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…
Keith Hodgkins recalls Black Country Transport in the 1960s, and illustrates a world of trams, canals, road transport and railways during a time of rapid change Keith illustrates fascinating scenes from a 1960s childhood surrounded by the transport and industries of the Black country that are now long gone. These images would have changed little…
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
Historian and author Lynne Mayers describes the Kennal Vale Paper Mill, and poses the question whether it was the most successful mill in Cornwall The picturesque and deeply wooded Kennal Vale near Penryn in Cornwall is now a nature reserve, but was once a hive of industrial activity. In the nineteenth century it was the…
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/…
Author Tim Bryan tells the story of Brunel’s achievements and innovations Tim spent 21 years as curator of the GWR and ‘Steam’ Museums in Swindon, and is Director of the Brunel Institute at the SS Great Britain. Brunel’s astounding feats changed the British landscape. New to railways in 1830, he soon rivalled the Stephensons as…
Film studios are architectural spaces designed to support every stage in a film’s production, yet they’ve rarely featured as the subject of extensive analysis compared with film movements, directors and the genres of popular cinema. This public-engagement presentation by the STUDIOTEC research project (which investigated film studios in Britain, France, Germany and Italy 1930-60, when cinema…
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…
