Sunday Stumbles

Some interesting web pages I have come across recently....

Firstly an interactive Map of Early Modern London from the University of Victoria in Canada. This is based on the famous Agas map held by the Guildhall in London, with hyperlinked descriptions of the sites as you move around the map. There are two versions, one "experimental" (fancier interface but harder to use) .

More clever graphics in the Virtual Tour of Hackney's lost Rectory House on the UK National Archives site. This requires some VR software to be downloaded. Clue - if you get lost in the village, follow the white signposts to the Rectory. There is also a video sequence in which reenactors tell the story of the tenants of the Rectory in The Dysasters and Misfortunes of John and Jane Daniell.

Finally, an interesting new series on BBC Radio 4. In The Poetry of History, Jonathan Bate 'presents a series examining historical events through the poetry they inspired'. The first episode went out today, and is about the Battle of Maldon in 991, when a corner of Essex suffered a violent Viking raid. The battle is remembered in a classic Old English poem. You can listen again to the broadcast on the web for the next seven days I think. The program alternates between extracts from the poem (in modern English) and comments by historians on the events - this works really well.