Staffordshire History Study Day 2025

Saturday 3 May
9.30am to 3.30pm
Staffordshire History Centre, Eastgate Street, Stafford, ST16 2LZ

Our packed day will include details of the latest research projects from PhD students at Keele University, an update from the Victoria County History together with the latest archaeological finds and developments in the County.

We are delighted to welcome our keynote speakers; Miranda Goody and Gareth Williams.

Miranda is a Historic Ceramics Specialist. She worked as Senior Ceramics Curator at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery for 27 years. Miranda will focus on Enoch Wood, Burslem modeller, pottery manufacturer, colliery owner, inveterate collector and historian who set out to collect contemporary documents relating to Burslem – from political pamphlets to a threatening note found in the keyhole of his factory.

Gareth is the Curator and Head of Learning to the Weston Park Foundation. He has worked with the collections since 2006 and is author of several books including The Country Houses of Shropshire (Boydell Press, 2021), and Weston Park: The House, The Family and The Influence (Boydell Press, 2022). Gareth will explore Weston Park through the context of its collections and archives and how the team continue to engage audiences with the Bradford Estates. 

How to book

The cost of the day is £15 per person. This includes refreshments and a light buffet lunch. 

The payment can be made through the Staffordshire County Council website or in person at the Staffordshire History Centre.

To make a payment online

To make an online payment for the Staffordshire History Study Day. Please use this link Staffordshire County Council - Main Menu and select Staffordshire _ Record Office then SRO Talks & Events.

Total cost £15
You will need to enter your alpha-numeric reference number, this is: STUDYDAY2025

Murgatroyd's Brine Pumps - Open Days

An opportunity to look at one of the most important, hand-dug, historical brine extraction sites that was so important for salt making. from the late 1800s

Painstakingly restored by volunteers, this facility provides a fascinating insight into the way brine was pumped out from a shaft sunk deep into the salt layers below Middlewich.

A Film About Betley in the 1960s

Brampton Museum have told us about a film showing, featuring Betley in the 1960s…

Heritage Open Days: A virtual tour of Newcastle Borough - Betley

Join us for a free virtual tour of some of the historic villages and parishes which make up the borough of Newcastle under Lyme. A series of archive films, shot in the 1960s onwards by local veteran filmmaker Brian Nixon, will take us from Newcastle town centre out to Silverdale, Apedale, Audley and Betley.

Book here for the 45-minute film about Betley. Tickets are free for BLHS members.

Refreshments will be available from the little vintage tea room which you can take into the film room.

Schedule
10:30am Newcastle: the road to re-invention
11:30am Jamland (Silverdale)
Lunch break
1:30pm Apedale
2:30pm Audley
3:30pm Betley

About the film
Betley is a small village dominated in the past by its two big houses. It is a village of contrasts: a rural village that was once an important iron-making centre; an agricultural village from which men went to work in the mines; a remote village that found itself on the main west coast railway line: a quiet place that hosts two major social events.

Please note these are original films made in the 1960s. Comments are those of the people interviewed and the 1960s filmmaker and may reflect the views of the times. Subtitles are not available on this occasion.

Location

Brampton Museum, Newcastle-under-Lyme, ST5 0QP

Knowing Where You Stand: An Introduction to Local History

Staffordshire Archives and Heritage Service write to let us know…

After the successful first term of our local history course, delivered in partnership with Keele University, we are pleased to announce bookings for the second term are now open. This term will look at the ‘long revolution of modernity’; the transition into urban and industrial landscapes, the rise and plight of the working classes, and notions of a ‘crisis of faith’ to name a small selection.

The course runs every Tuesday for 10 weeks, from 23rd January-26th March. Each week consists of a two-hour session (7.30-9.30 pm) led by a Keele University academic and learners interacting with original archival material from Staffordshire Archives that supports the week’s topic.

To book, please email hannah.grangesales@staffordshire.gov.uk.

Gresham College History Lectures - November 2023

Gresham College write to let us know about their free, online history lectures coming up during November:

Tues 7, 6pm, Pilgrimages, Pandemics and the Past, Tom Holland; Gresham College Barnard’s Inn Hall Holborn/ Online/ Watch Late gres.hm/pilgrimages-holland

Wed 8, 6pm, Were There Pagan Goddesses in Christian Europe?, Professor Ronald Hutton; central London Venue tbc / Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/pagan-goddesses

Wed 22, 6pm, Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories: Past, Present and Future? Professor Richard Evans, Gresham College, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/antisemitic-conspiracy

Gresham College History Lectures - October 2023

Gresham College write to let us know about their free, online history lectures coming up during October:

Tue 3, 6pm,Writing after Windrush, Dr Malachi Mclntosh; Gresham College, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/writers-windrush

Thu 5, 6pm, Women of the Harlem Renaissance,Professor Kate Dossett; Gresham College, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/women-harlem

Thu 12, 6pm, Literary Activism in Contemporary Africa, Professor Madhu Krishnan; Gresham College, Barnard’s Inn Hall, Holborn/ Online/ Watch Later gres.hm/literary-africa

Staffordshire Regiment Museum - Home Guard Discovery Day

Staffordshire Regiment Museum
Home Guard Discovery Day 
Sunday 14 May
10am - 4pm

The Staffordshire Regiment Museum near Lichfield is hosting a Discovery Day to celebrate the 83rd anniversary of the Home Guard (14th ay 1940) and pay tribute to the 1.7 million Home Guard volunteers. This event is supported by the volunteers of South Staffs Living History Group.

If you have relatives who served in the Home Guard you are welcome to bring photographs, memorabilia and stories to share with the museum team.

More information is available on their website here.

Lichfield Cathedral Exhibition

Library & Legacy: the story of Lichfield Cathedral Library and the Seymour Collection

Saturday 22 April - Sunday 3rd September

This exhibition in the Chapter House at Lichfield Cathedral tells the story of why the Cathedral’s Library is unusual - possibly unique - amongst cathedral libraries. 

The mediaeval library at Lichfield was almost totally lost during the English Civil War. In the 1670s, a new library was established with the gift of more than 400 books from the collection of William Seymour, Duke of Somerset. His wife, Frances Devereux, had family links with Drayton Bassett and spent extended periods of time there. Having inherited her husband’s library on his death in 1660, she bequeathed the collection to Lichfield. She wrote in her will: “for the respect which I and my family have received from the City of Lichfield, I give the books which were my late deceased husband’s, to the Church of Lichfield to be put in the new library there.” Lichfield Cathedral’s Library thus contains a wide range of books which are associated with the library of a wealthy 17th century intellectual rather than with a cathedral.

This exhibition explores William Seymour’s library, illustrating the types of books which he (and his ancestors) chose to include in their libraries and how this reflected the culture of their time. Perhaps this will encourage us to consider what books we choose to have in our homes nowadays and, indeed whether books are still relevant in a digital age.

The exhibition also includes the only three books known to have survived at Lichfield from the mediaeval collection.

Free admission. Open during normal Cathedral opening hours

You can visit the Lichfield Cathedral website here.