What’s On.

WVCH Online Talk: Christopher Wren, from Astronomer to Architect

Wednesday 22 April, 7.30 pm
£10 per screen, booking essential. All proceeds to WVCH

Exploring the life and times of Wiltshire-born polymath and architect Sir Christopher Wren and his place at the heart of the 17th century scientific revolution.

An online talk by Ruth Butler.

Please contact Wiltshire Museum to reserve your place.

Chippenham Library Talk: Edward Newall Tuck

Thursday 14 May, 7.15 pm
Free, booking essential

If asked to name a significant person in the modern history of Chippenham, most wouldn’t think of Edward Newall Tuck. A Goldney, an Awdry, a Neeld or even (most deservedly so) John Coles. But why not Tuck? Why has this man been overlooked? Yes, his name may pop up occasionally in books about our town, especially if one was to read about the history of education here, but he was much more than a headmaster (as if that wasn’t enough!). He was involved in almost every aspect of town life for more than half a century. The list of responsibilities Tuck held was extensive, if not potentially super human. He devoted so much of his time to the pursuit of improvement and progress.

In this talk for the Chippenham- Our History festival historian Chris Dallimore discusses why Edward Newall Tuck should be celebrated for his contribution to Chippenham and to the county of Wiltshire.

To book please contact Chippenham Library by phone (01249 650536) or in person.

Chippenham Library Talk: Agnes Myles & The Murder by Witchcraft of William Bayntun

Thursday 4 June, 7.15
Free, booking essential

In 1563 a witchcraft act was passed by the English parliament. It formed the legal basis for all English witchcraft trials. In early 1564, a baby, William Bayntun died in north Wiltshire, allegedly murdered by witchcraft. Three legal cases followed, and three women were implicated in the murder plot — a local widow, Agnes Mylles from Stanley near Chippenham, the child’s aunt, Dorothy Bayntun, and his mother, Agnes Bayntun, a cousin to Queen Elizabeth I. The three were accused by a fourth woman, a witchfinder. The cases had dreadful consequences for almost all the protagonists, leading to imprisonment, torture, and ultimately the execution of Agnes Mylles, the first recorded person to be executed in England for the crime of witchcraft. This is a tragic tale of toxic family relationships played out in the Chippenham area against the backdrop of the Tudor Reformation.

Talk by Louise Ryland-Epton as part of the Chippenham- Our History festival.

To book please contact Chippenham Library by phone (01249 650536) or in person.

WVCH Online Talk: Science, Folklore, and the Unexplained: John Aubrey's Natural History

Wednesday 16 September, 7.30 pm
£10 per screen, booking essential. All proceeds to WVCH
John Aubrey (1626-1697) is best known as a polymathic antiquarian with a deep interest in the supernatural. Yet Aubrey was a scientist too, and often combined his curiosity for folk wisdom and the unexplained with revolutionary scientific insights. Sadly, his major work on the subject, the Natural History of Wiltshire, was not published in his lifetime, and subsequently only in truncated form. In it, Aubrey vigorously applied scientific method not only to conventional flora and fauna, but also to the phenomena of dragons, ghosts, witches, magic rings, secret tunnels, murderous clouds, and giants - a fervour that led to an African expedition to hunt for a two-legged dragon, the Wyvern. Dr Louise Ryland-Epton invites us to discover more about Aubrey’s extraordinary world in this his 400th anniversary year and in celebration of her publication of his Natural History in full for the first time.

Please contact Wiltshire Museum to reserve a place.

WVCH Online Talk: Edward Newall Tuck – son of Bath and Chippenham – educator of Wiltshire

Wednesday 17 June, 7.30 pm
£10 per screen, booking essential. All proceeds to WVCH

Edward Newall Tuck, was the first Headmaster of Chippenham Secondary School. Mayor twice and a local councillor who played an important part in the development of Chippenham between his arrival here in 1893 until his death in 1949. Chris will look at his family from Bath, their move to Sheffield and Tuck’s life in Chippenham as a teacher, liberal politician, historian and much more!

An online talk by Chris Dallimore.

Please contact Wiltshire Museum to reserve a place.

WVCH Online Talk: The Black Death in Wiltshire

Wednesday 1 July, 7.30 pm
£10 per screen, booking essential. All proceeds to WVCH

The Black Death was perhaps the greatest crisis to be felt by communities across Europe and Asia in the second millennium. It arrived in England in the Summer of 1348 and in a little over a year more than a third of the population were dead. Mark Forrest will examine the sources for the arrival of the plague in Wiltshire and its devastating effect on communities across the county during the following three years. He will discuss the different types of manuscript evidence to chart the arrive and impact of the plague; then look at the impact on communities and the death rates among different sections of the population; and finally consider the social and economic adjustments that were required during the first few years after the initial impact.

A talk by Mark Forrest.

Please contact Wiltshire Museum to reserve a place.

WVCH Online Talk: Testaments in Stone, the Story of Wiltshire’s Non-Conformist Chapels

Wednesday 19 August, 7.30 pm
£10 per screen, booking essential. All proceeds to WVCH

Wiltshire is particularly lucky in the variety and quality of its chapels, which range from tiny country meeting houses of traditional gable-ended design to large town churches with Classical facades and space for a thousand or more worshippers in their galleried interiors. This talk will tell their story, from the early years of persecution in the 17th century through gradual growth and acceptance to their ascendancy in the 19th, all illustrated by some of Wiltshire's finest chapel buildings.

A talk by James Holden.

Please contact Wiltshire Museum to reserve a place.

WVCH Online Talk: Valuing Ordinary Women's History

Wednesday 16 September, 7.30 pm
£10 per screen, booking essential. All proceeds to WVCH

Since much of the women's history formally taught centres on suffrage and those who broke the mould, the lives of ordinary women often get dismissed as not interesting enough. Lucy Whitfield - women's historian and professional genealogist - invites you to take a second look and find things to value in both your own background and the world that surrounded your ancestral women. This lively and interactive talk turns the subject on its head, and aims to inspire.

A talk by Lucy Whitfield.

Please contact Wiltshire Museum to reserve a place.