History Today

The Guildhall, Lavenham

Alec Betterton explains how a timber-framed hall opens a window onto the piety and economics of a Suffolk market town in the 1520s.

Hardwick Hall

Alice Friedman investigates a Derbyshire 'prodigy house' and its formidable progenitor, a much-married Elizabethan woman.

Bodiam Castle

Nigel Saul examines the social aspirations of a fourteenth-century Sussex castle and the man who built it.

Cragside

Bernard Porter looks at the Victorian capitalist who made his fortune from dealing in weapons of war and constructed a Northumberland haven with the proceeds.

Ham House

Robert Beddard shows how a sumptuous mansion by the Thames became a hive of intrigue and activity for its Stuart courtier owners.

Neanderthals Win Prizes

Liz Sagues investigates the book, In search of Neanderthals, which was named archaeological book of the year in 1994.