An 8-week evening lecture course (with a field trip) discovering how the landscape was formed.
The series of seven lectures and a field trip, which will start on Tuesday 28 September 2010 at 7.30pm, are aimed at introducing geology to anyone interested in how the landscape was formed - from plate movements and continental drift, climate patterns and rock types to how Wiltshire was formed, the evolution of life and how man uses minerals and ores.
The lectures will be given by Isobel Geddes who has degrees from London and Oxford universities and is a Blue Badge Guide. She is also the author of Hidden Depths: Wiltshire's Geology and Landscapes (published by Ex Libris Press, Bradford-on-Avon, in 2000) and has also contributed geology chapters to other books, including The Avebury Landscape – Aspects of the field archaeology of the Marlborough Downs (published by Oxbow Books in 2005 for English Heritage, edited by Graham Brown, David Field & David McOmish). She currently produces short geology and landscape guides as well as managing Wiltshire's Local Geological Site records and related projects for the Wiltshire Geology Group.
The lecture course costs £60 (£50 for WANHS members) and places can be booked on-line at www.wiltshireheritage.org.uk, or from Wiltshire Heritage Museum on 01380 727369 (10.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Saturday) or wanhs@wiltshireheritage.org.uk.
The Museum’s Director, David Dawson, said “We are delighted that Isobel has offered to give this series of lectures. The content of the course is fascinating and although not focused primarily on Wiltshire, Isobel knows the county well and will refer where possible to the local landscape. Our Geology field trips are always popular and I’m sure these lectures and associated field trip will be no different”.
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Family History and Surnames
Fundraising Lecture on 25 September by Professor David Hey.
Every part of England still has its distinctive surnames, formed locally several hundred years ago despite all the mobility of recent years. Professor Hey’s research, combining linguistics with genealogy and DNA, has enabled a firmer understanding of the places where surnames originated, which are often different to the meanings given in dictionaries. Professor Hey has also agreed to provide the winner of a special prize draw with a personal description of the meaning and origin of a chosen surname – but excluding obvious foreign names.
David Hey, who is well known to family and local historians is currently President of the British Association of Local History and before his retirement was Professor of Local History at the University of Sheffield. He has written widely on the subject, including The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History. He believes there is not much satisfaction for the family historian in simply finding names and dates – our ancestors only becoming real people when we discover their homes, their places of work, leisure and worship and the peculiar nature of the towns, villages and wider neighbourhoods that they knew so well.
‘Family History and Surnames’ is the topic of the Annual Fundraising Lecture to be given by Professor David Hey on Saturday 25 September at the Corn Exchange Devizes, on behalf of the Wiltshire Heritage Museum.
Every part of England still has its distinctive surnames, formed locally several hundred years ago despite all the mobility of recent years. Professor Hey’s research, combining linguistics with genealogy and DNA, has enabled a firmer understanding of the places where surnames originated, which are often different to the meanings given in dictionaries. Professor Hey has also agreed to provide the winner of a special prize draw with a personal description of the meaning and origin of a chosen surname – but excluding obvious foreign names.
David Hey, who is well known to family and local historians is currently President of the British Association of Local History and before his retirement was Professor of Local History at the University of Sheffield. He has written widely on the subject, including The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History. He believes there is not much satisfaction for the family historian in simply finding names and dates – our ancestors only becoming real people when we discover their homes, their places of work, leisure and worship and the peculiar nature of the towns, villages and wider neighbourhoods that they knew so well.
The Lecture will be held in the Corn Exchange, Devizes on Saturday 25 September at 2.30pm.
Tickets cost £10 and are available from the Wiltshire Heritage Museum shop or on-line at www.wiltshireheritage.org.uk .
Every part of England still has its distinctive surnames, formed locally several hundred years ago despite all the mobility of recent years. Professor Hey’s research, combining linguistics with genealogy and DNA, has enabled a firmer understanding of the places where surnames originated, which are often different to the meanings given in dictionaries. Professor Hey has also agreed to provide the winner of a special prize draw with a personal description of the meaning and origin of a chosen surname – but excluding obvious foreign names.
David Hey, who is well known to family and local historians is currently President of the British Association of Local History and before his retirement was Professor of Local History at the University of Sheffield. He has written widely on the subject, including The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History. He believes there is not much satisfaction for the family historian in simply finding names and dates – our ancestors only becoming real people when we discover their homes, their places of work, leisure and worship and the peculiar nature of the towns, villages and wider neighbourhoods that they knew so well.
‘Family History and Surnames’ is the topic of the Annual Fundraising Lecture to be given by Professor David Hey on Saturday 25 September at the Corn Exchange Devizes, on behalf of the Wiltshire Heritage Museum.
Every part of England still has its distinctive surnames, formed locally several hundred years ago despite all the mobility of recent years. Professor Hey’s research, combining linguistics with genealogy and DNA, has enabled a firmer understanding of the places where surnames originated, which are often different to the meanings given in dictionaries. Professor Hey has also agreed to provide the winner of a special prize draw with a personal description of the meaning and origin of a chosen surname – but excluding obvious foreign names.
David Hey, who is well known to family and local historians is currently President of the British Association of Local History and before his retirement was Professor of Local History at the University of Sheffield. He has written widely on the subject, including The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History. He believes there is not much satisfaction for the family historian in simply finding names and dates – our ancestors only becoming real people when we discover their homes, their places of work, leisure and worship and the peculiar nature of the towns, villages and wider neighbourhoods that they knew so well.
The Lecture will be held in the Corn Exchange, Devizes on Saturday 25 September at 2.30pm.
Tickets cost £10 and are available from the Wiltshire Heritage Museum shop or on-line at www.wiltshireheritage.org.uk .
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Additions to White Horse Exhibition
An exciting new selection of artworks now on display.
Artworks by locally and nationally important artists has been added to our White Horses and Hill Figures exhibition, including works by artists David Inshaw, Brian Rusher, Helen Chester and Sarah Padwick.
The exhibition includes historical items and ephemera related to white horses and hill figures as well as artistic interpretations such as photography, artwork, ceramics and poetry created by local national and international artsits. The items include normally unseen pieces from the
Museums' collection, other organisations, private collectors and artists. Also featured throughout are stunning aerial photographs by Last Refuge Ltd.
Artworks by locally and nationally important artists has been added to our White Horses and Hill Figures exhibition, including works by artists David Inshaw, Brian Rusher, Helen Chester and Sarah Padwick.
The exhibition includes historical items and ephemera related to white horses and hill figures as well as artistic interpretations such as photography, artwork, ceramics and poetry created by local national and international artsits. The items include normally unseen pieces from the
Museums' collection, other organisations, private collectors and artists. Also featured throughout are stunning aerial photographs by Last Refuge Ltd.
Marden artefacts go online
Items from the 1969 excavation of Marden Henge have recently been made available on-line.
Another 3,500 records of items in the collections of Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes have been uploaded to their website www.wiltshireheritagecollections.org.uk, including the records of artefacts found during the 1969 excavation of Marden Henge.
The prehistoric site at Marden is 8 miles south east of Devizes and halfway between Avebury and Stonehenge and is currently being re-investigated by English Heritage. Marden Henge is the largest henge monument in Britain, enclosing an area of around 14 hectares with its enormous bank and ditch. New and important discoveries have been made, including the floor of a prehistoric rectangular building, estimated to be some 4500 years old!
Also now online are records for a large collection of fossils found in Wiltshire in the late 19th century by William Cunnington III, a well-known amateur geologist. He started collecting fossils at the age of seven and his extensive collection, amounting to some 20,000 fossils and geological specimens, was divided between the Wiltshire Heritage Museum and the Natural History Museum in London after his death.
The total number of records on the Museum’s website is now a staggering 89,200, accompanied by 4,500 digital images.
Jim Leary, Director of the excavation of Marden Henge said “Being able to easily access information online about the finds excavated at Marden in 1969 by Geoffrey Wainwright has proved invaluable to the research we are carrying out at the moment. We are able to take the information straight from the website and compare it to the material found in our recent excavation, making some new and important discoveries. Wiltshire Heritage Museum is one of the few smaller museums in the country to have its collections available to view online. It is extremely important that excavation archives like this one are made accessible to archaeologists carrying out new research in the field.
End
Another 3,500 records of items in the collections of Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes have been uploaded to their website www.wiltshireheritagecollections.org.uk, including the records of artefacts found during the 1969 excavation of Marden Henge.
The prehistoric site at Marden is 8 miles south east of Devizes and halfway between Avebury and Stonehenge and is currently being re-investigated by English Heritage. Marden Henge is the largest henge monument in Britain, enclosing an area of around 14 hectares with its enormous bank and ditch. New and important discoveries have been made, including the floor of a prehistoric rectangular building, estimated to be some 4500 years old!
Also now online are records for a large collection of fossils found in Wiltshire in the late 19th century by William Cunnington III, a well-known amateur geologist. He started collecting fossils at the age of seven and his extensive collection, amounting to some 20,000 fossils and geological specimens, was divided between the Wiltshire Heritage Museum and the Natural History Museum in London after his death.
The total number of records on the Museum’s website is now a staggering 89,200, accompanied by 4,500 digital images.
Jim Leary, Director of the excavation of Marden Henge said “Being able to easily access information online about the finds excavated at Marden in 1969 by Geoffrey Wainwright has proved invaluable to the research we are carrying out at the moment. We are able to take the information straight from the website and compare it to the material found in our recent excavation, making some new and important discoveries. Wiltshire Heritage Museum is one of the few smaller museums in the country to have its collections available to view online. It is extremely important that excavation archives like this one are made accessible to archaeologists carrying out new research in the field.
End
Forum on Wiltshire's White Horses
Following on from the success of our White Horses Day School and the continuing appeal of our Summer exhibition White Horses and Hill Figures a special one day forum has been organised.
The forum will consist of illustrated talks on the county’s chalk figures, by many of the experts, societies and groups that research and look after the county’s chalk figures. Topics for the forum, which is aimed at inspiring and informing anyone interested in the subject, will include the creation, design, history, associated folklore, maintenance and surrounding landscape of the chalk figures.
It is hoped the forum will lead to the formation of a Wiltshire White Horses and Hill Figures network and research group led by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society (WANHS), which will aim to promote the understanding and appreciation of Wiltshire’s chalk figures to the wider public.
Tickets for the forum, which is open to all and runs from 10am to 4pm, on Saturday 11 September 2010, cost £5 (£3 for WANHS members) and pre-booking is essential. Tickets can be purchased on-line at http://www.wiltshireheritage.org.uk/events/index.php?Action=2&thID=551&prev=1, or from Wiltshire Heritage Museum on 01380 727369 (10.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Saturday) or wanhs@wiltshireheritage.org.uk.
The Museum’s Exhibition Officer, Jenna Spellane, said “The Wiltshire White Horses and Hill Figures Forum accompanies the exciting major exhibition White Horses and Hill Figures currently on show at the Wiltshire Heritage Museum (until 3 October 2010). The exhibition, a fascinating and visually stunning exploration of the chalk figures of Wiltshire and beyond, has been hugely successful, attracting visitors from all over Wiltshire as well as from all over Britain and the world. Featured are historical items and ephemera, photography, artwork, ceramics and poetry created by local, national and international artists in addition to stunning aerial photographs by Last Refuge Ltd. The forum promises to be a very informative event for anyone interested in the county’s chalk figures.”
Usual Museum admission charges apply.
The forum will consist of illustrated talks on the county’s chalk figures, by many of the experts, societies and groups that research and look after the county’s chalk figures. Topics for the forum, which is aimed at inspiring and informing anyone interested in the subject, will include the creation, design, history, associated folklore, maintenance and surrounding landscape of the chalk figures.
It is hoped the forum will lead to the formation of a Wiltshire White Horses and Hill Figures network and research group led by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society (WANHS), which will aim to promote the understanding and appreciation of Wiltshire’s chalk figures to the wider public.
Tickets for the forum, which is open to all and runs from 10am to 4pm, on Saturday 11 September 2010, cost £5 (£3 for WANHS members) and pre-booking is essential. Tickets can be purchased on-line at http://www.wiltshireheritage.org.uk/events/index.php?Action=2&thID=551&prev=1, or from Wiltshire Heritage Museum on 01380 727369 (10.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Saturday) or wanhs@wiltshireheritage.org.uk.
The Museum’s Exhibition Officer, Jenna Spellane, said “The Wiltshire White Horses and Hill Figures Forum accompanies the exciting major exhibition White Horses and Hill Figures currently on show at the Wiltshire Heritage Museum (until 3 October 2010). The exhibition, a fascinating and visually stunning exploration of the chalk figures of Wiltshire and beyond, has been hugely successful, attracting visitors from all over Wiltshire as well as from all over Britain and the world. Featured are historical items and ephemera, photography, artwork, ceramics and poetry created by local, national and international artists in addition to stunning aerial photographs by Last Refuge Ltd. The forum promises to be a very informative event for anyone interested in the county’s chalk figures.”
Usual Museum admission charges apply.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
