Evening talk by Nick Higham. How did people keep clean before baths and showers? Answer: they washed their underclothes. Doing the laundry was vital for personal hygiene, to ensure people didn't stink. But doing the laundry was also immensely hard work (almost always done by women) and used enormous quantities of a scarce resource: water.…
Guy Hall will be presenting an illustrated history of Brighton Engine Works and will explain the history of this once massive factory in Brighton, a walk around the works itself and the locomotives it produced, from the small early locos, to the most unusual steam locomotives ever produced, Bullied’s double ended Leader! Non-members welcome £1.00
A Saturday morning talk by John S Lee. This talk will examine the medieval cloth making industry in Yorkshire. It will explore the different processes involved in making cloth. Several of these terms are still mentioned in everyday speech, when we talk of being ‘dyed in the wool’ or ‘on tenterhooks’. It will also examine…
Evening talk by John Harrison Church bells were cast in Wokingham between the mid-1300s and the early 1600s. The foundry is long gone but some of the bells cast there are still in use. Bell founding methods used today can be traced back to the way medieval founders worked. Brick making thrived in Wokingham during…
Joint RCHS London Group and BIAG walk This walk will be covering the Kennet and Avon Canal from Hungerford to Kintbury (4.5 miles). Meet outside Hungerford Station at 10:30 following the departure of the 09:33 from Reading that arrives Newbury at 09:54 to change train and pick-up the 10:11 service to Bedwyn that arrives at…
Sue Berry will be covering the development of diverse industries in the county town during this period. It will include an exploration of how a market and administrative centre’s, mainly processing industries, such as candle-making and brewing, altered, and why the fortunes of other industries such as iron industries fluctuated. Non-members welcome £1.00
A Saturday morning talk by Colin A Carbert. An account of a little-known local facet of the 1st World War, an airfield which was established near Tadcaster as a home defence base and training installation. Our speaker has researched the subject thoroughly from the personal accounts and diaries of those who served there, through to…
Doug Irvine, a retired civil engineer, will talk to BIAG about the life and significant works of Thoms Telford, who was a pre-eminent engineer of bridges, aqueducts, roads and canals at the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century. Details of how to get to the hall are available here: http://biag.org.uk/events-page/…
Will Pilfold will be providing a further review of Newhaven’s industrial Past – a continuation of his well-received talk earlier this year. Non-members welcome £1.00
Archaeological Excavations at Logic Leeds, Sovereign Square, and Water Lane. A Saturday morning talk by Dan Waterfall (CFA Archaeology). This talk will cover three archaeological excavations which CFA Archaeology have carried out in the Leeds area in recent years: The remains of 19th/20th century coal mine infrastructure at Nursery Pit on the city’s eastern fringe,…
During the reign of Henry VIII, Berkshire was nationally important for the production of woollen cloth, which dominated English exports. This talk to BIAG by David Peacock takes a look at the processes involved in cloth-making in the Tudor period, and some of the towns and villages across western Berkshire which were active in this…
Joint RCHS London Group and BIAG walk This walk will cover the Kennet and Avon Canal from Bedwyn to Hungerford (5.0 miles) Meet outside Bedwyn Station at 10:30 following the departure of the 09:33 from Reading that arrives Newbury at 09:54 to change train and pick-up the 10:11 service to Bedwyn that arrives at 10:30…
