The 'Ants & Nats' lectures in Spring 2021 will be held online using "Zoom". Anyone wishing to participate (other than those already registered) needs to email start.david@btinternet.com.
In the summer there will be an organised visit to Spalding Gentlemens' Society Museum.
The series of twelve lectures in the autumn will begin on 21 Sep 2021, hopefully in the ConocoPhillips Room, Louth Library, Northgate, Louth, LN11 0LY.
Paul Everson began his career working for the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments in Lincolnshire in the 1970s and, although his role encompassed the whole of England by the time of his retirement from the State Archaeology Service as Head of Archaeological Survey in 2006 (then called English Heritage), he has retained a strong research interest in matters Lincolnshire – often working in conjunction with David Stocker.
David Stocker’s career began in York, before he moved to Lincolnshire in 1980 to work for archaeology and heritage organisations. He then joined the newly-formed English Heritage, from which he retired in 2012. His research interests have also had a Lincolnshire focus and our speakers have co-authored articles and books on the county’s medieval archaeology. Amongst these, the best known are: Summoning St Michael. Early Romanesque Towers in Lincolnshire (2006); Custodians of Continuity. Barlings Abbey and the Landscape of Ritual (2011); and The Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture Volume V: Lincolnshire (1999). They published their research on this important early-sculpture find at Louth in Medieval Archaeology Volume 61/2, 2017.
In 2015, the discovery of two fragments from a major pre-Conquest stone cross-shaft at Louth prompted, not just a description and assessment of the sculpture, but also an exploration of the evolution of the early monastery here and of the town itself. We suggested that this impressive monument was erected as an emblematic market cross, which marked the bishop of Lindsey’s mid-10th-century promotion of a market and market town at Louth, as part of his effort to re-establish himself in the region after the Viking destruction of the monastery.
Alan is the son of a Lincolnshire farmer who has worked for the BBC since 1964. He was a founder member of BBC Radio Lincolnshire, and continues to produce a weekly farming programme for the station. He has written ten books on Lincolnshire subjects, including farming, railways and the Lincolnshire Regiment in the 2nd Boer War.
The invention of railways allowed large quantities of troops and supplies to be moved in support of military action, but also provided new targets for regular and irregular forces. In this talk Alan considers how railways have been used in conflicts from the Crimean War to WWII and beyond.
Erik studied early mediaeval earthworks for his PhD at the University of Manchester and worked in the Heritage Service for Lincolnshire County Council for 12 years. He now lectures in history (and sometimes archaeology) at Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln
His talk looks at the evidence for early mediaeval warfare concluding that it was characterised by raiding rather than pitched battles. Many of the large earthworks that snake across the British landscape like Wansdyke are possibly attempts to stop raids.
Ray is a retired lecturer & administrator in Further Education & Adult Education. He lectures in Social Sciences, Photography and Astronomy.
In the drawer of a piece of stored furniture at Dalby an unexpected find was made: a number of pre-First World War colour photographs on glass plates. Our speaker will tell us the history of the Autochrome process, and reveal the puzzle of the glorious Dalby views. Some images seem to be of a house now lost – see if you can help us identify them!
Having grown up in Chichester and then enjoyed a training dig at Fishbourne Roman Palace, Jenne had been bitten by the archaeology bug and so read History with Archaeology at Bangor. She joined the RAF on graduating and spent six and a half years as a Fighter Controller, mostly in the north east of England. When she left the RAF on the birth of her son, she was offered retraining, so did a PGC in landscape and buildings archaeology. Having surveyed a mud and stud cottage for her final project, she met some of the members of RUBL at a Vernacular Architecture Group conference, and since then has been heavily involved in their work around the county. She has balanced full time parenting, volunteering and archaeology ever since. She specialises in the rural vernacular timber framed buildings of Lincolnshire, and is happiest when covered in dust in a forgotten attic surrounded by ancient timbers!
Lincoln Lane Farmhouse, in Sixhills, is a remarkable building. RUBL, the building recording group of the Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, were fortunate to be invited to survey the building by Christopher Heneage, the owner, but neither they nor he could have guessed what they would find. The project turned into the most complex investigation RUBL have yet undertaken, involving experimental techniques and producing evidence of not just the house as it currently stands, but two earlier houses, hidden within the building. The talk will briefly introduce RUBL and the work they do, and then tell the story of this captivating building.
Dr Claire Kennan specialises in the social history of Britain between 1300 and 1550, with a particular focus on mediaeval religion, urban centres, local history, trade and guilds. Claire completed her PhD entitled ‘Guilds and Society in Louth, Lincolnshire c. 1450-1550 in 2018. She is currently working on a proposal to turn her doctoral thesis into her first book along with researching Lincolnshire’s Corpus Christi guilds and editing the 1389 Lincolnshire guild returns for publication. Claire’s research has been used for collaborative work with The National Archives, the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5 and BBC Radio 4. She has taught Mediaeval History at King’s College London and Royal Holloway, University of London. In 2019 Claire was one of the AHRC’s Creative Economy Engagement Fellows at The National Archives (London) and between 2017 and 2020 she was the Mediaeval Specialist on the £1 million National Lottery Heritage funded Citizens Project. She is currently the Heritage and Creativity Impact Development Manager at the University of Reading and the Digital Engagement Fellow for the British Association for Local History. She is also the co-editor of the Brepols Series, “Reinterpreting the Middle Ages: From Mediaeval to Neo”.
Louth St James’s church has the tallest mediaeval spire in England, yet without the assistance of the town’s parish guilds and churchwardens this spectacular spire may never have existed. St James’s was the physical and spiritual focus of life in the town. This talk will trace the important role that the town’s major guilds of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Holy Trinity played in the building of the spire, completed in 1515. The myriad ways in which these two guilds managed and maintained various aspects of town and parish life will also be explored.
Duncan is currently lecturer in Mediaeval Archaeology at Newcastle University but previously spent several years as senior lecturer and programme leader in Archaeology and Heritage at Bishop Grosseteste University. He is a mediaevalist specialising in settlement, landscape, and conflict, and is particularly interested in the archaeology of north-west Europe. Duncan’s work often marries documentary, anthropological, and topographic material, with archaeological data to explore the articulation of power and authority in the mediaeval landscape. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter.
In March 2016 the village of Little Carlton hit the headlines in the national press when a Louth metal detectorist discovered rare and unusual Anglo-Saxon treasures in a marshy field in the village. It seems that Little Carlton was the site of an important seventh-century trading and religious centre; one of the most important, high-status, Anglo-Saxon settlements in the country.
Duncan is part of the team of academics who have been trying to unravel the Little Carlton enigma and this talk will bring his latest ideas and theories on the origins and functions of this special place.
Dustin Frazier Wood is the Librarian and Archivist at the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society, and Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities at the University of Roehampton. His research interests include Anglo-Saxon studies, antiquarianism, the history of collections, and cultural heritage. In addition to his work with SGS, Dustin is currently collaborating with the Society of Antiquaries of London, Kew Gardens, U3A and Museum Development East Midlands on a range of archive-based projects.
The Spalding Gentlemen’s Society (SGS) is Britain’s oldest provincial learned society and its second-oldest museum, after the Ashmolean in Oxford. From their first meetings in a Spalding coffee house in 1710 members of SGS have focused their efforts on developing and maintaining extensive library, archive and museum collections for the benefit of members and the public. Recent research on the collections has allowed us to begin reconstructing the earliest SGS museum space in what is thought to be the most complete, detailed record of any collection in the English-speaking world. This talk will explore the SGS collections in the 18th century and chart their development to the present day, considering how the SGS’s approach to collecting and using artefacts, books, manuscripts and other items continues to shape the Society and its engagement with the world.