Events

A  talk on the development of British Agriculture with a particular focus on a few of the key innovators especially in the period of the 17^th to 18^th centuries and especially on developments in productivity since the 1950s.

John graduated First Class from Cambridge in 1971, being top student in his year and awarded a college scholarship. Following on from that, he obtained a Research Fellowship and Lectureship at Nottingham University. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies and holds Fellowships at both the University of Central Lancashire and Myerscough College and his chair is at De Montfort University. In 2004, he was awarded the OBE for services to agriculture and education

“Received, A Blank Child” was the title of an article in Household Words written by Charles Dickens in March 1853. It refers to the printed form of petition obtained from the porters’ lodge by mothers who wished their children to be admitted to the Foundling Hospital in London.

We will discover how Thomas Coram, a sea captain, established the Foundling Hospital supported by William Hogarth and George Handel. Together they transformed the Hospital into the country’s first public art gallery and one of London’s most fashionable venues. Hogarth encouraged leading artists to donate their work and Handel held benefit concerts of the Messiah in the hospital’s chapel. It was the place to be seen and to be seen helping.

Josette is the Chair of the Lighthorne History Society.

LHS committee member, Jackie Chaytor, delighted us with a presentation last year on the history of the Lucy family of Charlecote Park. In this presentation she will continue the story with details of the significant Victorian makeover and additions to the house. She will talk about the opulence of the estate in its heyday, referencing the masque ball thrown by Sir George and Lady Elizabeth Lucy. In common with other large agricultural estates Charlecote suffered from severe agricultural depressions in late Victorian times, from which it never recovered and in 1946 Sir Montgomery Fairfax-Lucy presented Charlecote to the National Trust for permanent safe keeping.

Jackie is a long-serving volunteer guide with the National Trust.

Dr Paul Grigsby from the University of Warwick will examine the prehistory of Britain down to and including the time of the Romans, focusing on Warwickshire and the local artefacts and sites of interest in the region. The talk will look especially at the iron age landscape and the evidence of Roman occupation in this part of the county.  

Dr Paul Grigsby is a lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick where he teaches on Ancient Greece with a focus on Ancient Greek religion. He runs the Warwick Classics Network which promotes the teaching of Classics in local schools and across the country.

“The Upton Treasures” talk will highlight the two men, Marcus and Walter Samuel, who were responsible for the collection and cover some of the most celebrated pieces of fine 17^th century Dutch masters, Flemish tapestries, medieval religious art and 18^th century porcelain. Masterpieces range from Bruegel and Guardi to Hogarth, Stubbs, El Greco and Bosch.

Tony Mawbey has been a volunteer house guide at Upton for over 10 years covering all aspects of the property but his speciality is the art collection. He has a second role visiting organisations giving talks about Upton and, hopefully, inspiring those who have never visited Upton to come and view one of the National Trust’s finest collections.

The Sheldon Tapestry Map is one of Warwickshire’s treasures.

It’s the only complete surviving map from a set of four commissioned by Ralph Sheldon in the 1580’s for his newly built house at Weston, near Long Compton, in the south of the county. Parts of the other maps (Oxfordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire) are held by the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

The huge tapestry is a rare and wonderful pictorial representation of Elizabethan Warwickshire, and gives a tantalising glimpse of Shakespeare’s county at a time when map-making was in its infancy.

Maggie’s talk explores the Elizabethan landscape as depicted on the tapestry, as well as the story of how it was created and what‘s happened to it more recently  – from its travels to Belgium, Bristol and the British Museum in London, before coming safely home to the Warwickshire Museum.

Whatever your interest – maps, textiles, tapestry conservation, Shakespeare, the Elizabethan landscape…. this subject has something for everyone!

Maggie Wood has a degree in history, and a postgraduate degree in museum studies. For much of her working life she was a museum curator, including being Curator of Social History for the Warwickshire Museum Service. The Sheldon tapestry map was one of the many objects in her care – and was certainly the biggest!