Join us on Friday 17 May for our William Morris day! Both our Burlington House location and @kelmscottmanor will be celebrating in different ways. Join us in London to see Morris themed items and Kelmscott for workshops and activities. sal.org.uk/event/morris-d…

The temptation to set up a little family of figurines in this model is real.

Happy #MayDay or #Beltane ! Although we don't have anything in our collections that relates directly to May Day, we're using this as an opportunity to celebrate our own May by showcasing this beautiful portrait of May Morris, done by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1871.

When you're desperately searching the horizon for the bank holiday weekend, but it's only Tuesday. This image actually depicts an aeolipile, or hearth-blower, in the form of a kneeling man. The original object the drawing is based on is a bronze cast, found at Basingstoke.

Ever wondered what happened before we had modern fire engines? The Dutch engineer John Lofting was probably the first person in England to advocate the use of a wired suction hose. This 'sucking worm engine' could carry water over distances & throw it as high as 400ft.

Join us on 9 May at 1pm to hear from Professor David Mattingly in his talk 'Talking to the Ancestors: Iron Age Painted Tombs of the Wadi Draa, Morocco'. This lecture is free! Join us online or in person. sal.org.uk/event/talking-…

Today's our Anniversary Meeting & the only time where we still use our Ballot Boxes in the process of electing new Fellows. The Society used 25 such boxes at meetings but today voting's online. A successful candidate needs a ratio of four ‘yea’ votes for every no or ‘blackball’.

The construction of #Nonsuch Palace began #OnThisDay in 1538.

This image of the #palace is from a 1676 #map , 'The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain' and is among the most important contemporary records of Nonsuch and Richmond Palace.

Read more here: bit.ly/40bB23K

Something a bit different for #caturday , a depiction of a lion on a brick from Babylon! This image comes from Vol 14 of Archaeologia & came with a letter from Nathaniel Hulme, who said he was not told any further details of the brick, apart from the fact it came from Babylon.

Congratulations Tamsin Lewis @passamezzo.bsky.social! 👏

Early bird tickets £15 until 24 May!

Congratulations Prof Catherine Harper PhD! 👏

DELIGHTED to win the Society of Antiquaries Janet Arnold Award to support image permissions, colour printing + personal archive work in Ireland for my Bloomsbury Academic book The Stained + Bloody Cloths of Ireland (2025) Society of Antiquaries of London (James Connolly's shirt, Easter Rising 1916)🇮🇪

Check out this jousting cheque for a contest in 1520 at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, who are you placing your bets on?! The cheque gives the names of challengers & defenders & is accompanied by the arms of Francis I of France I & Henry VIII.

Do you recognise the world famous monument in this photo? It's Stonehenge! This photo most likely records some of the works & excavations headed by Prof William Gowland FSA, when he was appointed by the Society to undertake archaeological supervision for planned restorations.

It's #NationalLibrarianDay and we couldn't be more thankful to our wonderful Library team here at the Society, who are always on hand to help with our visitors, Fellows and staff. Thank you for all of your hard work. 👏

It's #worldartday & we want to share with you all a fraction of our collections, which comprise library materials, manuscripts, archives & museum objects. Each visit to the Library or Museum Room reveals some detail we haven't seen before and we can't wait to share them with you!

This glass slide is a portal back in time, showing early excavations at Old Sarum. Old Sarum remains one of the most significant monuments in southern England, essential to our understanding of political, administrative and cultural developments in the Anglo-Norman period.

This drawing is one of the finest examples of a cavalry parade helmet from Roman Britain. It was discovered accidentally in 1796 by the son of a clog-maker playing in wasteland in Lancashire. The helmet & much of the hoard found with it was purchased by C. Townley FSA in 1797.

The Tolmen stood in the parish of Constantine in Cornwall. Once thought that ancient worshippers used it for religious rites, it was accepted as a natural formation by the 2nd half of the 19th century. In 1869 the upper stone was dislodged by an explosion in a nearby quarry.