The English Heritage Podcast

As broadcaster and natural historian David Attenborough celebrates his 100th birthday, Amy Matthews explores how Britain learned to observe, record and make sense of the living world and why those early questions about nature still matter today.

Beginning at Down House, the family home of Charles Darwin, this episode explores how natural history was shaped not just by Darwin’s famous ideas, but by generations of collectors, classifiers and curious observers. From ancient thinking to early citizen science and the origins of modern-day questions, history-of-science expert Dr Edwin Rose from the University of Leeds and English Heritage’s Sabrina Villani explore how this became both a science and a national pastime.

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.    

Join English Heritage: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/⁠    

Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.*   

Support our work: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/⁠    

The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales.   

*Offer is available through the use of this code and valid for new memberships by annual Direct Debit only. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion, on life memberships or renewals. 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the banks of the River Tweed, where England meets Scotland, Norham Castle has stood watch over one of Britain’s most contested landscapes for centuries. But beyond the sieges, treaties and shifting borders lies a more human story.  

In this episode, Amy Matthews explores a world of fishermen casting nets below the castle walls and soldiers bracing for attack.  

Historian Dr Will Wyeth and Norham local Jim Gibson explain how Norham has always been a working community as well as a strategic stronghold in the grand backdrop of Anglo-Scottish relations. 

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.    

Join English Heritage: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/⁠    

Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.*   

Support our work: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/⁠    

The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales.   

*Offer is available through the use of this code and valid for new memberships by annual Direct Debit only. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion, on life memberships or renewals. 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mills have towered over English landscapes since the medieval period. In this episode, Amy finds out how modern conservation and passionate people are working to keep windmills alive today. 

Sibsey Trader Windmill is a magnificently restored mill, now reopened to the public in Lincolnshire. This Victorian tower mill has been rescued from the brink after decades of decline. Nick Holder and Joseph James explain how these beautiful buildings have shaped communities, powered industry, and transformed landscapes. Plus, they tell the story of how this mill and its mechanics have been painstakingly restored to their former glory. 

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.    

Join English Heritage: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/⁠    

Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.*   

Support our work: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/⁠    

The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales.   

*Offer is available through the use of this code and valid for new memberships by annual Direct Debit only. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion, on life memberships or renewals. 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A stone knight, an emerging frontier and a story of shifting identity: this time, Amy and her guests explore how the Anglo-Scottish border began to evolve in the centuries following the Norman Conquest, right through to a critical 1237 treaty. 

English Heritage’s Will Wyeth and Professor Richard Oram from the University of Stirling explain how the people and landscape of Northumberland were critical in shaping this story of competing loyalties, powerful figures and soap-opera style characters, from knights and nobles to bishops and kings. 

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.    

Join English Heritage: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/⁠    

Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.*   

Support our work: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/⁠    

The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales.   

*Offer is available through the use of this code and valid for new memberships by annual Direct Debit only. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion, on life memberships or renewals. 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some blocked plumbing at Brodsworth Hall, a pre-ball dancefloor drama and the fiercely competitive annual May Queen crowning at the local school: these are just some of the stories that emerge from this country house’s ‘floral’ history! 

This week, Amy is joined by Eleanor Matthews for a joyful celebration of flowers. They’ll listen to the memories of gardeners, housemaids and locals to find out how flowers have connected the house and gardens at Brodsworth to its local community through the decades.  

What’s more, Brodsworth Hall is continuing this tradition with this year’s ‘Flowers’ season, which invites the public to enjoy this special history–and its present-day incarnation too. 

Don’t forget to follow this podcast and leave a review if you love the show.    

Join English Heritage: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/join/⁠    

Podcast listeners can get 20% off the first year of an annual membership. Use code POD20 at checkout.*   

Support our work: ⁠https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/support-us/⁠    

The English Heritage Trust is a charity, no. 1140351, and a limited company, no. 07447221, registered in England and Wales.   

*Offer is available through the use of this code and valid for new memberships by annual Direct Debit only. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion, on life memberships or renewals. 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices