http://www.buildinghistory.org/ News and site updates from Researching Historic Buildings in the British Isles en-gb Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:40:00 GMT http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification http://www.buildinghistory.org/index.shtml#Gaelic The National Gazetteer of Gaelic Place-names went online 19 August. It is the culmination of 10 years of research by Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba (AÀA), the national advisory partnership to research and establish Gaelic place-names. The searchable database provides a single source of authoritative information on 1,000 Gaelic place-names, including the research on which names have been determined, links to bibliographical information and each six figure gird reference links to a map to locate each name. http://www.buildinghistory.org/index.shtml#Domesday The PASE website on Anglo-Saxon England now has a Domesday browser and mapping tool, which makes it possible to identify pre-Conquest landholders in Domesday Book, and create maps and tables of the estates held by the same lords elsewhere in England. http://www.buildinghistory.org/index.shtml#English1 The Christianity and Culture project at the University of York has anounced the release of an interactive DVD - The English Parish Church through the Centuries - , which will be available in early August. It aims to explore every aspect of church and parish life, from the Anglo-Saxon Church to the present day, not just church architecture. Yet it does not neglect the latter, offering 3-D modelling of the development of interiors and exteriors of churches through the centuries, as well as sections on care and conservation. http://www.buildinghistory.org/index.shtml#Archwilio I'm happy to report the launch on 1 July of Archwilio, the combined online database of the Historic Environment Records of the four Welsh Archaeological Trusts. http://www.buildinghistory.org/index.shtml#website The Archaeology Data Service is sensibly migrating to a new domain which doesn't trigger off advertisement-blockers by containing the acronym ADS. It is currently in beta test version that requires registration, but this is free. Since the new site was tested in Firefox only, you are recommended to use that browser only during the test period. http://www.buildinghistory.org/index.shtml#public The SPASE website has been online for while. It was created for a series of workshops last year, entitled Sense of Place in Anglo-Saxon England, hence the acronym. The exercise brought together academic departments and societies researching different aspects of village origins. The result is a quick and comprehensible guide to the latest thinking on Anglo-Saxon place-names. http://www.buildinghistory.org/index.shtml#CensusThe complete 1901 census returns for all thirty-two counties of Ireland are now online from the National Archives of Ireland. http://www.buildinghistory.org/index.shtml#Historypin Yet another map-image mash-up was launched a few days ago. As with Sepia Town, mentioned last month, and the original Histografia, Historypin aims to coordinate old photographs donated by users with a map by Google. However this latest venture has been partly funded by Google. It shows. Not stopping at one Google product, they offer linkage to Street View, Picasa and Google Accounts. So far it is in beta, and there is little content. http://www.buildinghistory.org/index.shtml#English At last English Heritage has put online a catalogue of the archive held by the National Monuments Record in Swindon. English Heritage Archives makes it possible to search a database of over a million records relating to England’s historic buildings and archaeological sites. These include a huge collection of historical photographs. The advanced search includes an option to search only for records with images attached. http://www.buildinghistory.org/index.shtml#Sepia Another map-image mash-up is out there. Sepia Town takes photographs and other images of urban buildings and places them on a Google map. The images come from Wikipedia and public online collections, such as that of the British Library. This is very similar to Histografica. Both are world-wide. Both hope to have their collections enlarged by user contributions, but Histografica has had a head start. http://www.buildinghistory.org/index.shtml#Briggait The Briggait was Glasgow's fishmarket for over 100 years. Built in 1873 of cast iron and glass, it is Scotland's oldest collection of surviving market halls. It also incorporates the 17th-century Merchant's Steeple. But when the fish market moved out of town in the 1970s, the Briggait became redundant and stood slowly decaying, until redevelopment as artists' studios started in August 2008. The central courtyard will be open to the public from August, after an open studios launch event on 24th and 25th July during the Merchant City Festival weekend. http://www.buildinghistory.org/index.shtml#population Population figures are not the most obvious source for building historians,but they are useful in understanding the growth of towns and cities, and hence underlie our understanding of bursts of building. I have therefore added a short bibliography and useful links for British and Irish population history to my local history bibliographies. http://www.buildinghistory.org/index.shtml#churches This month The National Churches Trust is launching an online survey of all the churches, chapels and meeting houses in the UK. The aim is to understand how they are maintained, repaired, funded and used by their local communities. Those responsible for these places of worship are encouraged to submit information. The survey will be at survey.nationalchurchestrust.org.