We find ourselves in the incredible nineteenth-century, a time when Southampton expanded at a rate of knots. New railways, docks and suburbs changed the town forever. Join us for this fun, engaging and educational talk and discover more about some of the stories and tales from Victorian Southampton. Free Car Parking is available, but there…

A Saturday morning talk by Dr Phil Judkins. The Wakefield area has one of the densest concentrations of railways in the UK, from early colliery railroads to 21st century mainline stations. Of especial interest are the industries which grew up around the various local stations, from mining to malt to rhubarb growing, and their changing…

Annual General Meeting

A Saturday morning talk by Eric Branse-Instone (Historic England listing adviser for the North-East and Yorkshire Region) Eric Branse-Instone has spent the last 30 years assessing sites of all types and dates for national designation, principally Scheduled Monuments and Listed Buildings. Having previously worked as an industrial archaeologist, industrial heritage has been a particular specialty. His…

The date was January 20, 1914, when Italian manufacturer Pirelli signed the contract to open a factory in the UK choosing Southampton as its UK headquarters.  A key player for decades thereafter the factory played a key role during the Second World War supplying three-and-a-half million miles of wire to the Royal Corps of Signals…