Category Archives: London

An interrupting interruption

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Robert J S Briggs

I’ll get straight to the point. After months of frustration, followed by a sudden stroke of inspiration and then a lot of deliberation, I’ve made the arrangements necessary to interrupt – that is, take time out from (I never know … Continue reading →

Posted in London, News, PhD | 2 Comments

New work (in progress): Bassishaw and Basinghall

Posted on April 23, 2017 by Robert J S Briggs

A few weeks ago, I attended a seminar given by Prof. Andrew Reynolds (my primary thesis supervisor, if I haven’t mentioned that before) in which he revisited a paper on the Anglo-Saxon archaeology of the City of London first delivered at a conference … Continue reading →

Posted in Anglo-Saxon, Archaeology, Charters, Dating, History, London, Old English, Place-Names | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Off the Record — 20th October — UCL Institute of Archaeology — yours truly!

Posted on October 15, 2016 by Robert J S Briggs

Super quick post to say this coming Thursday I’ll be giving the first of the IoA World Archaeology Section’s Off The Record lunchtime seminars of the new academic year. I’ll be running through my past, present and future research into -ingas name … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, London, PhD, Place-Names, Talk | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The “missing” Early Anglo-Saxon-period burials of historic north-east Surrey: bodies in the Thames?

Posted on March 22, 2016 by Robert J S Briggs

(I’ve only gone and done another really long post! This is of course a good thing, as there’s plenty of what I consider to be great stuff in what follows, so please make some time to give it a go. Still, … Continue reading →

Posted in Anglo-Saxon, Archaeology, Landscape, London, Portable Antiquities Scheme, Ritual, Surrey, Thames | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The origins of Surrey: two scholars’ work and my two pennies’ worth

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Robert J S Briggs

(This is a long post. I didn’t set out to write such a whopper, rather it grew and grew as a result of choosing such a big, juicy topic which requires time to do it justice. Which is not to claim … Continue reading →

Posted in Anglo-Saxon, Archaeology, Brittonic, Language, London, Old English, PhD, Place-Names, Portable Antiquities Scheme, Roman, Surrey, Thames, Topography | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Penda’s Fen (and the scourge of property speculation)

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Robert J S Briggs

This post will be my first (and quite probably only) venture into film criticism, and is the result of a bit of cajoling by our Irish correspondent Vox Hiberionacum. Expressing whether you think a given piece of film-making is good or bad springs … Continue reading →

Posted in Anglo-Saxon, Art, London, Place-Names, Soapbox, TV | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Beowulf in California

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Robert J S Briggs

Here’s a big bit of news I’ve been sitting on for a while because, well, I didn’t know if I’d be able to afford to make it happen. But I can! So, without further ado, I’m pretty darned chuffed to … Continue reading →

Posted in Anglo-Saxon, Battersea, Being organised, Charters, Documents, London, News, Old English, Ritual, Talk, Thames, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Acleah, that is, Junction 7 of the M25? Part 1: Farthing Downs

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Robert J S Briggs

I know what you’re thinking, that there’s a pretty crazy title, so allow me to commence with some retrospection by way of orientation. A little under a year ago, I wrote a post which went to great lengths to discount a proposal made … Continue reading →

Posted in Anglo-Saxon, Annals, Archaeology, Barrows, Charters, History, Landscape, London, Old English, Phenomenology, Place-Names, Surrey, Viking, WPLongform | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Making models, material models – a past and a future?

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Robert J S Briggs

A little while back, I went to see an exhibition my good friend Lucy had helped to mount at Two Temple Place, the extraordinary London home-cum-headquarters of the Transatlantic Victorian magnate, William Waldorf Astor. Consisting of a wealth of pieces loaned from … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Art, Design, History, London | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

What’s the point of it all?

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Robert J S Briggs

You’ve got to bear with me on this post as I’m not all that sure where I’m going with it, but safe to say the title in no way should be taken too literally. I’m fine. Today I took in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Design, Landscape, London, Nottingham, Phenomenology, Soapbox, WPLongform | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment