The Ladds Lecture: A Joint meeting of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society and Huntingdonshire Local History Society
Professor Nicholas Orme, DLitt, FSA, FRHistS, Professor Emeritus, Exeter University, will talk about ‘GOING TO CHURCH IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND’
MIllions of words have been written about the architecture of our medieval parish churches but what went on in them largely remains a mystery. Professor Orme has written a ground breaking study, praised alike by academic reviews and the press, including the accolade ‘Book of the Year’ by the Daily Telegraph. His talk will be based on the perspective of a Cambridgeshire or Huntingdonshire parishioner.
With book signing opportunity and the chance to meet friends in the Antiquarian Society that is generously supporting this meeting.
After the talk there will be a reception, with refreshments, and the opportunity to talk with Professor Orme.
The talk is free to members of CAS and HLHS. Guests are welcome but we ask for a small donation of £3 per guest.
Parking in Malthouse Close, PE29 3AR
The Society will hold its AGM on Wednesday 10th May 2023 at the Methodist Church, Huntingdon. The Agenda for the AGM will be sent out to all members just prior to the meeting. The AGM will be followed by a talk from Claire Harding of the Norris Museum about the Romano British Hoard.
Open to Members and theier geusts only. Come and join us for an evening stroll around Needingworth, led by local historian Peter Cooper. We will meet in the car park behind the Queen’s Head Pub in the High Street at 7:00pm. This is an easy stroll as Peter explains the history around this very intertesting village alonmg with its smaller sister, Holywell.
The event is free to members but donations are encouraged.
Afterwards, we may adjourn to the Queen’s Head for refreshments.
We meet at 2:00pm at the Church of Saint Lawrence, Diddington and afterwards we will move onto Great Paxton Church where we will have a tour of the church and tea. Cost for the afternoon will be £12 per head.
The present Church of St Lawrence, dates back to the 13th Century when the Chancel and Nave were completed. However, there has been a church recorded on this site by 1086.
We meet at the Dirty Duck Pub at Woolsthorpe Belvoir at 10:45am. Own Transport.
This is the chance to explore the history of this old stretch of the Grantham Canal, see the recent restoration work and hear about the future plans. We will get the chance of an afternoon trip on the Three Shires Boat to enjoy the Vale of Belvoir countryside. A pub lunch will be available at own cost at the Dirty Duck,
Own transport.
Thursday 24th August, we meet at 2:30pm at Northborough St Andrews Church for a tour of the Church, followed by tea and then a stroll around this historic village seeing the exterior of the Manor House where Oliver Cromwell’s widow lived with her daughter.
The cost will be £12 per head and is open to members and their guests.
A visit to Lincoln Cathedral – Saturday 2nd September 2023
The visit has been jointly organised by Cambridgeshire Association for Local History (CALH), Cambrideshire Historic Churches Trust (CHCT) and Huntingdonshire Local History Society (HLHS)
We are delighted to be able to help organise a visit by coach to Lincoln Cathedral, led by Revd. Dr Lynne Broughton. The Cathedral is the subject of Lynne’s recent book ‘Lincoln Cathedral: Insights and Explanations’, which will be on sale in the Cathedral shop at a special discount price.
Lincoln Cathedral is one of the greatest buildings of medieval Europe, visible for miles around, spread along its hill top site.
This is a particular good time to visit. The West Front, with its friexe of Romanesque sculptured panels, is fully visible after more than thirty years covered with scaffolding and hoardings. The wonderful interior boasts among other beauties a broad, light-filled nave and the famous Angel Choir with multiple sculptured figures. In the precinct are the medieval and later library and the vaulted polygonal Chapter House. A new visitor centre contains an interpretation display in which the Romanesque panels can be see at close quarters.
For further information about the visit, coach pick up points and times, and the cost please see the booking document by clicking on the following [LINCOLN CATHEDRAL]
PLEASE RETURN THE BOOKING FORM TO MR A KIRBY AT THE ADDRESS ON THE FORM BY SATURDAY 26 AUGUST 2023
The Ramsey Tunnels
Few realise that until 1850’s Ramsey Great Whyte had run down the centre of the high street as an open river that served both as a drain and also a navigable waterway. The decision was made to conceal the waterway and a series of tunnels were built under the High Street that now conceals one of the local Victorian engineering marvels of its age. (Comparable to the covering of the Fleet in London).
Clive’s talk will take us through the history of the ‘lodes’ that flow into these tunnels from the Middle Ages onward, their construction and subsequent history to the present day.
Please note there is limited car parking at the Methodist Church so memnbers and guests are advised to use the Malthouse Close Car Park (PE29 3AR) and take the short walk down St Mary’s Street to the HIgh Street, then turn right, past Castle Hill House, and you will find the Methodist Church about 100 yds on the right.
The event is free to members and open to all, we only ask a small donation of £3 from any visitor.
Goodliff Awards Presentation Evening
This year we recieved and awarded a number of applications for an amazing variety of projects, popular and academic, spanning many centuries and types of history, covering the length and breadth of Huntingdonshire. Do come along, hear about these projects and congratulate the successful applicants for their prestigious awards.
Our new President, Julie Montagu, Viscountess Hinchingbrooke, will present the awards and afterwards give a talk of an earlier American member of the family, Alberta Countess of Sandwich.
On 25th July 1905 Alberta Sturges, born 1877 in Chicago, made a truely life-altering marriage to George Montagu. Eleven years later, on the death of his father, George became the 9th Earl of Sandwich and she the Countess. The couple moved into HInchingbrooke House, the family’s ancestral seat since 1627. Their marriage would last an impressive 46 years till Alberta’s death in 1951. Yet, beneath the surface intriguing questions remain. Did Alberta’s heart belong in this marriage, or did she yearn for a life of contemplation as a nun? Did she compromise her own aspirations to fulfil those of her socially ambitious mother?
Alberta’s story reveals a tapestry woven with threads of love, duty, and personal fulfilment, set against the rich backdrop of a storied family legacy in a period of profound societal change.
After the presentation and talk, please join us for some light refreshments and take the opportunity to talk with some of this year’s award winners.
Disabled parking only on Market Hill (approach via HIgh Street from the South).
Please use the public car park at Malting Close (PE29 3AR)
Sadly we have no musical entertainment planned this year (though we are still open to offers). But, Liz, now retired from the St Neots Museum has kindly offered to give us an insight, drawn from her long experience as a curator there and previously in Peterborough, into how our predecessors coped with Christmas before there was any Royal Broadcast or repeats of Doctor Who to watch. Did they eat turkey, goose or was it just bread and dripping? Did the devout or not so devout Anglicans stagger out of the pub to the midnight mass? Did the temperate noncoms look up from reading their bibles?
We want to make this event somewhat interactive. Come readt to share some family tales and recollections of your own or your relatives Christmas celebrations. (No tales of Oliver Cromwell’s Christmas humbug allowed!!)
Afterwards we shall join in our usual social that for many of us fires the starting pistol for the festive season
NO CHARGE this year, and no need to book, just turn up on the night suitably attired to match the christmas spirit, but we will invite donations for drinks.