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Sources in focus – Parish Registers

Parish Registers as a source of information on extreme weather On a recent visit to The Hive, the new home of Worcestershire Archives, several of the items on my list of documents to consult were Parish Registers. Parish Registers primarily contain lists of baptisms, marriages and burials making them a popular source of information for …

Getting into the archive – Pies, snowball fights and blazing chimney pots? Must be the diary of a Victorian lady

Elizabeth Nutt Harwood I spent a fulfilling day in Nottinghamshire Archives last week. Among the documents I requested was the diary of one Elizabeth Nutt Harwood of Beeston Meadow, Nottinghamshire. This covers a period from 1838 to 1842 and is rich in detail about the daily life of this educated young woman and her well …

What is an extreme weather event?

This question, although it might seem simple, is actually harder to answer than could be imagined. If we take the definition of the American Meteorological Society, weather is “the state of the atmosphere, mainly with respect to its effects upon life and human activities.” Weather measurements usually include temperature, humidity, precipitation (e.g. rainfall, snowfall) and …

Introducing our new British Weather Extremes project

Extreme weather in the news (again) In the past couple of months, the British weather has once again hit the headlines. Communities across the UK have been battered by storms, gales and floods, bringing down trees, causing significant property damage, devastating iconic sea fronts and contributing to travel chaos. This week we have also seen …