born when Victoria was on the throne, dies at age 111

From The Guardian

"Britain's oldest person has died, just one month short of her 112nd birthday. Eunice Bowman was born in 1898 when Victoria was on the throne, and worked in a fish and chip shop until the age of 84.

She had also lived independently until two years ago, when she moved into a home in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, where she died on Friday..."

Twenty babies in Britain named Adolf

From The Telegraph

"Before the war there were 320 Adolfs registered in England and Wales, but the name became less popular in the years following the conflict.[No kidding?]

[...] The website also uncovered other unusual naming trends, with 10 babies born in Lancashire in the late 19th century given the name Fish Fish, and at least one registered with the full name Fish Fish Fish..."

900 Second World War bombs found under restaurant

From the Daily Telegraph

"Construction workers on a road expansion project discovered the explosives with a metal detector and notified police, Kiyotaka Maedomari, a senior police official in Itoman city, said.

An army bomb disposal squad discovered the total of 902 unexploded munitions – including rocket bombs, grenades and motor projectiles – believed to have been made in the United States, he said..."

World War One official British photographs from the National Library of Scotland

"These photographs form part of the papers of Field Marshal (Earl) Haig (1861-1928), held by the National Library of Scotland. More information is available from the Library's Digital Archive.

Like many World War I generals, Haig remains a controversial figure. The collection contains diaries, papers and photographs from every part of Haig’s career, the Great War diaries being of special importance to historians..."

King Arthur's Round Table 'found' - except it's not a table, but a Roman amphitheatre in Chester

From the Daily Mail

"His is among the most enduring ­legends in our island’s history. 

King Arthur, the gallant warrior who gathered his knights around the  Round Table at Camelot and rallied Christian Britons against the invading pagan Saxons, has always been an enigma.

But now historians believe they have uncovered the precise location of Arthur’s stronghold, finally solving the riddle of whether the Round Table really existed..."

Huge Roman coin find for hobbyist

From the BBC

"One of the largest ever finds of Roman coins in Britain has been made by a man using a metal detector.

The hoard of more than 52,000 coins dating from the third century AD was found buried in a field near Frome in Somerset..."

Norfolk earliest known settlement in northern Europe

From the Daily Telegraph

"Dozens of flint tools unearthed on the Norfolk coast have revealed that early humans who first evolved in Africa braved bitter conditions to settle in Britain.

The find at Happisburgh, around 20 miles from Norwich, marks the earliest known human settlement in northern Europe..."

Oxford University opens Anglo-Saxon archive to online submissions

From The Guardian

"Widespread interest in last year's discovery of a hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold in Staffordshire has prompted Oxford University to embark on a mission to create the world's largest online archive about the period.

The university is asking members of the public to upload any stories, poems, writing, art or songs they have composed or heard that relate to Old English and the Anglo-Saxons to Project Woruldhord (Old English for "world-hoard"). Oxford is also keen for translations of Anglo-Saxon texts, pictures and videos of Anglo-Saxon buildings or monuments, recordings of Old English, and even videos of historical re-enactments, to be included in the archive..."

No 4 on Nazi most wanted list dies before trial

From the Daily Telegraph

"Adolf Storms died at his home in the western city of Duisburg on June 28, according to German authorities.

Storms, who worked unnoticed for decades as a train-station manager, was charged by Brendel's office last November with 58 counts of murder for alleged involvement in a wartime massacre of Jewish forced labourers in Austria..."

Manuscript found in Ethiopian monastery could be world's oldest illustrated Christian work

From the Daily Telegraph

"Originally thought to be from around the 11th century, new carbon dating techniques place the Garima Gospels between 330 and 650 AD.

The 1,600 year-old texts are named after a monk, Abba Garima, who arrived in Ethiopia in the fifth century..."

Lancastria: Britain's forgotten disaster

 From the BBC

"Britain's worst ever maritime disaster, the 1940 sinking of the troopship Lancastria, which claimed the lives of between four and six thousand men, has all but been erased from history. But survivors and campaigners are keeping the memory alive.

Most people have heard of the Titanic, the Transatlantic liner which sank on its maiden voyage in 1912 and was immortalised in James Cameron's blockbuster 1997 movie.

And the Lusitania, torpedoed by a German U-boat in 1915, is still remembered as the ship which brought the United States into the World War I.

But have you heard of the Lancastria? Perhaps not..."