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The Gold Hill Museum News Blog is now connected to both Facebook and Twitter. This means if you Follow us on either Facebook or Twitter you will be notified when there is a new update to our News Blog.
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.
The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society’s January lecturer is local archaeologist and broadcaster Julian Richards. At 2.30p.m. on Tuesday 05 January 2016 at Gold Hill Museum, Julian will be telling the real story of horses during the First World War, based on his recent excavation of an equine hospital on Salisbury Plain. This lecture is free to members and non-members may pay £3 at the door.
The Horse Artillery Gunner in the photograph is Harold Edwards [1897-1985] of Street, Somerset. His story has been archived by the Society’s Heritage Lottery Funded Great War Project, and is told in more detail in the December edition of The Byzant, the S&DHS Newsletter.
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.
December’s lecturer, Robert Lancaster, brought an array of examples and a wealth of knowledge of his subject, Dorset clay pipes. By looking at the size and shape of the bowl, and any imprints on the bowl or stem, he could identify the period of a pipe and frequently the location and name of its maker. Pipes were often given away with the purchase of beer or tobacco, and so pipe-makers were usually poor and illiterate. In Wareham in 2011-12 Robert excavated the site of the kiln of Augustus Moore, who in 1834 was convicted of theft and sentenced to be transported for seven years. It is doubtful whether he ever returned to his five children and wife Sarah, who was listed as a pauper in 1861. The advent of cigarettes at much the same time put paid to the craft of clay pipe-making. Members of the audience, including Shaftesbury students Ella and Bethany, were intrigued by Mr Lancaster’s account of the rise and fall, and the bewildering variety, of clay pipes.
Free Event All Welcome
Handbells, stories, craft activities, and help us decorate our tree.
Refreshments included.
Children must be accompanied by an adult.
No booking required
We are open from Tuesday 01 April 2025 and every day thereafter
10.30 a.m. to 4.30p.m with last entry at 4.10p.m
For the comfort of all our visitors, please observe social distancing.
New Volunteers Welcome
Admission Free
(Donations very welcome)