Construction History Society

The Construction Historian is delighted that so many of our mutuals on here are architects / architectural historians.... BUT... Construction history is NOT the same as architectural history. Appearance isn't everything! We are interested in how structures (incl buildings) were built, by whom & why.

Image from the books of the Edinburgh craft of Master Masons & Wrights. Image shows the names of roughlayers & plasterers, Beltane dues 1583. With permission from Dr Aaron Allen.

🧵Joseph Aspdin (born in Leeds in 1778) was a bricklayer and mason who changed the world from the humblest of beginnings. Experimenting in his kitchen, he found that heating finely ground limestone and clay produced a stronger, faster-setting cement than traditional

🚨BREAKING NEWS: We're absolutely delighted that Lambeth Cabinet members have just voted to save Central Hill Estate and Cressingham Gardens from demolition. It follows a near 15 year-long battle led by residents; several listing aplications, four separate judicial reviews and an independent inquiry.

The Construction Historian loves a bit of cementitious history.

I love using Markus Brunetti's orthographic photos in teaching architectural history and talking about them

How has spending a day at the beach changed? There's always been plenty of lazing around but we wear less clothes these days! Paddling and sandcastle building remain perennial favourites 😊 Join me for more seaside holiday history online this Friday 23 Oct www.ticketsource.com/kathryn-ferry

Heads up that I'm bringing The Buildings Archaeologist tour to York next week! I'll be at the Yorkshire Museum at 7.30pm on Tuesday 20 October. The gig is organised by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society and its just £5 payable on the door. www.ypsyork.org/events/the-b...

One of these days of I'm gonna submit a proposal to teach something utterly ridiculous, like maybe a 6 week deep dive into just this one stock facade. Found in the 1925 Midland Terra Cotta catalog, it pops up in basically every part of Chicago.

Today's venue... The Mayor's Parlour at Leicester Guildhall. Built around 1490 and significantly remodelled in 1637.

It's book release day, see you later Nottingham! All info on the book and tour, here: triskeleheritage.com/the-building...

Members and friends, please be aware of the many sham organisations which might be trying to make themselves seem legit by claiming you as one of their members: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Fabulous first show of the tour yesterday in Warwick! I was a little anxious about the last minute booking at 10.30am, but Warwick Words came through with about 80 souls present and we sold out of our stock of books! Day off today, then online gig Wed and Nottingham on Thu.

@jpwarchaeology.bsky.social TUNNEL!!

New blog added to #MiningLandscapes #Ecomuseum’s collection www.mining-landscapes.org/blog Catherine revisits the environmental art works at Westfield opencast #Fife a month after their creation and exposure to the elements and together with artist Winston Plowes they reflect on permanence + memory

Well, this archaeologist is staggered at the response to the oldest pub film! Currently on 150,000+ views. After less than 2 days up its already the third most watched video in Historic England's archive! Thanks everyone 🙂 youtu.be/RlyvHJtptbc?...

I realise not everyone can get to my book tour dates, so I will be doing an online launch event on Wednesday 7 October at 7pm (UK time) 🙂 For more info & bookings, please visit: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-buildi...

The Buildings Archaeologist book tour starts next week (a thread)... More info & tickets: triskeleheritage.com/the-building... #archaeology #history #architecture #thebuildingsarchaeologist #booktour

Well, this looks pretty disastrous for researchers into English structures. How on earth could this have happened so suddenly that #HisttoricEngland had no warning?? Their risk register and risk management must be pretty weak. www.sarsen.org/2026/09/hist...

@sevensixfive.bsky.social they are practically begging you to apply 😆

15-17 George Street under construction. Lightbody is at the foot of the ramp. The Whiteinch Primary School in the background survived the building of the tunnel.

Rear facade of tenements under construction at 15-17 George St (later Medwyn St) in 1902. The figure on the ramp is William Lightbbody of builders Messrs P W & A Lightbody. 24 room-and-kitchen flats (16 with internal WC, 8 shared) built by a workforce of 10 men in 9 months. #Glasgow

Lath and Plaster: Lath (from old German Lætt) meaning strips, or pieces, typically of wood. While in English speaking countries it's typically ran parallel, it can vary greatly greatly. Over time it transitioned to modern plaster board that we are familiar with today

Pottering along the coastal footpath at #StMonan’s #Fife first time I’ve noticed the surviving Leven and East Fife Railway infrastructure, opened early 1860s closed to passengers in 1965 and goods in 1966 #RailwayHeritage

Huddersfield was the second town in the country to build council housing. My new post explores its early civic and housing history when it was described 'as advanced a town as any in the kingdom’: municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2026/09/08/h...

One of my favourite archaeological projects in a career spanning over a quarter of a century was the opportunity to survey this 15th century latrine at the London Guildhall 😁🫣💩 Come & find out about my career in ruins at my London gig, 18 November: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-buildi...

I literally debunked this for them in April. Skip forward to September and the short term memory of the BBC is in full view...

A modern megalithic monument for #StandingStoneSunday An (unammed) circle of 15 locally sourced honey-coloured pillars of Hamstone at the northern limit of Ham Hill hillfort #Somerset A Millenium Project to commemorate the centuries of stonemasons who toiled in the quarries here 📷 Aug 2026

Want to catch up with all #MiningLandscapes #EcoMuseum news and activities in one place? Our regular news review the Coal Vaults is ready for reading for July and August nip to www.mining-landscapes.org/news

Twelfth Annual Conference of the Construction History Society, 25-27 September 2026 The conference theme is Building Practice: regulation, corruption, & adaptation, but there are other general sessions too. Booking link in ALT. The proceedings have now gone to be printed. Here is the lovely cover:

🧵I find this lithograph dating back to c.1824 fascinating as it is an area of York that many of us will have visited so many times. It illustrates workmen excavating the ruins of Saint Mary’s Abbey in the foreground. King’s Manor stands in the right middle-ground, with the

Nice find during a building survey on the North Yorkshire Moors: an intact piggery swill chute (for pouring liquid feed into the stye). The trough has been removed but a cobbled floor surface remains. The humble and the everyday is still significant in buildings archaeology.

Obligatory York pint and crownpost photo. Bonus points for The Wonderstuff soundtrack.

🚨New on Substack: my post on the origins and design of the London County Council's Brandon Estate in Southwark whose 'slim white towers added a new and dramatic feature to the South London skyline' ... municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-brando...

In which the Construction Historian learns a new word. 'multivallate' apparently means more than one set of ramparts. Vallate from Latin 'vallum' meaning wall or rampart. 'Wall' comes from 'vallum' too.

One of two cut and cover tunnels on the #Ticknall Tramway under the main drive to Calke Abbey South # Derbyshire, 122m in length Grade II listed #TransportHeritage

A failure of mid-20thC planning was the widespread demolition of ancient buildings, even in places like York. Black Swan on Coney St dated to 17thC & 1790. Minimal record made. I look at such cases in The Buildings Archaeologist, out 8 Oct: triskeleheritage.triskelepublishing.com/the-building...

Absolutely BRILLIANT day overground and underground at the Peak District Mining Museum and Temple Mine at Matlock Bath 🕯⛏️⚒️

🚨 New on Substack, my review of Chris Matthews' history of Nottingham's council housing ... municipaldreams.substack.com/p/book-revie...