Item List (150)

Several passengers on the Mayflower came from Billericay in Essex – including Christopher Martin, who was originally the governor of the leaky Speedwell. There had been religious dissenters in the town since the early 17th century; after the…

This plaque, put up in 1996 the year after the 375th anniversary of the voyage, commemorates the sad story of four young passengers: the More children from Shipton in Shropshire. Samuel More had apparently believed that the children were not his but…

Historical pageants, a sort of amateur re-enactment, were incredibly popular forms of engagement with the past in the early to mid 20th century. They usually took the form of a series of chronological episodes, often starting as far back as 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…

The radical preaching of Richard Clifton (d. 1616), rector of All Saints' Church, Babworth, is thought to have inspired William Brewster to begin a Separatist Church in his family home in Scrooby. William Bradford also apparently walked to All…

Marcus Huish visits, in 1907, St Laurence's Church, Chorley, the burial place of the Standish family. The Standish pew was described by Pevsner as "the best example of its type in North Lancashire" and had become another point of interest on the…

The Pageant of London was a gigantic and spectacular historical re-enactment in four parts, staged 120 times over the summer of 1911. Linked to the Festival of Empire and Coronation of King George V, it was the biggest and boldest of the pageants of…

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 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…

Scrooby, in Nottinghamshire, is famous today for its associations with the Pilgrims as the home of William Brewster and a meeting place for the Brownist congregation led by John Robinson and Richard Clyfton. It was not until the late 1840s, however,…