Following on from my brief exploration of dragons in video games, I thought I would head from the skies to the seas. Mermaids are one of the four main creatures in Colchester Castle’s Mythical Creatures exhibition, but we found it quite difficult getting hold of representations of mermaids in museum collections.

The wine-dark sea stretched out for what seemed like an eternity, broken in places by the white foamy excess of Neptune’s fury. Lifeless, empty, cold and yet somehow welcoming to those who had spent much of their life among the islands that made up the disparate states of Graecia. 

Inspired by the new Mythical Creatures exhibition at Colchester Castle, which I have been working on for months, I thought I would write a series about the representation of Mythical Creatures in the modern day.

I sing of the divine and of an almond tree… is how this story might have begun, more than 2000 years ago when it was first created. Back in the Ancient World, when writing was in its infancy, stories were shared through songs and told at public gatherings.

Most people educated in the UK will have come across Boudica and have a certain level of awareness of who she was and when she lived. For those outside the UK she may seem to be an almost mythological figure in British history, who rebelled against the Romans and has become a symbol of feminism and resistance to this day.

For several years, starting when I was doing my Masters in 2013, I volunteered and worked for the Portable Antiquities Scheme in London. The vast majority of archaeological finds that come in are things found on the foreshore of the Thames. Further to this, one of many projects I worked on involved planned surveys of the foreshore at different points along the river (my internship focused on finds from in front of the Tower of London). Therefore, it can easily be said that my early career involved a lot of work with “foreshore finds” and Mudlarks searching on the Thames.

My second book will be hitting the shelves (physically and digitally) on 15 April 2025. This addition to the “50 Finds…” series takes a new spin on the model, presenting the history of sexuality and gender through the lens of archaeology found by members of the public and recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS).

Throughout this month, I’ve been sharing some case studies of local historical figures or groups who have possible LGBTQ+ backgrounds. When I first started my research into LGBTQ+ history, I was told there were no stories in Colchester. It’s just a small town, and so, even if LGBTQ+ people had ever been here, they wouldn’t have been open or shared their stories. Although this may be true to an extent, there are plenty of national figures that have connections to Colchester that we can use to share the long and rich history of LGBTQ+ people. This is a very brief account with only a few examples, but I’m sure I will share more in the future.

As it is LGBT+ History Month and in light of recent events, both in the USA and globally, I thought I would write up a brief article about the history of gender throughout human existence. This includes anyone who did not believe they fit into the categories of male and female or people who felt their identity did not match the gender society assigned them based on the characteristics that were considered to be gendered at the time.

I recently wrote about some of the common misconceptions around the history of the witch trials. Some of those are only minor errors, such as the fact witches were not burnt in England or America, but they stem from the way the "witch" has been portrayed in TV, film, video games and literature over the past century or more. These misunderstandings are often a result of the conflation of fantasy and the belief that many stories about witches are rooted in historical fact. As with all fiction writing, everything has to be taken with a pinch of (witch's) salt.

Over the past few years, there has been an increasing fascination with the history of the witch trials (and witches in general). This might simply be my own perception since I curated the exhibition Wicked Spirits in 2022 and have had countless people get in touch since. There has also been a legacy of events held at Colchester Castle, inspired by the exhibition, which have consistently been very popular, with many selling out entirely. However, the rise in “witchy shops” and TikTok makes me think there is something more to it than my own brilliant exhibition, no matter how much I'd like to believe that.

Gladiator II came out in cinemas in the UK on 15 November 2024. Much like its predecessor, it was a movie rooted in history with a large sprinkling of artistic license. It is clear that some research had been done to gain inspiration for the film, but it was since watered down to make for an entertaining movie. Alternatively, it was twisted to fit the plot that had already been established in an attempt to tie it back to the original.