Item List (33)

Historical pageants, a form of largescale amateur historical re-enactment, had seen their heyday in the 1920s - some, such as Southampton's John Alden's Choice, had focused especially on the Mayflower. After the Second World War, with the rise of the…

The riverside borough of Southwark in south London had a traditional link with the Pilgrim Fathers, who were said to have worshipped at one of the area’s first Protestant Separatist congregations before emigrating to Holland (thus the “Church of the…

In 1889, a huge Monument to the Forefathers was erected in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and interest in the Mayflower was hotting up on both sides of the Atlantic. Two years later in 1891 a delegation of American descendants and representatives made…

There were a number of events held in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire as part of the 350th Mayflower celebrations. One event was an exhibition held in Gainsborough’s Old Hall, an important point on the Mayflower tourist trail illustrated in both William…

Dartmouth's claim to fame in the Mayflower story was accidental - the ship, along with the Speedwell, pulled into the small harbour after the latter sprung a leak. Commemoration in Dartmouth did not really start until the 1950s. In 1970, however,…

Created by Rotherhithe local Peter McClean, and commissioned by the London Docklands Development Corporation, this artwork stands in a regenerated Thameside area of Southwark. The bronze statue shows the ghost of William Bradford (and his dog)…

Taking place indoors in the Southampton Guildhall in May 1947, the Southampton Quincentenary Pageant was staged as part of a larger celebration put on to acknowledge the anniversary of the granting of a County Town charter 1447.Historical pageants, a…

The Plymouth Guildhall, today Grade II listed, was built in 1874 in a Gothic revival style. Part of the new building was a series of fourteen windows that told the local history of Plymouth in connection with the national story of Britain. These…

In 1607, the Separatists – later ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ – tried to escape to Holland from Boston on the north-east Lincolnshire coast. Their ships’ captain betrayed them, however, and they were arrested, put on trial and imprisoned. In late 1954, the…

The ‘Pageant of Hampton’ took place in the Rectory House of St Mary's Church (known as ‘the Deanery’) in the summer of 1929. Historical pageants, a sort of amateur re-enactment, were incredibly popular forms of engagement with the past in the early…