St. Mary’s Church Hall

Speaker: David Knight

This talk provides an introduction to a recently launched exhibition at the University of Nottingham Museum on the subject of Trent Valley prehistory, which includes a selection of prehistoric artefacts recovered from recent excavations in advance of quarrying in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Finds have been selected with the aim of shedding light upon the changing valley environment and the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies. It includes a variety of stone artefacts, pottery and metalwork and rare organic finds such as a wooden Iron Age shovel from Hoveringham in Nottinghamshire.

Dr David Knight is currently Head of Research at York Archaeology and an Honorary Research Fellow in the University of Nottingham’s Department of Classics and Archaeology. He has curated the exhibition with his colleagues Kristina Krawiec and Steve Malone. The exhibition is open with free admission Thursday to Sunday (12 noon to 4pm) and continues until Sunday 10 January.

Speaker: Peter Guest

The mosaic from Hinton St Mary is one of the most celebrated survivals from Roman Britain. Discovered (accidentally) in 1963, its central roundel features the bust of a man with the Christian Chi-Rho symbol behind his head, which most scholars have concluded is among the first representations of Jesus Christ from the ancient world, and probably the first to be found on a mosaic. It is one of the icons of Roman Britain and has an important story to tell about the earliest Christian communities in the British Isles. Despite the mosaic's obvious significance, however, very little was actually known about the buildings to which it belonged, or the people who commissioned it and lived with it. This talk will present some of the ground-breaking results of the British Museum’s recent archaeological excavations at Hinton St Mary that aimed to answer the many questions that remain about the mosaic, and to provide a better understanding of its wider context in the history of late Roman Britain.

Speaker: David Hawkins (speaker on Zoom)

Although for most of its history, blacksmithing has been predominantly a practical art, there is a rich tradition of work with clear cultural and visual intent: artist blacksmithing. This talk briefly reviews the origins and development of the craft, and in particular the role of artist blacksmiths from the 17th Century to the present. Derby’s Robert Bakewell became known for the ‘English Style’ during the 18th Century, combining traditional influences and practices with styles and ideas from the baroque, and his work maintained a strong influence over practice until the 1980s. New international influences, collaborations, and modes of education, have revived and expanded blacksmithing practice in the last 45 years, to produce a new generation of innovative artist blacksmiths, whose practice is very much of the 21st Century, but mindful of the work of exemplary practitioners such as Bakewell. Examples of blacksmithing, along with insights into techniques and practices, are used to illustrate this short history of artist blacksmithing

Dr. David Hawkins has worked in various academic roles across design and ergonomics related subjects, including Executive Dean, Professor of Design and Head of School, at universities in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and Egypt. His family have been blacksmiths in Mid and North Devon for more than 250 years, so he learnt to work in the forge from an early age and has significant practical experience of designing and making ironwork alongside other projects.

From burials to building projects how do we do the right thing as archaeologists? 

Speaker: Anna Welch (speaker on Zoom)

The process of archaeological excavation is never straightforward and we have to think carefully about when, why, how and should we do it? What do we do with the things that we find, especially in the case of human remains? Navigating an ethical path through the historical environment landscape can be full of twists, turns and tricky situations. In this talk we’ll explore what we mean by “professional ethics”, why they matter and how they differ from morals and laws.  How do we make the best decisions for archaeology whilst considering the needs and opinions of an increasing number of stakeholders - and can we please any of the people any of the time?

Anna Welch has a BA in Archaeology and an MA in Museum Studies and worked for several years as an archaeologist with Southampton Archaeology Unit. Now she works for the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and her work centres on degree accreditation, training and careers.

Speaker: Ian Parker Heath

In 2015 the Tudor Farming Interpretation Group took the next step on their research on the story of a small farmstead in the Dove Valley. With the help of a Lottery grant this involved a programme of archaeological work, historical research and a lot of community engagement. The results were pretty impressive and included revealing a late 17th century house. In 2022 a further Lottery grant helped the group undertake more archaeological work including trying to find out more about the environment in the past. A small peat bog on the valley side held the key to this, and the initial analysis of it's pollen showed exceptional levels of preservation. A more detailed look at the pollen resulted in one of the richest pollen records in the country in incredible detail. Our latest research is showing us how the field system there has developed over centuries by dating the soil buried under agricultural features such as banks, boundaries and ridge & furrow.

Speaker: Alex Fogheran

This talk will highlight archaeological works carried out in France and Belgium since 2003 on various First World War battlefield sites. The talk will centre on a number of specific sites, a look at the material excavated in those works and discuss some of the personal outcomes for the remains of fallen soldiers that were also recovered.

Alex Sotheran has worked as a professional archaeologist for 25 years, of which 20+ were spent on battlefield sites, he currently works as an archaeology advisor for the Ministry of Defence covering the north of England, Scotland and the overseas estate.

Speaker: Max Craven

In 2017 Max and Carole Craven undertook a Roman-themed voyage of discovery , taking in the more obscure but unjustifiably neglected sections of the southern and eastern coasts of England on which stand some of the most impressive vestiges of Roman Britain, interspersed with sections on basic facts, location, access and contact details of each, interspersed with enjoyable non-Roman interludes.

In the later third century AD, the outer reaches of the Roman empire were being threatened on all sides by hostile actors. Along the southern and eastern coasts of Britain, a series of ten, possibly twelve, vast fortified enclosures were built beside strategic harbours to defend against external threats, mainly from Germanic marauders and also to act as secure entrepôts for Britian supplied much of the Annona (edible supplies) for the Rhine army, any interruption of which would needless to say, be disastrous. Through sixteen centuries, impressive vestiges of most of them have survived, although three have vanished, virtually without trace. Several became the sites of Norman castles; others have associations with early Christianity; all have a story to tell.

Taking the story from the colossal surviving fort at Portchester in Hampshire to the empty, windswept site of Brancaster on the north Norfolk coast, Seeking the Saxon Shore is an introduction to exploring these ancient sites and for bringing them to life; acting as a practical guide to locate and access them. In describing the origins of the forts, their ancient settings, their functions and subsequent histories, this lecture will, we hope, enable those listening to travel through a modern landscape but well briefed to recognise and visualise the distant past.

Speaker: Ann Hughes

The title comes from evidence given in the church court at Lichfield against the Rector of Sudbury who was accused, amongst other things, of a sexual relationship with a married parishioner. In the early modern period, many crucial aspects of people’s lives were dealt with by church courts rather than secular bodies – for the people of Derbyshire this meant the Consistory Court of Lichfield Diocese, often known as the ‘bawdy court’ for much of the business included sexual transgressions, marital disputes and slander or ‘defamation’ which also often involved sexual accusations. The Court also dealt with behaviour in church, care for church buildings, clerical standards, and wills and heritance. A cataloguing project by Staffordshire Archives and Heritage has made the fascinating records of this court available more widely, and my talk will explore its workings with particular use of Derbyshire examples.

Professor Ann Hughes is retired from Keele University where she was Professor of Early Modern History for almost twenty years. She works mostly on the mid-seventeenth English political and religious upheavals and was academic advisor to the ‘Bawdy Courts of Lichfield’ project.