2022/2023 Programme

Monday 4th October
Dr Nick Amor
Keeping the peace in Late medieval Suffolk

Monday 1st November
Sarah Doig
Basil Brown of Rickinghall: Beyond Sutton Hoo

Monday 6th December
Adrian Tindall
Bury and the Great War

Monday 10th January
Stephen Dart
The Ancient Cathedral Library

Monday 7th February
Ivor Murrell
The Maltster’s Tale – mastery of water, wind and fire.

Monday 7th March
Annual General Meeting followed by West Suffolk Council Heritage Team.
Into the West Suffolk Collections: new research from the teams of West Stow and Moyse’s Hall.

Monday 7 October:
Dr Richard Hoggett
M.R. James’ East Anglia

Monday 4 November:
Dr Barbara Gale, MBE
St Nicholas Hospice, Bury St Edmunds

Monday 2 December:
Dr Martin Bridge and his colleague Dan Miles
Dendrochronology, including work at the Guildhall

Monday 6 January:
Dr Pat Murrell
The late 18th-century Natural History Journals of the Revd Sir John Cullum of Hawstead and Hardwick

Monday 3 February:
Dr Abby Antrobus
Medieval town of Bury St Edmunds

Monday 2 March:
Annual General Meeting
Followed by:
Joanna Caruth
Tiles, Towers and Trenches: Excavations at Court Knoll, Nayland

Monday 1 October:
John Orbell
The Corn Exchange – A Handsome and Substantial Building

Monday 5 November:
Dr James Bettley
The Natives were Friendly: Nikolaus Pevsner and Suffolk

Monday 3 December:
Pamela Holmes
Huntingfield’s Heroine, the paintress who created Suffolk’s most beautiful hidden secret

Monday 7 January:
Reverend Tony Redman
A Brief History of Purgatory – how our understanding of life after death influenced the building of churches between 1330-1600

Monday 4 February:
Simon Pott and Suzanne Stevenson
The Guildhall: Bringing it back into the Heart of Bury St Edmunds

Monday 4 March:
Annual General Meeting
Followed by:
Sarah Doig
‘To Have and to Hold’ – Wedding photographs from the Spanton-Jarman Collection

Monday 2 October:
Christopher Garibaldi
Treasures of the Turf – The History of Palace House and Horseracing

After in interesting career with English Heritage and the Royal Collection, then as Keeper of Decorative Art and Senior Curator at Norwich Castle Museum, Christopher Garibaldi studied for an MBA at Cape Town and Chicago Universities.

In 2010 Christopher moved to Newmarket to lead the multi-million pound redevelopment of the National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art at Palace House, opened by the Queen in November 2016

Monday 6 November:
Dr Helen Smith
The Chadacre Trust

Helen Smith was brought up on a traditional mixed farm in Norfolk. She trained as an agricultural scientist specialising on the control of virus diseases of agricultural crops. Helen worked for Unilever and its operating companies Birds Eye and Bachelors, then at Rothamsted Research and spent the final part of her career at Broom’s Barn Sugar Research Station. Following retirement in 2001 Helen was appointed Administrator for the Chadacre Agricultural Trust.

Monday 4 December:
Ron Murrell
Church Carvings – Misericords

While in the R.A.F. Ron completed a BA (Hons.) in History and a City and Guilds in Antique Furniture Restoration. On his return to Bury St Edmunds he eventually joined the Council’s Museum Service and has worked as Heritage Officer at Moyses Hall for over 15 years. He writes and presents lectures on a range of topics.

Monday 8 January:
Prof Mark Bailey
The Black Death and the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds

MARK BAILEY is Professor of Later Medieval History at the University of East Anglia and High Master of St Paul’s School, London. He had previously taught medieval and local history at the University of Cambridge, and in 2010 was a Visiting Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He is the James Ford Lecturer in British History (elect) for 2019 in the University of Oxford.

Monday 5 February:
Lance Alexander
West Stow – Reconstructing the Past

LANCE ALEXANDER has been an art designer based in Norwich and freelance artist for the BBC children’s department, working on educational based historical projects. In 1995 he took up a short term position at West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village as part of the reconstruction team building the experimental Houses. This turned into the role of Education Officer, then into management of the site. Lance is currently the TIC and Heritage Operations manager for the Heritage Service.

Monday 5 March:
Annual General Meeting
Followed by:
Rt Rev Tim Stevens
The Vikings and their impact on Bury St Edmunds

Rt. Reverend Tim Stevens was Bishop of Leicester between 1999 and 2015 where he developed relations with the world faiths in a religiously diverse city. He was responsible for overseeing the reburial of Richard III in Leicester Cathedral. Tim was Convenor of the Bishops in the House of Lords between 2009 and 2015 and was Chair of the Children’s Society 2004-2010. Today he is a Board Member of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Trust and Prelate of the Order of St John. He lives in Bury and has a son and two grandchildren.

Monday 3 October:
Michael Rimmer 
The Angel Roofs of Suffolk

Michael Rimmer studied Classics at Oxford University before becoming an investment manager and photographer. In 2010 he set out to create the first comprehensive photographic record of every angel roof in East Anglia. Unlike stained glass and statuary, the roofs were often too difficult to reach by the Reformation iconoclasts and as a result these carvings comprise the largest surviving body of major English medieval wood sculptures. Michael lives in Norfolk and lectures on medieval art and architecture.

Monday 7 November:
Dr Nick Amor
Cloth-making in medieval Bury St Edmunds

Dr Nick Amor is a medieval historian whose PhD was published as Late Medieval Ipswich: Trade and Industry. He has recently finished work on a forthcoming volume on the medieval cloth industry From Wool to Cloth: The Triumph of the Medieval Clothier. He is chairman of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History and council member of the Suffolk Records Society and Friends of the Suffolk Record Office. He lives with his family in Stanningfield.

Monday 5 December:
Dr John Sutton
Suffolk’s most famous Cavalier – Col.Thomas Blague

An eleven-plus reject, John Sutton graduated with a first-class honours degree in history at Lancaster University in 1969. He became a lecturer on the English Civil War at the higher education institution now known as Anglia Ruskin University where the high point of his career was the series of day-schools he organised in 1999. A decade earlier he was the author of the Anglia television series entitled A War in the Kingdom devoted to ‘the brother-killing days of the 1640s’. Dr Sutton has a number of academic publications to his credit and since retiring he has lectured extensively on P&O, Fred Olsen and Saga cruises, at the summer schools of Cambridge University and in the Bury Record Office.

Monday 9 January:
Philip Aitkens
Georgian wallpaper in Bury Houses

Philip Aitkens is an Historic Buildings Consultant based near Bury St Edmunds. His training was in architecture, working for Martin Whitworth in Crown Street where the practice was focused on the care of historic buildings, an ideal start to his career. His interests include medieval carpentry, early farm buildings and the interior design of vernacular buildings. The redevelopment of the centre of Bury St Edmunds during the 1990s caused losses to the interior of many houses, and it became clear that someone needed to record this. Wallpaper became an obsession, and beautiful designs were rescued from the skip; out of this has come his nationally important collection of Georgian papers and the basis of a book on the subject which is in the process of being written.

Monday 6 February:
Dr Nick Sign
Suffolk between the Wars

A graduate of London University, Dr Sign has taught in High Schools as a department head and Deputy Headmaster, has lectured at a College of Education in Lincolnshire and until his retirement in 2008 he was joint leader of the B.A. Hons History degree at Suffolk College, now University Campus Suffolk. He gained his M. Phil for research into 17th century education and his Ph.D. for a study of secondary education in Suffolk from 1900 to 1939. He is currently Vice-Chairman of the Suffolk Local History Council and Hon. Editor of their journal, Suffolk Review. He recently co-authored with Dr Margaret Thomas The Loyal Suffolk Hussars; a History of the Suffolk Yeomanry 1794-1967 which was published in 2012.

Monday 6 March:
Annual General Meeting
Followed by:
Robert Halliday
Suffolk Gravestones

Robert Halliday has lived in Bury St Edmunds since his family moved here when he was ten. His greatest interest is perhaps the study of historic churches, which he regards as one of the great advantages of living here. He has had various jobs associated with history, including a stint with the Churches Conservation Trust. He is an active freelance writer, which has prompted him to write about gravestones.

Monday 5 October:
Gwyn Thomas 
WW1 War Memorials in Suffolk

Gwyn Thomas was born and brought up in North Wales, obtained a BA and research MA in History at Bangor University and qualified as an archivist. Spent 37 years as a local government archivist, ending up as Senior Archivist in the Suffolk Record Office. Took early retirement and morphed into a museum curator, in charge of the Suffolk Regiment Museum since 2007.

Monday 2 November:
Dr Francis Young
Catholics in Bury St Edmunds in the 18^th century

Francis Young obtained his undergraduate degree and PhD at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is Head of Sixth Form (Academic) at The King’s School, Ely and is the author of several books on early modern religious history, most recently The Gages of Hengrave and Suffolk Catholicism, 1640-1767 (2015). He is currently working on an edition of the papers of the Rookwood family for the Suffolk Records Society.

Monday 7 December:
John Saunders
Sixty Years in Constables Country

John Saunders was a police officer for 32 years, retiring in 1997. He has since worked for many organisations across the private, public and voluntary sectors. Resident in Bury St Edmunds, he is a great supporter of the town, its history and heritage and has published his school’s history, co-written a Church booklet and input to other local publications. Over time, social change has created considerable development in policing – John will relate many experiences which bring change into context.

Monday 4 January:
Roy Tricker
19^th century Church Building & Restoration in Suffolk

A crusading church-crawler since the age of four, Roy Tricker spent 20 years teaching R.E. and 11 years with the Churches Conservation Trust, before retirement. He is a licensed Reader in the diocese and an emeritus Lay Canon of our cathedral. He has written guides to over 200 churches, also other published works, and continues to proclaim from pulpit, projector and coach-seat the fascination and fun of our wonderful churches. Each one is an unique piece of living history, with amazing craftsmanship from many periods – including the 19th century.

Monday 1 February:
Dr Harvey Osborne 
The Swing Riots of 1830 /31

Dr Harvey Osborne completed his MA and PhD research at the University of Lancaster. He has been a member of the History team at University Campus Suffolk in Ipswich since 2007 where he is currently course leader. Harvey’s teaching and research interests are primarily located in modern British History and in the experience of rural society in particular. His research has tended thus far to centre on rural crime and protest and he has published on poaching and the game laws in particular.

Monday 7 March:
Annual General Meeting
Followed by:
Members’ Evening  
Contributions from society members on topics of local history

Monday 6 October:
Kate Jewell 
Scaffolds and Stage Devils: Medieval Drama in Bury St Edmunds and Beyond

Kate was born and grew up in Suffolk. In 2002 she was awarded an MA in Medieval Studies from the UEA, focussing on medieval drama and 16th c. theatre in Walsham-le-Willows in particular. Earlier this year she received a PhD from the UEA after studying the festive culture of pre-Reformation rural Suffolk. She now teaches for the Suffolk Record Office and the WEA.

Monday 3 November:
Joanna Caruth 
Post-excavation analysis from the Anglo-Saxon cemeteries at RAF Lakenheath

Jo Caruth is a Senior Project Officer with the Suffolk County Council Archaeology Service working on sites of all periods across the county. For the last 17 years she has been specialising in the excavation and post-excavation analysis of the archaeological sites at RAF Lakenheath, including the on-going work for the publication of the Early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries.

Monday 1 December:
Jane Carr
History in small things: the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) in the Bury Region

Jane Carr is a retired archaeologist, museum professional and adult education tutor in archaeology. She enjoyed posts in the British Museum and Bedford Museum before coming to East Anglia to be curator of Thetford’s Ancient House Museum. She has worked as a project officer with SCC Archaeological Service, most recently as a PAS Finds recorder.

Monday 5 January:
David Addy
Bury and District’s Great War in pictures

David has lived in Bury St Edmunds all his life, except for three years at Newcastle University, from 1966-69. He worked in Finance at St Edmundsbury Borough Council, becoming Director of Finance from 1993-2004. He runs the local history website www.stedmundsburychronicle.com and is a Trustee of the West Stow Saxon Village and Chairman of the Bury Group of Suffolk Wildlife Trust.

Monday 2 February:
David Sherlock 
The Sign Language of the Monks of Bury St Edmunds

David Sherlock was inspector of ancient monuments for the Department of the Environment in East Anglia before holding a similar post in the north of England for English Heritage and then retiring to Suffolk where he was brought up. While researching Bury St Edmunds Abbey he came across the 14th c. manuscript of the monks’ sign language, the subject of his lecture.

Monday 2 March:
Annual General Meeting
Followed by:
Martyn Taylor 
Have you noticed?

Martyn is a member of the Bury St Edmunds Past & Present Society and serves on the Committee. He was born and raised in the town and has long had an interest in its history. He is a popular tour guide and speaker and his recently published book on ‘Bury Through Time’ features many images from the Spanton Jarman Collection.

On 3 February the venue is the Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds.

Monday 7 October:
Dr Tom License 
Bury St Edmunds and the impact of the Norman Conquest

Monday 4 November:
Victor Gray MBE 
The greatest passing show of our time – Louis Napoleon Parker and the Bury Pageant of 1907

Monday 2 December:
Jane Carr
History in small things: the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) in the Bury region

Monday 6 January:
Dr. David Dymond
The English Churchyard

Monday 3 February (in the Cathedral):
The Very Revd Dr. Frances Ward 
A Living Tradition: the story of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich

Monday 4 March:
Annual General Meeting
Followed by:
Spanton Jarman – discovering 19th/20th century images of Suffolk villages

Monday 1 October:
Tessa West
Bury Jail and the influences of John Howard and Jeremy Bentham

Monday 5 November:
Dr Jennifer Ward
Elizabeth de Burgh Lady of Clare and her household

Monday 3 December:
Richard Everett and members of the St Edmunds Postcard Club 
Bury in Postcards

Monday 7 January:
M. R. Jackson 
The Guildhall: its history and the future plans

Monday 4 February:
Andrew Tester, Suffolk Archaeological Service 
Archaeological activity and significant finds in Bury St Edmunds, 2000 to 2010

Monday 4 March:
Dr. Pat Murrell
Attempted murder in the Great Churchyard. A celebrated crime in the 18th century
and
Annual General Meeting

Wednesday 5 June at 6pm:
Dr. Keith Cunliffe, Borough Collections Manager
Visit to West Stow Country Park for a presentation on: “The Cullum family portraits” followed by light refreshments.

Please download the contact form, fill it in and send it off to Betty Milburn as described. There are only 50 places available, so please be quick!

Monday 3 October:
Dr. Dick Soper
The Magistracy in Bury St Edmunds; its history and evolution

Monday 7 November:
Karen Smythe
John Lydgate: a 15th Century Poet that Mattered

Monday 5 December:
Dr. David Duggan 
Rebellious Bury

Monday 9 January:
Alan Dures 
Catholicism in the 16th Century in Bury St Edmunds and Suffolk

Monday 6 February:
Dr. Jennifer Ward 
Elizabeth de Burgh, Countess of Clare

Monday 5 March:
Jillian Macready
Ickworth Park Vineyard, accompanied by a wine tasting
and
Annual General Meeting

Monday 4 October
Diarmaid MacCulloch
Foxes, Firebrands and Forgeries:
A Grandson of Bury Fools the Historians
Venue: St Mary’s Church at 7.30 pm

Monday 1 November
Pippa Blackall 
Stained Glass, Looking Through Time. 
Venue: The Hunter Club

Monday 6 December
James Stamper 
Feeding the People, Past, Present and Future.
Venue: The Hunter Club

Monday 10 January
Margaret Statham and Anne Sutton
Self-Government for Bury St. Edmunds:
Jankyn Smythe and Edward IV 
Venue: The Hunter Club

Monday 7 February
Paul Davey 
From Mudflats to Major Port:
The Rise and Rise of the Port of Felixstowe. 
Venue: The Hunter Club

Monday 7 March
Gwyn Thomas, Curator 
The Suffolk Regiment and its Museum. 
and
Annual General Meeting
Venue: The Hunter Club

Monday 5 October
Helen Geake
After the Romans: who were the early Anglo Saxons?

Monday 2 November
Pat Murell
The Little Red Money Box and its Predecessors

Monday 7 December
Mary Bustin
The Restoration of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne

Monday 4 January
Ben Bishop
British Sugar, Rooted in Sweetness

Monday 1 February
Margaret Statham
Margaret Odeham’s Will and the Candlemas Guild

Monday 1 March
Adrian Williams
Bell, Book and Comprehensive 
and
Annual General Meeting

Monday 6 October
Pat Murrell
‘NEIGHBOURS: Residents of the Great Market, Bury St Edmunds, from the 1695 taxation census

Monday 3 November
Naomi Boneham
The end of an era: the Hervey family in the twentieth century

Monday 1 December
Angus Wainwright
The archaeology of Ickworth Park and other National Trust properties

Monday 5 January
John Dahl
The Bury St Edmunds Post Office

Monday 2 February
Margaret Statham
Margaret Odeham and the Candlemas Guild

Monday 2 March
Annual General Meeting

Monday 1 October
Judith Middleton Stewart
‘Ten shillings to the good Rode and his aungells’: late medieval Pilgrimage in East Anglia

Wednesday 24 October
Visit to the tercentenary exhibition of the Society of Antiquaries of London, at the Royal Academy
Making History: Antiquaries in Britain, 1707-2007

Monday 5 November
Alistair Robertson
The 1907 Pageant 
This will be followed by a showing of the Pageant film

Monday 3 December
David Dymond
Victorian Villages

Monday 7 January
Bob Carr
Always look on the north side of the nave: how builders put together a Norman Church

Monday 4 February
Anne Sutton
Merchants, pirates and founders of libraries; Suffolk men who became Mercers of London

Monday 5 March
Annual General Meeting
A Spanton Jarman evening

Thursday 24 April
Annual Dinner
West Suffolk College

Monday 2 October
Margaret Statham
The Incorporation of Bury St Edmunds, 1606

Monday 6 November
Gwyn Thomas
Suffolk War Memorials revisited

Monday 4 December
Pat Murrell
Some portraits of late Stuart and Georgian Cullums from the Cullum Collection – the people and their lives

Monday 8 January
Jess Tipper
Plans for the development of the Anglo-Saxon village at West Stow

Monday 5 February
Nick Amor
Bury St Edmunds clothiers of the 15th century

Monday 5 March
Annual General Meeting
A Spanton Jarman evening

Thursday 26 April
Annual Dinner
West Suffolk College

Wednesday 16 May
Outing
Visit to Carlyle’s house and the Chelsea Physic Garden

Monday 3 October
Clive Payne
The Historical Background to the Spanton Jarman Collection of Photographic Negatives

Monday 7 November
Robert Carr and Andrew Tester
Recent Archaeological Discoveries in and Around Bury St Edmunds

Monday 5 December
Edward Cockayne
Some Bury Doctors of the Past

Monday 9 January
Tony Redman
John Wastell and the Nave of St James’ Church

Monday 6 February
Maureen Jurkowski
Lollardy in the Waveney Valley in the Fifteenth Century
The Lollards were a heretical religious sect of the 14th and 15th centuries which, although never large in terms of numbers of adherents, was, nonetheless, an important precursor to the Protestant Reformation. They were particularly strong in the diocese of Norwich in the early fifteenth century. Because of the rare survival of a court book recording the investigations made into heresy there by Bishop William Alnwick from 1428 to 1431, we know that there was a community of at least 120 adherents, centred on the Waveney Valley on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk. Since these heresy trial records were published in 1972, much has been written about the beliefs and social network of these Lollards. Little attention has been paid, however, to who these men and women actually were. Dr. Jurkowski’s own research, based mostly on manorial court rolls held by the Duke of Norfolk at Arundel Castle, reveals, rather surprisingly, that they were persons of some account in their villages, and that in one village – Earsham, Norfolk – they formed the ruling elite. In this lecture she will tell the story of this fascinating heretical community, from its origins to its demise.
Dr. Maureen Jurkowski is a Research Fellow at University College, London. She has published many articles and essays on the Lollard heresy and is writing a book on the Lollard revolt of 1414 led by Sir John Oldcastle.

Monday 6 March
Annual General Meeting
A Spanton Jarman evening

Wednesday 26 April
Annual Dinner
West Suffolk College

Monday 4 October
Pat Murrell
The Macro Letters: early eighteenth century life in and beyond Bury St Edmunds

Monday 1 November
Brett Usher
(In association with the Friends of the Preston St Mary church)
The Church in the reign of Elizabeth I

Monday 6 December
Angus Wainwright
Orford Ness: the archaeology of warfare

Monday 10 January at 7pm (includes Annual dinner)
Margaret Statham and John Knight
The history of the Bury St. Edmunds Museums and Libraries Committee
The evening will continue with supper at the Masonic Lodge, Churchgate Street at 8:15 pm. Please Contact us at Bury St Edmunds Past and Present Society for more details.

Monday 7 February
Gwyn Thomas
The Suffolk Regiment

Monday 7 March (includes Annual General Meeting)
A Spanton Jarman evening

Monday 6 October 2003
Charles Tracey 
Col. Robert Rushbrooke, 1779-1845: Grand Tourist, collector and amateur wood carver.

Monday 3 November 2003
Helen Geake
The contribution of metal detecting to archaeology.

Monday 1 December 2003
Hilary Bracegirdle
An irreverent history of horse racing.

Monday 5 January 2004
Pat Murrell 
Cupola House from the Macros to the Romain

Monday 2 February 2004
A Spanton Jarman evening.

Monday 1 March 2004 — Annual General Meeting
Pip Wright 
History through old newspapers.

Monday 7 October at 7pm
Mary Fewster
East Anglian Goldsmiths in their Context

Monday 4 November
Duncan McAndrew
Denham Castle and the pre-conquest Manor of Desning

Monday 2 December
Nick Moore
Building the Cathedral Tower

Monday 6 January
Philip Aitkens
New Light on Old Houses

Monday 3 February
Alan Dures
The Survival of Elizabethan Catholicism within East Anglia

Monday 3 March – Annual General Meeting
Joan Cook
The Making of a Millennium Book: Hawstead 2001

Monday 1 October at 7 pm
Richard Wilson
Tours of East Anglia in the 18th Century

Monday 5 November
Hugh Belsey
Gainsborough’s Life-long Connection with Suffolk

Monday 3 December
Maggie Goodger
The Refurbished Moyse’s Hall

Monday 7 January
Margaret Statham
The Guildhall Reconsidered

Monday 7 January
Bob Carr and others
New Light on the Medieval Defences of Bury St Edmunds

Monday 4 March – Annual General Meeting
Barbara Painter
Dressed for a Certain Date

Monday 2 October – 40th Anniversary Dinner
Amanda Arrowsmith
The Past in the Present

Monday 6 November
Anne Sutton & Livia Visser-Fuchs
John Vale of Bury St Edmunds c 1420-c1490:
The First Antiquary of Bury?

Monday 4 December
Hubert Chesshire
Her Majesty’s Heralds

Monday 8 January
Jo Caruth
The Lakenheath Warriors

Monday 5 February
Colin Blumenau
The Theatre Royal: Then, Now and in the Future!

Monday 5 March – Annual General Meeting
Tony Redman
Facadism and Fashion in the 18th and 19th Century Bury St Edmunds
An Insight Behind some Familiar Frontages