Winter Programme 2025-26

Our winter talks are open to all and are usually free, but donations are always welcome! Please note that all meetings will be at the Gateway, Chester Street, Shrewsbury, SY1 1NB apart from the Winter Social Event in December which this year will be held in Church Stretton (see below)

Saturday 20th September 2025 – AGM 2.00pm at The Gateway, Chester St, Shrewsbury, SY1 1NB. The AGM will be preceded at 1.30pm by the official launch of the Society’s publication Floreat Salopia. Full details of the AGM with the Autumn Newsletter and AGM papers. The AGM will be followed at 2:30pm by our Annual Lecture:  ‘Writing in the March of Wales: Medieval Literature on the Wales/Shropshire Border’ given by Dr Helen Fulton, Chair in Medieval Literature at the University of Bristol. Full details will appear here soon and in the Autumn Newsletter.

Saturday 11 October 2025 – Gracechurch, John Ayscough and Ellesmere by Christopher Jobson. The novel Gracechurch by John Ayscough (the pen name of Rt. Revd. Monsignor Francis Bickerstaffe-Drew) was first published in 1913 and is a vivid and moving account of the author’s childhood and youth, growing up in Ellesmere, Shropshire in the 1860s and 1870s. In so doing it also brought the residents characters to life and provides a fascinating insight into provincial life. The book has recently been edited and republished by Christoper Jobson and in this talk the author will discuss how the project began and how he was able to identify the fictional characters with the real-life residents. 2.30 pm at The Gateway, Chester St, Shrewsbury, SY1 1NB

Saturday 8 November 2025 – Breaking new ground: excavation at the heart of Wroxeter in 2024 by Roger White. In 2024, a month-long excavation in the heart of the Roman city of Wroxeter was undertaken to search for evidence of Wroxeter’s main public temple which it was suspected lies under the Victorian Farm complex on the site. As is often the case with archaeology, things did not turn out entirely as expected, but the results were a useful addition to our understanding of the site, adding a spectacular new discovery to our knowledge of the town and its people. 2:30 pm at The Gateway, Chester St, Shrewsbury, SY1 1NB.

Saturday 13th December 2025 – Winter Social Event. Join us for our regular informal seasonal get together for a chat, tea and cake. This year we will be meeting in Church Stretton. Penny Ward will give a brief demonstration of her ongoing project to attach grid references to Shropshire Archives’ online historic images so that they can be viewed via mapping interfaces, using data for Church Stretton, All Stretton and Little Stretton. Julian Wells will give a taste of a collection of Church Stretton images from the 1970s which have recently been donated to the All Stretton History Society. And Mary McKenzie will talk about the recent research undertaken by the Church Stretton History Group into the lives of the World War Two servicemen listed on the Church Stretton war memorial.  To help us assess how many to cater for, please email sahsmembership@gmail.com if you plan to attend. Payment (£5 a head) to be cash on the day. 2.30 pm at the United Reformed Church Hall, 75 High St, Church Stretton SY6 6BY Google maps

Saturday 10th January 2026 – Buildwas Abbey – History and Archaeology by Simon Turk. Simon is a volunteer at Buildwas Abbey and his talk will begin with an overview of the abbey’s history, its monuments and then move on to the water engineering works and Abbot’s House tree ring dating surveys undertaken in recent years, shedding more light on the history of this fascinating institution. 2.30pm, at The Gateway, Chester Street, Shrewsbury, SY1 1NB

Saturday 7th February 2026 – The status and economic agency of female landholders in the lordships of Ellesmere and Whitchurch, 1760-1860 by Sara Downs. Between the end of the early modern period and the Married Women’s Property Acts of 1870 and 1882 historians argue that the declining manorial court was a further restriction on women’s landholding. This talk illustrates how Whitchurch lordship’s customary court and copyhold land continued despite the tenurial changes of Bridgewater agricultural policy and nineteenth century law reforms. Customs of the manor still made provision for widows, and daughters continued to inherit land. Women of different marital status were evident in the court managing their land. However, in the Bridgewater’s lordship of Ellesmere women were highly affected by the changes. This talk discusses the differences in the women’s economic agency and socio-economic status by examining their visibility in the landscape, their business activities and the seat they occupied within the parish church and how these were affected by the land that they held. 2.30pm, at The Gateway, Chester Street, Shrewsbury, SY1 1NB

Saturday 14th March 2026 – Shropshire in A.D. 1155: The evidence from the Pipe Rolls of the Exchequer by Paul Sutton. The Pipe Rolls are amongst some of the earliest surviving records of the English state’s administrative machinery and which list, county by county, debts owed to the Crown and revenue collected by the sheriff of the shires. This talk will discuss what the Pipe Rolls are, what they contain, and how they can be used to provide a fascinating insight into some aspects of Shropshire in the mid-twelfth century. 2.30pm, at The Gateway, Chester Street, Shrewsbury, SY1 1NB