Talks Programme 2023-2024

All talks start at 7.30pm in Campden Town Hall

Thursday 21st September 2023

Stratford’s First Rotary? The Guild of the Holy Cross

Mairi MacDonald, Former head of Collections, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Mairi’s talk is a follow up to last autumn’s talk about the discovery of the paintings in Stratford Guild Hall and the significance of the figures.

Thursday 19th October 2023

Cotswold Utopias

Kirsty Hartsiotis, freelance writer and lecturer

Kirsty will explore some of the communities in Gloucestershire who took up the challenge of creating craft and living well locally. These include Campden’s own Guild of Handicraft, as well as others such as the Whiteway Community near Stroud, Prinknash Abbey, The Taena community in the Forest of Dean and Rodmarton Manor.

Thursday 16th November 2023

Cleeve Hill: the Cotswold Health Resort

David Aldred, Historian, Author and Trustee of VCH Gloucestershire

David’s talk starts at the turn of the 20th Century and describes the development of the health resort and the modern community.

Thursday December 7th 2023

Can Onions cure Earache?

Melanie King, Freelance writer and Historian

What common condition can be treated with cow dung? How do crushed oystershells ease heartburn? Can eels cure deafness? And how do you stop a stubborn case of the hiccups?

If someone was struck down by illness or injury in the late eighteenth century, the chances are that they would have referred to Domestic Medicine, a self-help manual written in 1769 by William Buchan, a Scottish physician, specifically for the benefit of those without access to affordable medicine. 

Melanie King has published seven books using archival sources to shine a light on the obscure and often bizarre episodes that run through history.

Thursday January 18th 2024

For the Preservation of the Peace: the Foundation and Early Years of the Gloucestershire Constabulary

Dr. Timothy Brain, formerly Chief Constable of Gloucestershire

Thursday February 15th 2024

A Medieval Manor at Guiting Power – an update on excavations

Tony Roberts, Site Director, Archaeoscan

Thursday 21st March 2024

The Historic Inscriptions and Graffiti in the Medieval Buildings of the Chipping Campden area

Wayne Perkins, Archaeologist and Building Surveyor

The past thirty years of academic research has brought about a re-evaluation of medieval graffiti revealing many more subtleties and diverse meanings than hitherto imagined.
A survey of medieval buildings in Gloucestershire, including St James’s Church in Campden, has revealed a number of ‘protective’ compass-drawn circles, ‘Marian marks’ and sacred monograms, marks and symbols carved into the masonry and burnt into the woodwork.
Wayne Perkins will talk about the various types of medieval graffiti which can be seen locally, including masons’ marks, devotional and memorial inscriptions and ‘ritual building protection’.

Thursday 18th April 2024

The Gloucestershire Stone Stiles Project

Jayne Tovey
Stone Stiles Project

This talk will follow the CCHS Annual General Meeting

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