Winter Programme 2022-23
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 will be held at Diddlebury Village Hall.
Saturday 8th October 2022 – “Wellington businessmen and the railway” by Neil Clarke. This talk covers the work of a group of businessmen (John Slaney, wine and spirit merchant; Thomas Campbell Eyton, landowner and leading town improver; John Dickson, railway contractor and supplier; John Houlston, bookseller and travel agent; and John Barber, auctioneer and surveyor) who helped to promote and develop the railways in and around Wellington in the mid-19th century, and the social and economic impact this had on the area. 2.30pm, The Gateway, Chester Street, Shrewsbury, SY1 1NB
Saturday 12th November 2022 – “Attingham Park’s ‘Love Nest’” by Nigel Baker & Viviana Coroli. In 2018, while evaluating the course of new roads near the walled garden, archaeologists found a five-metre square brick building with stone cladding, marble fragments and painted glass in the demolition debris. It was an unknown summerhouse built for the second Lord Berwick c.1813-14 in the Attingham late Georgian Neoclassical style. Four years later it has been revealed as the principal building of a walled enclosure which also contained an oval pool, probably a plunge pool, and a second stone-clad building interpreted as a dedicated service range, all built at the same time and all lost to view since the early/mid-19th century. 2.30pm, The Gateway, Chester Street, Shrewsbury, SY1 1NB
Friday 9th December 2022 – Winter Social Event – 2.00 pm, Diddlebury Village Hall, Mill Lane, Diddlebury, Craven Arms SY7 9DH. This year’s winter social event will be held at the Village Hall in Diddlebury and will be hosted by our Chairman, Martin Speight. This is a chance to enjoy some seasonal refreshments and each other’s company. It will include a short walk of about 150 yards to visit the Church, where we will be able to inspect the pre-Conquest remains, and the newly restored two-sided Royal Arms with a Jacobite crest on the rear. Please book in advance with Penny Ward, 1, Crewe St, Shrewsbury, SY1 2HQ or Tel 01743 246547 or Email: sahsmembership@gmail.com Cost: £6.00 per person, to be collected on the day. Please note that this meeting is on a Friday.
Saturday 14th January 2023 – “VCH Newport history” by Judith Everard. Newport (Shropshire) is the subject of a remarkable number of medieval charters. From three main collections – the corporation chest, the muniments of Lilleshall Abbey, and the estate archive of the Newport family – they amount to several hundred original documents, the earliest dating from c.1200. Recording property dealings among people of the middling sort, the charters open a window on the busy life of a medieval town. Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society has generously awarded funding to Victoria County History Shropshire enabling Dr Everard to publish an edition of the Newport charters as part of a larger project by VCH Shropshire and Newport History Society. 2.30pm, The Gateway, Chester St, Shrewsbury, SY1 1NB
Saturday 11th February 2023 – “Ashes under Uricon” by Roger White. This lecture is an exploration of how the abandoned Roman city at Wroxeter has inspired artists, writers, and poets over the centuries. It explores the relationship between archaeologists’ stories of the site, based on their discoveries, and how these accounts are re-interpreted by society in general and realised in different art forms and new stories. 2.30pm, The Gateway, Chester St, Shrewsbury, SY1 1NB
Saturday 11th March 2023 – “Shropshire Churches” by Martin Speight. This talk will look at Shropshire churches inside and out before the ‘restorers’ got at them and will examine some of the churches which were newly built or rebuilt in the decades before 1850. It will also look at their plans and internal arrangements, and how they relate to the requirements of worship. 2.30pm, The Gateway, Chester St, Shrewsbury, SY1 1NB
For further details of these events please follow this link to download our Winter Programme leaflet:
Shropshire Archaeology & History 