2:30 pm, Saturday, 27 October, 2012
Find out more about the village reading rooms of Wiltshire, why they were built
and the activities they hosted.
Reading Rooms were built in practically every village in Wiltshire between
the 1850s and the 1920s. They were educational and social centres provided as
alternatives to the public house. Tea was drunk rather than beer, and there were
improving lectures a plenty. The buildings themselves are still mostly to be
seen, often with agreeable date-stones. This significant aspect of Victorian
village life has been forgotten and largely ignored by historians.
Ivor Slocombe has restored these village institutions to our
consciousness. Formerly the County Education Officer for Wiltshire, Mr Slocombe
sits on the committees of many historical bodies in the county. His study of
Wiltshire Village Reading Rooms has recently been published by the Wiltshire
Buildings Record, the admirable organisation – a spin-off from our Society – run
by his wife, Mrs Pamela Slocombe.
http://www.wiltshireheritage.org.uk/events/index.php?Action=2&thID=781&prev=1
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