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Many years ago I bought a book published in 1998 by E. A. J. Honigmann, Professor of English Literature at Newcastle University. His theory was that Shakespeare lived and worked in Lancashire before moving to London. The book title was Shakespeare – the ‘lost years’. I had been very surprised on flicking through it inContinue reading “John Weever and Shakespeare”

Ideology is an attempt to make the external universe conform to ideas about how it ought to be. It has a superficial similarity to science in that it involves the construction of cognitive models to achieve its ends. Science however is an attempt to understand the universe as it is in the knowledge that theContinue reading “What is ideology?”

Sir James Bevan, CEO of the UK Environment Agency is reported as saying that we need to be less squeamish about water recycled from sewage. He also wrote that people need to “change the way that they think about water” and “treat it as a precious resource, not a free good”. He’s right of courseContinue reading “It all comes round again. A holistic approach to water, carbon and other natural cycles.”

This Tudor manor house once stood on the banks of the River Irwell in Pendlebury, Manchester. It now is a museum on the banks of the James River in Richmond Virginia, bought by an American businessman in 1925, dismantled and transported across the Atlantic. There is also an archive of family documents known as theContinue reading “Agecroft Hall”

A recent broadcast of the BBC series Escape to the Country featured a farmhouse which I immediately recognised as Hales Hall, rebuilt in the early 1800s. It prompted me to explore more of its history since then. Its current occupier responded to a facebook post, asking me for more information. Unfortunately the deeds had beenContinue reading “Uncovering the past”

My middle name of Butler was shared with my father, after his mother Annie Butler. The story handed down her family was that they came from the Lancashire Butlers of Rawcliffe Hall, whose estates were confiscated and sold off in 1723, after they took part in the 1715 Jacobite rebellion. Their male line goes backContinue reading “The losing side of history”

The Church of England is currently carrying out a navel-gazing operation to see whether any of its funds from Queen Anne’s Bounty were gained from slave trading carried out by the South Sea Company, in which Queen Anne had a major stake. The Bounty originated around 1704 amid concern about the growth of non-conformism andContinue reading “Queen Anne’s Bounty”

This was the title of the first essay I was asked to produce for the Social Policy part of my professional social work qualification. I researched diligently and produced a balanced essay concluding that regulated mixed economies were best, avoiding both extremes. It was returned to me by the staunchly Marxist lecturer marked “F –Continue reading “Free trade v command economy”

The 5th Lord Leigh of Stoneleigh (1742-1786) died leaving a vast estate of land and wealth to his sister Mary for the duration of her life, and thereafter to his nearest male relative, whoever that might be. Not surprisingly, there were several claims to the title and estates by the time Mary died in 1806,Continue reading “Stoneleigh Abbey and the missing monument”

I wrote this two years ago. It still stands up. Those new to the term might appreciate a short introduction and pointers to further information, because we will be hearing a lot more about it in the future, and it is of great relevance to the issues of global warming, climate change, food production, landContinue reading “What is regenerative agriculture?”