FionaStone
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cotswoldtalespast.bsky.social
FionaStone
@cotswoldtalespast.bsky.social
Family and Local History of the Cotswolds area especially Gloucestershire. AGRA Associate.
One Place Study for Lechlade-on-Thames in Gloucestershire. Advocate for the underdog.
Reposted by FionaStone
William Parr, the electrician from Wigan who went down to the engine room of the Titanic & kept the lights on & the lifeboats davits working as it sank. 👇
BBC News - Titanic hero who kept the lights on as doomed line sank - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Titanic hero who kept the lights on as doomed line sank
Electrician William Parr, who was born in Wigan, kept working below deck as she ship split in two.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 22, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Reposted by FionaStone
As well as publishing the December issue of Destinations today, our website has been updated with the first 6 of our #OnePlaceStudy blogging, vlogging and social media prompts for 2026. These prompts are for anyone seeking inspiration for their OPS-related blog and social media posts—and videos too!
December 19, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Reposted by FionaStone
Emily Brontë died on this day 1848 at Haworth. Solitary and reclusive, the most mysterious of the Brontës.
December 19, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Reposted by FionaStone
A hearty thank you to @adultadoptee.bsky.social for letting me speak to their members about the work we do at @projectinfant.ie in trying to restore the names of those who died in mother and baby homes, industrial schools & Magdalene Laundries around Ireland… watch here! ⬇️

youtu.be/eJJ9TjeauJU?...
Daniel Loftus speaks to adoptees about Project Infant (26 Nov 2025)
YouTube video by Adult Adoptee Movement (UK)
youtu.be
December 3, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Reposted by FionaStone
An hour ago, on Sunk Island in East Yorkshire, the sky lit up with #aurora. Dancing pillars and vivid reds to the naked eye, despite the almost full Moon! Welcome to winter! 💃
December 3, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Someone had to start somewhere!
It's Matthew Paris time!

That's right: 13th century England's premier mapmaker and monk! A friend to kings, & the kind of man who could draw an elephant right.

He drew the first maps of England (like the one below) and he's the subject my December bonus newsletter:
www.patreon.com/posts/144769...
December 2, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Reposted by FionaStone
This is great!
@pharostutors.bsky.social are featured in the FamilyTreeDNA Gift Guide!

I LOVE being a Pharos Tutor 🥰
November 21, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Nature in action!
205 years ago, on the 20th of November 1820, American wailing ship 'Essex' was rammed and sank by a sperm whale, inspiring Herman Melville's 1851 novel 'Moby Dick'. #otd #history 🗃️
November 20, 2025 at 8:52 AM
The variation in dialects, even within counties, is one of the best aspects of our country. So interesting.
Those wonderful sheep-counting words from the North of England.
#language #dialect
November 18, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by FionaStone
She is largely forgotten because the Titanic sank the day before. Harriet Quimby was the first woman to make a solo flight across the English Channel from Dover to Boulogne on 16th April 1912 using a plane borrowed from Louis Bleriot. /1
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Harriet Quimby, the forgotten cross-Channel female flying pioneer
The first woman to fly across the Channel, the news was overshadowed by the sinking of the Titanic.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Reposted by FionaStone
Well worth coming along to this public lecture if you can make it - from my @uophistory.bsky.social friend & colleague, @karlbell.bsky.social!

👇
Join me for 'Tidal Terrors: Folklore and Supernatural Storytelling at Sea', a public talk @ Portsmouth University on 3rd February (5.30-7 pm). It is free, but you need to book a place @ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tidal-terr...
@uopmaritime.bsky.social @uophistory.bsky.social @reaktionbooks.bsky.social
Tidal Terrors: Folklore and Supernatural Storytelling at Sea
Public lecture: The real life lessons from supernatural stories of the sea.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Reposted by FionaStone
Where there’s a Will - there IS a way!

If you need a guiding hand researching or deciphering a Last Will and Testament - help is at hand.

Why not let your fingers do the talking and tap a message to [email protected]?

#DeadSleuth #StillSleuthing 🔍
November 6, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Reposted by FionaStone
A landmark moment. Supervisor Connie Chan led a unanimous San Francisco Board of Supervisors resolution honoring the #InternetArchive & establishing Internet Archive Day.
archive.org/embed/establ...
🧵
More ⤵️
blog.archive.org/2025/11/03/s...

#Wayback1T
November 4, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Reposted by FionaStone
We’re still checking transcripts of Hearth Tax lists for Yorkshire North Riding before publishing them on Hearth Tax Digital. There are about 11,000 entries on my rough calculation. So checking them all is taking a while. We’ll keep posting tidbits here to whet appetites.
November 4, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Reposted by FionaStone
If anyone's curious about WeAre.xyz collaborative archiving platform, I'm presenting to GeneBloggers Sun 9th at 3pm ET. Will meander over ancestral country lanes, Kansas creeks & WW1 trenches; support from Kevin the drone
#FamilyHistory #Genealogy
Free, register here:
us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
November 5, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by FionaStone
We are deeply saddened by the loss of Greg Newby, who led Project Gutenberg ( @gutenberg.org ) with passion and purpose. Greg’s belief in free and open access to knowledge continues to inspire us and so many others working to preserve our shared culture online. gutenberg.org/about/newby....
October 22, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by FionaStone
Not all knocker-uppers were men. Mrs Bowers, of Sacriston, County Durham, was a familiar sight with her dog Jack. She got up at 1am each day to wake miners, starting in world war one and continuing for many years (Beamish Museum).
October 20, 2025 at 7:19 AM
That well known place in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire! Thanks Ancestry for the good laugh. Nil points for accuracy.
October 4, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by FionaStone
In 1848, railroad worker Phineas Gage survived a 13-pound iron rod blasting through his skull. He lived, but his personality was never the same. His accident would change how we understand the brain forever. 🧵/1
October 4, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by FionaStone
Are you exhausted by the world? Come take refuge in my weird and wonderful corner of #Bluesky - where I post medical history content that will make you happy to live in 2025!

Medieval urine wheels! Opium toothpaste! Cemetery guns! I got it all. I love sharing my passion for this niche subject.
October 4, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Reposted by FionaStone
What a fabulous day we’ve been having, chatting to people about Pharos courses, meeting some of our students and catching up with old friends
#TheFamilyHistoryShow #Genealogy
October 4, 2025 at 1:51 PM