Jane Ellis-Schon brought a tiny sample of the 15,000 objects in Salisbury Museum’s Pitt-Rivers Collection to her compelling and comprehensive February lecture at Gold Hill Museum. In 1880 Augustus Henry Lane-Fox inherited the Pitt-Rivers title and 27,000 acres of Wiltshire estates from his great-uncle. Already a serving soldier in the Grenadier Guards, Pitt-Rivers applied his military surveying skills to recording the largely untouched archaeology of Cranborne Chase, preserved by centuries of hunting rather than farming. When Rushmore House overflowed with artefacts, he built a museum at Farnham; Jane’s photographs showed glass cases from floor to ceiling and serried ranks of ancient animal bones. Pitt-Rivers opened the [Larmer Tree] Pleasure Gardens for the benefit of his estate workers, who were often employed on archaeological digs in the winter months. A lodge was pulled apart in 1889 to confirm its mediaeval origins, and rebuilt as an art gallery named, on no great authority, as King John’s House. Pitt-Rivers pursued a fairly destructive style of archaeology but understood the need for the preservation of historic sites, to which he contributed as the first Inspector of Ancient Monuments, appointed in 1882, and kept detailed records and copious specimens. Jane’s aim in the “Finding Pitt-Rivers” Project is to connect the objects with the records, and to build up a searchable on-line database. Shaftesbury & District Historical Society members are promised an intriguing privilege visit in June to see Jane’s curatorial work in the new Wessex Gallery at Salisbury Museum.

On Tuesday 01 March at 2.30p.m. in the Garden Room David Childs will tell the story of the “Heirs to Achilles” in his illustrated account of the ill-starred Allied attempt to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915.

Steve Harris, “Breakfast in Dorset” radio presenter based in Dorchester, is seen here talking to Marjory Kellett in the Gold Hill Museum Library on 27 January. Steve was collecting sound-bites to illustrate the answer to the quiz question: “What connection does Dvorak’s New World Symphony have with the town of Shaftesbury?”  The answer, well known by locals to relate to Shaftesbury’s most famous landmark, is likely to be broadcast on BBC Radio Solent in March.

TV archaeologist and Shaftesbury resident Julian Richards attracted a bumper audience to his engaging January Gold Hill Museum talk on “Operation Warhorse.” Late-comers and obliging members had to stand at the back and in the corridor to hear Julian describe his 2014 dig at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain. No substantial remains were found of the temporary buildings of the horse hospital, but Julian’s workforce, including 350 local schoolchildren, young soldiers in training, and disabled veterans, uncovered hundreds of evocative small finds. “Do horses suffer from seasickness?” wondered Julian over photographs of horses being shipped from Canada, as he placed the Larkhill site in the context of the 1914-18 War effort. Some images of horses in the front line were too graphic to show. This Heritage Lottery Funded dig and educational project clearly made an enormous impression on its mainly young participants, aided in no small way by Julian’s charm and enthusiasm.

The local archaeological theme continues on Tuesday 02 February at 2.30p.m. at Gold Hill Museum with Jane Ellis-Schon describing the progress of Salisbury Museum’s “Finding Pitt-Rivers” project. In 1880 soldier Augustus Henry Lane-Fox inherited Wiltshire estates rich in archaeological remains and became a pioneer of scientific excavation. Part of his vast collection of artefacts was housed in a museum at nearby Farnham until dispersed in the 1960s. The major part formed the basis of the Pitt-Rivers Museum in Oxford. This lecture is free to Shaftesbury & District Historical Society members, while visitors may pay £3 at the door.

Visitors to Gold Hill Museum’s late-night Christmas shopping experience on Friday 04 December were welcomed by a cast of historical characters. Ken Howe could have stepped down from the traction engine steaming in The Commons, and Janet Swiss out of her Tudor mural of the Byzant ceremony. Elaine Barratt in full Victorian garb of bonnet and crinoline squeezed into the kitchen to provide excellent hot and spicy mulled wine. Even the Secretary donned a muffler and top hat.

More Christmas family fun is promised in the Garden Room on Sunday afternoon 06 December, 2.00 till 4.00p.m.