Model Communities: Architecture, Politics and Social Improvement in the North Midlands coalfields

Speaker: Karen Kreft

Karen has created a database of over 3000 Calke servants. Her talk gives an insight into the lives of those who toiled ‘below stairs’.

Organised by the Local History Section

Speaker: Nick Hill

The ‘Old Priory’ at Repton School in Derbyshire lies next to the village’s celebrated parish church, with its Anglo-Saxon crypt. The last study of the building was published in 1929, but a programme of detailed building analysis, accompanied by tree-ring dating. has recently been carried out by Nick Hill. A much more complete understanding of the building has emerged, with an article planned for Derbyshire Archaeological Journal. An Augustinian priory was established at Repton in the late twelfth century, with the ‘Old Priory’ forming the west range of the cloister. Following the Suppression, much of the priory, including its church, was destroyed in the mid-sixteenth century, but the west range was converted to form the core of Repton School. Remaining fabric allows the original form of the west range to be pieced together, with the prior’s lodging and guest hall on the first floor, over an impressive undercroft. Now dated to 1168-80, the building can now be recognised as an important and rare survival of a monastic west range.

Nick Hill lives in Leicestershire and has been recording and researching historic buildings in the Midlands for many years. He is treasurer of the Vernacular Architecture Group and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. A particular area of research and publication in recent years has been halls and chamber blocks of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Now retired, he worked with English Heritage and Historic England for over thirty years, coordinating major projects of conservation and repair to historic buildings.

Organised by the Architecture Section

Speaker: Elaine Prichard

Orton & Spooner was a company based in Burton-upon-Trent that made fairground rides and equipment for fairgrounds. The business began in the 1890s and closed in 1977. Elaine tells their story.

Organised by the Local History Section

Speaker: Mark Dawson

If you buy a Christmas pudding in any UK supermarket there is a very high chance it has been manufactured on an industrial estate in Heanor. Food historian Mark Dawson will relate how the Derbyshire firm of Matthew Walker came to dominate this market and tell us about some less well-known local seasonal traditions.

Organised by the Industrial Archaeology Section

Speaker: Jennifer Alexander

Melbourne's parish church stands out as a fine Romanesque church, built in the 12th century and covered in sculpture. It was intended to be a royal church and presents a statement of power by a king eager to be regarded as a player on the international stage. Its later history was quieter, and it is one of the few churches of the period that comes down to us largely unaltered, and so we can see, by close study of the building, how King Henry I's master mason demonstrated the king's power in his design of the building.

Jennifer Alexander FSA is Professor of Art History at the University of Warwick

Speaker: David Mercer

Mrs Armitage (1841-1931) was a pioneer archaeologist and historian in the field of castle studies. Her book The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (1912) is credited with establishing the principle that the motte-and-bailey castle was an early Norman innovation; rejecting the idea that mottes were of Anglo-Saxon date. With over a century of research into castles following this seminal thesis it is time to reassess Armitage's legacy and provide context for the earliest castles in England.

David Mercer read archaeology at St John's College, Cambridge. His doctoral thesis looked at the historical development of ideas in castle studies. Since then, he has been an active member of the Castle Studies Group.

Speaker: Laura Parker

Laura is the Community Archaeologist with York Archaeology (formerly Trent & Peak Archaeology). Over the last 15 years she has worked on over 30 community projects. She was heavily involved in the excavations at Darley playing fields during the flood alleviation scheme in 2016 and ran the training dig that took place in Summer 2025 looking for remains of the Derventio Roman settlement.

Organised by the Archaeological Research Group

Speaker: Elizabeth Woledge

Dr. Elizabeth Woledge will speak about the history of the Royal Crown Derby china works. The talk will be illustrated by some of the most interesting items from the Museum which you can handle as you learn about how they were made. Also hear about the flower painter who changed the way flowers were painted, the troublesome modeller and many other interesting snippets from its 250 years history.

Organised by the Local History Section

Speaker: Colin Merrony

The Premonstratensian monastic Order were relatively late arrivals into medieval England. One result of this is that they struggled to develop large agricultural estates and focused a lot of their economic effort on industry. The choices made by monasteries in the north Midlands and southern Yorkshire had a significant effect on the development of late medieval iron working in the area. This talk will consider the archaeological evidence for iron working related to the abbeys of Beauchief and Dale and how decisions made in the 13th century changed the geography of industry in this area in ways which still affect us today.

Organised by the Archaeological Research Group

Speaker: Jane Hawkes