Monthly Archives: August 2013

Ashwell End (Bluegates Farm), Great Buttway field, Geophysical Survey, Friday 16th – Sunday 18th August – led by Dr. Kris Lockyear of UCL Institute of Archaeology- contact Ellen hertsgeosurvey

RESULTS: Ignore the diagonally running prominent metal water pipe on the left. Kris’s survey team has completed an extension southwards and eastwards of the survey done in 2003-2006 by Prof. Mark Noel of the University of Durham, during our excavation of the Roman temple hoard site, with excellent results. The new area reveals more Late Iron Age pits, ditched enclosures, likely building sites, droveways, and small fields. Kris plans to return to the site in the coming weeks and months to survey more in the same and neighbouring fields.

Many thanks to Kris and Ellen, NHAS members, Brian, Graeme and Sarah, and Sarah’s Ashwell Archaeology Group volunteers, as well as the volunteers from other local societies.

Check out

hertsgeosurvey www.hertsgeosurvey.wordpress.com/author/hertsgeosurvey/ for results and blogs from Ashwell, Verulamium Park (spectacular), Braughing, etc.

Saturday 24th August, 2pm: NHAS members are kindly invited by the Norton Community Archaeology Group to the open day at this year’s dig on the increasingly interesting and important Neolithic Henge at Norton where evidence for three pre-henge Neolithic buildings has been uncovered. Guided tours by the site director, Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews. See attachment.

Magna Carta 800: St Albans 2013
A fun packed programme of music and medieval mayhem.
This summer’s Magna Carta events are inspired by the 800th anniversary of St Alban’s unique place in the history of the Magna Carta.
www.enjoystalbans.com/magnacarta
01727 864511

Magna Carta 1213-1215: The Journey Starts Here Exhibition
Museum of St Albans until 15 September
Free Entry
On view King Henry I coronation charter – the precursor to the Magna Carta

1215 Magna Carta on view at St Albans Cathedral
Saturday 3rd – Thursday 29th August
Entry by ticket

Saturday 14th, 1pm to midnight & Sunday 15th September, 1pm to 5pm: Caldecote 11th century Church near Ashwell – Open Days with live classical and jazz music and cream teas. To raise funds for the repair of the tower. See attached poster.

Caldecote Church Friends

Patron: The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Caldecote

Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Caldecote

www.caldecotechurchfriends.org.uk

PLEASE SEE EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT ATTACHED!

COME ALONG – AND BRING YOUR FRIENDS!

If you are unable to come, a donation to Caldecote Church Friends for the ‘Tower Roof Fund’ will be welcomed!

Enquiries / offers of help / donations / corrections to address details

to:

Kerry Rafferty,

Secretary,

1 Farm Cottages, Caldecote, Baldock, Herts. SG7 5LD

Tel: 0774230 1812

Kerry.rob

See also attached details of our latest booklet.

Information kindly sent by Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews.

Saturday 14th September: I have received this kind invitation from Haileybury College, Hertford:

From:
Emily Matuszczyk
e.matuszczyk

“Message:
Hello,
I saw that you are advertising the Paul Roberts Exhibition regarding
Life and Death in Pompeii. At Haileybury College on the 14th of
September at 19:30 we have him in to discuss his findings and was
wondering whether that would be of interest to you or your followers.
Kind Regards”.

The speaker is Paul Roberts, a Senior curator in the British Museum, Department of Greece and Rome, and is head of the Roman collections. He is the organiser and arranger of the current exhibition, ‘Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum’ at the British Museum, see below.

Paul’s particular research interests include Roman glass, pottery and bronze, trade, Pompeii and Herculaneum and the mummy portraits of Roman Egypt. More broadly he is interested in the Roman Mediterranean and has taken part in excavations in Greece, Libya and Turkey.

He has excavated widely in Italy and is particularly interested in the history and archaeology of Rome, the Bay of Naples and Sicily. Currently he has prepared a major exhibition on daily life in Pompeii and Herculaneum being held in the British Museum until 29th September 2013.

Paul studied at Cambridge University, then lived and studied in Italy for six years before returning to studies at the Universities of Sheffield and Oxford. He joined the British Museum in January 1994.

Emily has now kindly sent me the following additional information:

“Hello,

The Venue is Haileybury College, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG13 7NU. Directions can be seen:

There is ample parking around the college which is free and the event itself is free of charge.

If your members are interested please could they book online for a ticket, so we know how many numbers we are expecting.

Kind Regards,

Emily Matuszczyk”.

Thursday 24th October, 8pm: Professor Mike Parker Peason, University College, London, Institute of Archaeology, will give a lecture on ‘Prehistoric Henges’ at the Spirella Ballroom, Letchworth Garden City. Organised by Norton Community Archaeology Group.

Exhibitions:

The British Museum –

Life and death:
Pompeii and Herculaneum

28 March – 29 September 2013
Tickets on sale

If you’re interested in news of the latest discoveries from around the world, visit this website:

http://www.heritagedaily.com/directory/

Heritage Daily – Latest Archaeology News and Archaeological Press Releases

www.heritagedaily.com

Egyptology, Aztecs, Ancient History, Anthropology, Incas, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, etc.

STOP PRESS:

Our President, Francis Pryor, has just sent me this great news about the publication of his thriller/detective novel:

stickman_email.jpg

Dear Gilbert

Pitch video screenshot

HOORAY! We’ve done it. The Lifers’ Club has reached its minimum target and will now certainly be published. In the meantime I and those clever folks at Unbound have got several things to do: designing, editing and producing the book. To find out what we’re all up to you can visit my Shed at the Unbound website (and they’re going to teach me how to update it all by myself!!!).

All this is going to take time, and while we’re doing it we’ll still be able to enlist any further subscribers here. If you’d like to increase your current pledge level to include further goodies, then please do so by clicking on the upgrade options, listed below your current pledge level here. All new names will, of course, be listed in the back of the book until we close the subscribers’ list to move onto the next step.

I’m now a convert to crowd-funding. Never before have I established such a strong link with my readership as I have with this project – and the book hasn’t even been printed! Later I’ll be appearing at book festivals and book-signings and I VERY much hope we’ll be able to meet in person, if I don’t know you already. I’ll be publishing full contact details in my Shed.

Thank you so much for backing The Lifers’ Club. And I hope it gives you at least one sleepless night…

All the best,

Francis.

Follow Unbound on Twitter

Friend Unbound on Facebook

SUBSCRIPTIONS

2013/14 Subscriptions became due on 1st June 2013. Please renew now. The Society cannot continue to function without all members’ subscriptions. In particular, lecturers fees and expenses and hall hire have to come from subscriptions. Lack of sufficient income from subscriptions may result in fewer lectures. It’s up to us members.

Outstanding subscriptions may be paid in person at any meeting when membership cards can usually be issued also. Otherwise subscription cheques may be posted to Diane Burleigh, NHAS, 10 Cromwell Way, Pirton, Hitchin, Herts SG5 3RD.

Adult £15, Family £20, Concessions (over 65, under 16), £8.

Subscriptions for 2014/15 onwards were raised by a vote at the AGM last May.

Non-members are welcome at any of our meetings. There will be a charge of £3 for entry.

Please renew your subscription otherwise you may be removed from our membership and circulation lists.

Thank you.

www.nharchsoc.org

CalcecoteexhibA6invite.pdf

OpenDayinvite2013.pdf

Artist and landscape explorer Christina Bryant has spent a year exploring sites on the fringes of Letchworth for her Hidden Landscapes project. And on Thursday August 15 at 7.00, she will be at the Letchworth Arts Centre (2, The Arcade) speaking about what she has uncovered.

The talk forms part of the Hidden Landscapes exhibition on from August 9 to 30 in the Arts Centre’s Main Gallery. Christina’s project has been supported by the Arts Council with additional backing from Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation and combines art and archaeology. Christina, who grew up in Letchworth, worked closely with North Herts District Council archaeology officer Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews. It should make for a fascinating evening.

Christina spent 12 months exploring chosen sites located along the urban fringes of Letchworth Garden City. Her interest is in the spaces that straddle the urban and the country, the ‘wilderness’ that lies just beyond the codes and surveillance of the town. Her focus was on areas showing evidence of current or recent human occupation, recording, mapping and surveying the rubbish and debris from the selected locations. She used the painstaking methods of an archaeologist to help explore what links us with our everyday landscape.

The exhibition is a fascinating blend of drawings, maps and finds from the various sites that will be very familiar to residents of Letchworth including: Norton Common, the old quarry on Wilbury Hills and the A1(M) underpass.

Christina, a Letchworth resident, is keen to get local people involved with the project as much as possible. In addition to the exhibition, she is organising a ‘wilderness excavation’ at one of the sites which anyone will be welcome to attend. This will give people a chance first hand to experience her project, seeing Letchworth from a completely different perspective! Finally, her talk will give Letchworth residents, art or archaeology enthusiasts a chance to listen to her unique take on the Garden City.

She graduated from the University of Hertfordshire in 2004 and completed her MA in 2011 at Wimbledon College of Art. She has had a number of national exhibitions, both solo and group, during this period.

For more information, you can contact here at info or click on the website link below.

External Link:
Hidden Landscapes Project

Ashwell End (Bluegates Farm) Geophysical Survey, Friday 16th – Sunday 18th August inclusive – led by Kris Lockyear – volunteers required for one or more days – contact Ellen hertsgeosurvey

Saturday 24th August, 2pm: NHAS members are kindly invited by the Norton Community Archaeology Group to the open day at this year’s dig on the increasingly interesting and important Neolithic Henge at Norton. Guided tours by the site director, Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews.

Magna Carta 800: St Albans 2013
A fun packed programme of music and medieval mayhem.
This summer’s Magna Carta events are inspired by the 800th anniversary of St Alban’s unique place in the history of the Magna Carta.
www.enjoystalbans.com/magnacarta
01727 864511

Magna Carta 1213-1215: The Journey Starts Here Exhibition
Museum of St Albans until 15 September
Free Entry
On view King Henry I coronation charter – the precursor to the Magna Carta

1215 Magna Carta on view at St Albans Cathedral
Saturday 3rd – Thursday 29th August
Entry by ticket

Saturday 14th, 1pm to midnight & Sunday 15th September, 1pm to 5pm: Caldecote 11th century Church near Ashwell – Open Days with live classical and jazz music and cream teas. To raise funds for the repair of the tower. See attached poster.

Caldecote Church Friends

Patron: The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Caldecote

Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Caldecote

www.caldecotechurchfriends.org.uk

PLEASE SEE EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT ATTACHED!

COME ALONG – AND BRING YOUR FRIENDS!

If you are unable to come, a donation to Caldecote Church Friends for the ‘Tower Roof Fund’ will be welcomed!

Enquiries / offers of help / donations / corrections to address details

to:

Kerry Rafferty,

Secretary,

1 Farm Cottages, Caldecote, Baldock, Herts. SG7 5LD

Tel: 0774230 1812

Kerry.rob

See also attached details of our latest booklet.

Information kindly sent by Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews.

Thursday 24th October, 8pm: Professor Mike Parker Peason, University College, London, Institute of Archaeology, will give a lecture on ‘Prehistoric Henges’ at the Spirella Ballroom, Letchworth Garden City. Organised by Norton Community Archaeology Group.

Exhibitions:

The British Museum –

Life and death:
Pompeii and Herculaneum

28 March – 29 September 2013
Tickets on sale

If you’re interested in news of the latest discoveries from around the world, visit this website:

http://www.heritagedaily.com/directory/

Heritage Daily – Latest Archaeology News and Archaeological Press Releases

www.heritagedaily.com

Egyptology, Aztecs, Ancient History, Anthropology, Incas, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, etc.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

2013/14 Subscriptions became due on 1st June 2013. Please renew now. The Society cannot continue to function without all members’ subscriptions. In particular, lecturers fees and expenses and hall hire have to come from subscriptions. Lack of sufficient income from subscriptions may result in fewer lectures. It’s up to us members.

Outstanding subscriptions may be paid in person at any meeting when membership cards can usually be issued also. Otherwise subscription cheques may be posted to Diane Burleigh, NHAS, 10 Cromwell Way, Pirton, Hitchin, Herts SG5 3RD.

Adult £15, Family £20, Concessions (over 65, under 16), £8.

Subscriptions for 2014/15 onwards were raised by a vote at the AGM last May.

Non-members are welcome at any of our meetings. There will be a charge of £3 for entry.

Please renew your subscription otherwise you may be removed from our membership and circulation lists.

Thank you.

www.nharchsoc.org

CalcecoteexhibA6invite.pdf

Magna Carta 800: St Albans 2013
A fun packed programme of music and medieval mayhem.
This summer’s Magna Carta events are inspired by the 800th anniversary of St Alban’s unique place in the history of the Magna Carta.
www.enjoystalbans.com/magnacarta
01727 864511

Magna Carta 1213-1215: The Journey Starts Here Exhibition
Museum of St Albans until 15 September
Free Entry
On view King Henry I coronation charter – the precursor to the Magna Carta

1215 Magna Carta on view at St Albans Cathedral
Saturday 3rd – Thursday 29th August
Entry by ticket

Magna Carta Medieval Festival
Verulamium Park
Sat 3 & Sun 4 August, 10am – 4pm
Medieval encampment; equestrian, archery and combat displays; loads of family fun. FREE

Magna Carta Concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & St Albans Chamber Choir
Saturday 3rd August
St Albans Cathedral, 7.30pm
Programme inspired by the themes and spirit of the Magna Carta
Ticketed event