Shaftesbury Historical Society Lecture 061211 North Dorset Mills

Lecture on North Dorset Mills by Peter Stanier

Tuesday 6th December 2011Gold Hill Museum

Lecture organised by the Shaftesbury & District Historical Society
Venue: Anna McDowell Garden Room, Gold Hill Museum, Shaftesbury
Time: 2.30pm
Tickets: £2.50. Shaftesbury & District Historical Society members free.
Further Information: Tel: 01747 852157 or email

The historic garden at Stourhead is famous for its autumn colour but there is plenty going on at Christmas too - so why not check it out

Stourhead is a magical at Stourhead, an eminent example of a landscape created by amateurs, its success due in part to the masterly siting of buildings round the lake, visible singularly or in combination from different points along the circuit walks. The grounds of Stourhead are second only to Stowe in completeness and extent of picturesque layout and furnishings. The garden was created from 1741 onwards, principally by Henry Hoare II and his grandson Sir Richard Colt Hoare

Christmas events include Beauty and the Beast presented by Joe Gladwin's Paperplays Puppet Theatre  with settings inspired by Stourhead Gardens this promises to be a magical experience ... in miniature! 4th December 2011. More Information: Stourhead Estate Office, 01747 841152, stourhead@nationaltrust.org.uk

Find out more about the latest news from the gardens by visiting the Stourhead Blog or the National Trust webpage

Find out more about historic parks and gardens in the AONB by visiting the Historic Landscape Blog

Art Exhibition at Devizes Museum - The Past is Another Country

Winter Exhibition at the Devizes Museum

The Past is Another Country: an Exhibition by the Elementals Art Group

Artwork inspired by the pre-history of Wiltshire.

The Elementals art group brings together the ideas and inspirations of six different artists under a central theme - Jenny Ford, Jan Knight, Julia Leyden, Christine Shorney, Josephine Sumner, plus guest artist Charlotte Sainsbury. Julia Leyden particularly has been inspired by the collections at the Wiltshire Heritage Museum. The project has been as much about the process of an idea, as the finished works of art.

The group studied archival maps and diagrams, artefacts in museums and photographic aerial views of the landscape - and walked and looked, and looked and walked! Rather than recreating the past they have distilled their own personal and emotional responses to the creations of the Neolithic and Bronze Age peoples of Wessex. Inevitably this involved straying outside Wiltshire to look at and compare sites and artefacts from other places.

Each artist has an individual ‘take’ on the project and this is reflected in the finished works themselves; which includes paintings, printmaking and mixed media, plus a twelve verse illustrated poem in book form and as a wall hanging. Exhibition will be on show in the Museum's Art Gallery from 5 November 2011 to 2 January 2012 at 41 Long Street, Devizes, Wiltshire. SN10 1NS

Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre Event Discover Wiltshires 20th Century Writers 01.12.11

Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre

Thursday 1^st December 2011 - 20^th Century Wiltshire Writers

Take a look at the county through the eyes of well known writers of poetry and prose and discover their associations with Wiltshire. Part 2 of Wiltshire Writers and Literary Figures. Limited to 30 people.

All talks begin at 2.15 pm. Admission £3.50 (concessions £2.50).  Spaces are limited so please buy your ticket in advance. Telephone 01249 705500 or visit our Help Desk at the History Centre.

BBC Countryfile features the Cranborne Chase and West WIltshie Downs this Sunday 20th at 6.25

 

 

BBC Countryfile has undertaken some filming in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB for their next programme this Sunday, 20th November, at 6.25pm.

Lecture in Blandford on the 7th Dec on the Durotriges

Dr Martin Papworth the archaeologist with the National Trust will be speaking on the Durotriges and their place in Dorset at 7.00pm at the United Reformed Church Hall, Blandford

Tisbury Hoard goes on display at Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum

Adrian Green, Curator of the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum describes the exciting new hoard on the museum website:

"An exciting new Bronze Age hoard discovered in west Wiltshire has just gone on display at Salisbury Museum. It was found a month ago in a field near Tisbury by a metal detectorist. He reported the first object, a spearhead, to the Wiltshire Finds Liaison Officer. A team of archaeologists then excavated the remaining objects and recorded how they lay in the ground.

The hoard of over 100 copper alloy objects is over 2,700 years old and dates to the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age. It consists of tools - axe heads, chisels, sickles, gouges, and weapons - spearheads, daggers, knives, swords and scabbard fittings. It is the most important hoard to have been found in Wiltshire since the discovery of the Salisbury Hoard in the 1980s.

It is very unusual for a hoard of this significance to be on display in a regional museum before it has been assessed by the experts at the British Museum. The hoard will only be on display until Saturday 26 November – it will then go to the British Museum for assessment and the local coroner will need to hold an inquest to determine whether it is Treasure Trove.