@_VictoriaWest_

Mum, archivist, amateur veg grower. Interested in the history of London & Essex, medicine, barbers, old buildings and traditional crafts. All views my own.

 Essex, UK
Joined January 2009
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💡 Help shape a new exhibition space at Essex Record Office! 🗓️ Join our online focus group – Tue 21 Oct 💬 1.5 hour online session 🎁 Voucher reward for participating 🌍 Open to all in Essex – no experience needed! 👉 Sign up: bit.ly/4pN1DBd #HeritageFund
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Today is international chess day and over on our blog we're taking a look a will from 1557 for a Robert Cocke of Dedham (D/ABW 8/265) in which he bequeaths some interesting items to his sons... #InternationalChessDay #BoardGames #Chess #Essex #ExploreYourArchive
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Join us in celebrating twenty years of Jaywick Martello Tower being open to the public with this special history day! 10.30-12.00pm **SOLD OUT**Towering Defences: A talk from the Essex Record Office with Neil Wiffen 12.30-3.30pm Open the Box: Crafts and memory sharing
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📣'Open the Box', our project supported by #NationalLottery has officially started! 🎉 We'd be very grateful if you could fill out this survey to help us understand our current users and supporters tinyurl.com/EROSurvey @HeritageFundUK @HeritageFundM_E #HeritageFund
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Our latest blog post explores newly listed tombs in Leigh-on-sea thanks to @historicengland and delves into a surprising connection to @Tintin via Essex's own Captain Haddock! essexrecordofficeblog.co.uk/…
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A reminder of our opening hours over Christmas. 23rd - Closed 24th - Closed 25th - Closed 26th - Closed 27th - Closed 28th - Closed 30th - Closed 31st - Open (10:00 - 17:00) 1st - Closed 2nd - Open (10:00 - 17:00) 3rd - Open (9:00 - 16:00) 4th - Open (9:00 - 16:00)
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It's #MapMonday and Archivist Lara Kirkland has written an article for @wdytyamagazine issue 224 looking at just one of our fantastic estate maps, Brook Farm in Sibil Hedingham (D/DU 3576/1). gb.readly.com/magazines/who-…
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We thought we would give you a sneaky preview for our talk on the 7th January 2025; ERO Presents: Brigade-Major Hope, Major Reynolds and the defence of Essex, 1797-8. youtu.be/uHYyOD3Fok0
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Victoria West retweeted
Mary Colwell@curlewcalls30 Nov 2024
IMPORTANT The campaign for a GCSE in Natural History has stalled. Labour see it as a "Conservative initiative" and won't progress it. It is not a political football, every child has the right to learn about the wonder of the natural world. Plse ask you MP to lobby for it now. 🙏
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There are lots of animals, both real & architectural, in the wonderful album of photographs taken in the grounds of Easton Lodge, Little Easton c.1902 (ref: D/DU 919/6). They include horses, dogs and a goat as well as decorative frogs! #EYAAnimals #ExploreYourArchive #Essex
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Family & estate archives often contain pedigrees like these beautifully illustrated examples from the Audley End Estate, Saffron Walden collection. You can find digital images & full descriptions of these ones on Essex Archives Online. #EYAFamily #essex #ExploreYourArchive
Armorial pedigree of the Cornwallis family, 1560 (catalogue ref: D/DBy F39). Decorated with drawings of tree branches and foliage

ALT Armorial pedigree of the Cornwallis family, 1560 (catalogue ref: D/DBy F39). Decorated with drawings of tree branches and foliage

Armorial pedigree of the Griffin family, 1602. Includes a drawing of a knight on a dark horse (catalogue ref: D/DBy F55/1)

ALT Armorial pedigree of the Griffin family, 1602. Includes a drawing of a knight on a dark horse (catalogue ref: D/DBy F55/1)

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One of the most popular Essex myths is the Essex Serpent, described by eye-witnesses in a pamphlet entitled "The Flying Serpent or Strange News out of Essex", first printed in 1669 and reprinted in 1885 (catalogue ref: D/DU 54/15) #ExploreYourArchive #eyamythology
Page from the pamphlet with an engraving of a coiled serpent next to a group of men with pitchforks. With a sun in splendour in the top left

ALT Page from the pamphlet with an engraving of a coiled serpent next to a group of men with pitchforks. With a sun in splendour in the top left

Page from the pamphlet with the headline "Strange News out of Essex, or, The Winged Serpent"

ALT Page from the pamphlet with the headline "Strange News out of Essex, or, The Winged Serpent"

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Today's #ExploreYourArchive theme is #huge. Our largest map and possibly largest document is the Arbitrator's Award Map of Epping Forest, 1882. It measures 13 ft x 30 ft and was created after the Epping Forest Act of 1878. It's shown here on display at Loughton Library in 2015.
View of the map unrolled across multiple tables, covered by a protective clear plastic sheet, with people on all sides examining the map. catalogue ref: Q/RDe 1

ALT View of the map unrolled across multiple tables, covered by a protective clear plastic sheet, with people on all sides examining the map. catalogue ref: Q/RDe 1

Close up of a section of the map being view by visitors. catalogue ref: Q/RDe 1

ALT Close up of a section of the map being view by visitors. catalogue ref: Q/RDe 1

View of the map unrolled across multiple tables, covered by a protective clear plastic sheet. catalogue ref: Q/RDe 1

ALT View of the map unrolled across multiple tables, covered by a protective clear plastic sheet. catalogue ref: Q/RDe 1

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Want to know more about working at an #archive? Curious about the different jobs at the Essex Record Office? Check out our career guide to discover what our team members do and the pathways to these careers on our blog - link in bio #DiscoverCreativeCareers #essex #careers
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Today's theme for #ExploreYourArchive is #tiny so we are revisiting a tiny book which featured on our blog back in 2015 - a book of psalms written by Jeremiah Rich with engravings by Tho. Cross. Find out more here: essexrecordofficeblog.co.uk/…
Book next to a steel ruler. Front over is leather with simple gilt foliage decoration in the corners. catalogue ref: D/DDc F10

ALT Book next to a steel ruler. Front over is leather with simple gilt foliage decoration in the corners. catalogue ref: D/DDc F10

Book open to the frontispiece showing an engraved head and shoulders portrait of the author and the title page. catalogue ref: D/DDc F10

ALT Book open to the frontispiece showing an engraved head and shoulders portrait of the author and the title page. catalogue ref: D/DDc F10

Book open to show the shorthand printed in four columns in black ink. catalogue ref: D/DDc F10

ALT Book open to show the shorthand printed in four columns in black ink. catalogue ref: D/DDc F10

Book enclosed in it's folder being held up in the palm of a hand. catalogue ref: D/DDc F10

ALT Book enclosed in it's folder being held up in the palm of a hand. catalogue ref: D/DDc F10

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We're looking for an Archive Assistant to join our team! This is a part time position working 28.6 per week - Tuesday to Friday with occasional Saturdays and evening work on a rota basis. Closing date: 13 Nov 2024 Find full details on the Working For Essex website
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For World Digital Preservation Day, we thought we'd share some of the work we've been doing on preserving digital records for future generations. Find out more over on our blog essexrecordofficeblog.co.uk/… #WDPD2024 #digitalpreservation #archives #heritage #Essex
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Today is #appleday. We have been looking at two historic recipes for using the quince, once an orchard staple. Not an apple, we know but an often forgotten fruit. Join Neil as he creates preserved quinces and quince wine! youtu.be/AssW_I0xlhg?si=7hZE…
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Back in August, we welcomed the new art collective Care Contractors to the ERO to explore the #Basildon Development Corporation archives. They tell us all about their work and how the archives have helped them over on our blog - link in bio #exploreyourarchive #essex #newtowns
A black-and-white photo looking down into a circular open area enclosed by high, white walls with compass points marked by black lettering. Flower beds with low brick walls and benches. A tall streetlamp with multiple round bulbs is at the centre. In the background, an opening to an underpass leads through a wall labelled "WSW"

ALT A black-and-white photo looking down into a circular open area enclosed by high, white walls with compass points marked by black lettering. Flower beds with low brick walls and benches. A tall streetlamp with multiple round bulbs is at the centre. In the background, an opening to an underpass leads through a wall labelled "WSW"

A colour photo of an underpass surrounded by greenery, with dense foliage covering the walls on both sides. A paved pathway with a large, circular compass design made of bricks is in the foreground, pointing to cardinal directions. The underpass tunnel is partially visible at the back, with a triangular traffic sign reading “Flood” placed at its entrance. Two people, one walking a dog, are seen near the tunnel. Taken by Emma Edmonsdson, 2024

ALT A colour photo of an underpass surrounded by greenery, with dense foliage covering the walls on both sides. A paved pathway with a large, circular compass design made of bricks is in the foreground, pointing to cardinal directions. The underpass tunnel is partially visible at the back, with a triangular traffic sign reading “Flood” placed at its entrance. Two people, one walking a dog, are seen near the tunnel. Taken by Emma Edmonsdson, 2024

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Tickets are still available for our talk, An Archive Full of Animals, on Friday 27. Come and join us to hear Professor Erica Fudge discuss how our early-modern ancestors in Essex valued their livestock and how they described them in their wills. eventbrite.co.uk/e/ero-prese…
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