2026/2027 Programme
MONDAY 5TH OCTOBER
TONY REDMAN
The Building stones of Suffolk: an introduction
After his exhaustive research on the building stones used in Suffolk, Tony will introduce his latest book, and specifically talk about the building stones and stone masons associated with Bury.
MONDAY 26TH OCTOBER
EMMERSON CRITCHLEY
Restoration of Greggs, Abbeygate Street
The building, now housing Greggs, has been a cornerstone of Bury St Edmunds’ commercial history. The project aimed to restore and retain as much of the original architecture and design as possible. It was a collaborative effort with various local historians and the Bury Town Trust.
MONDAY 7TH DECEMBER
RICHARD HOGGETT
M.R. James’s East Anglia
Best known as the writer of some of the finest ghost stories ever published, M.R. James was also the foremost medieval scholar of his day and had a strong academic and personal interest in East Anglia’s landscape and history. This lecture examines James’ East Anglian connections, from his childhood in Suffolk to his involvement with excavations at St Edmund’s abbey in Bury, and looks at the influence which the region had on the development of his ghost stories.
MONDAY 4TH JANUARY 2027
PAUL MARSH
The Bury Botanic Gardens 1820-1861
Paul will talk about the history of the Bury and Suffolk Botanic Garden, from its earliest incarnation in 1820 until Hodson’s death in 1861 and give some insights into the life of Nathaniel Shirley Harness Hodson, the sole proprietor and Superintendent of the garden. He will look at Hodson’s connections with the world of botany, horticulture and gardening through contributions to journals, newspapers, books and local life and how the garden changed during Hodson’s 40 years of tenure.
MONDAY 1ST FEBRUARY
STEVE RUTHEN
Bury St Edmunds and Royalty
Bury St Edmunds has been a quiet backwater for 5 centuries, and since the demolition of the Abbey there have been less royal visitors. The centralisation of Parliament in London has also contributed to Bury remaining in the shadows. Perhaps recent political shifts will result in regionalisation and a higher profile for Bury?
In any event I will take a look at our royal visitors down the ages.
MONDAY 1ST MARCH
SUE SPILLER
Sex Under the Counter
Sue Spiller, a former teacher and Head of Great Barton Primary, has written more than 50 articles for local history and village magazines, and has published five local history books since 2017. Bertuna’s Children, the story of Great Barton School; The Pykkerell, the story of a sixteenth-century coaching inn; Talk and Teas, the story of Ixworth Women’s Institute; Sex Under the Counter, the story of libraries in Ixworth; and From Whispering to Wellbeing, the history of public libraries in Bury and West Suffolk.
Lecture Archive
Monday 6th October:
Dr Michael Walker FRSA
A Hard and Grievous Battle: the Siege of Haughley Castle and the Battle of Fornham in 1173
Monday 27th October
Dr Pat Murrell
Parting Gestures, Having the Last Word
Monday 1st December
Mr Tim Whiting
A Millwrights Journey
Monday 5th January
Emerson Critchley
Restoration of Greggs, Abbeygate Street
Monday 2nd February
Louise Moan
Prehistoric and Anglo–Saxon remains at Abbots Vale, Bury St Edmunds
Monday 2nd March
Annual General Meeting followed by Neal Dodge, Suffolk Guild of Ringers
Bells of Bury and Beyond
Monday 7th October
John Rainer
Lidar and its use in revealing the Hidden Landscape
Monday 28th October
Kate Jewell
Scaffolds and Stage Devils: Medieval Drama in Bury St Edmunds and Beyond
Monday 2nd December
Terry O’Donaghue
The Gathering Storm – How Bury prepared for and changed with war.
Monday 6th January
John Saunders
Time on Your Hands
Monday 3rd February
Kevin Pulford
Regency Low Life Bury St Edmunds
Monday 3rd March
Annual General Meeting followed by Robert Halliday
AN A TO Z OF BENCH END FIGURES IN SUFFOLK CHURCHES
Monday 2nd October:
Claire Wallace
The Suffolk Regiment and the Battle of Neuve Chapelle
Monday 30th October
Andrew Peachey
Memento Mori – finding the Roman dead at Great Whelnetham
Monday 4th December
Adrian Tindall
The Montpellier of Suffolk: Bury St Edmunds’ French connections.
Monday 8th January
Stephen Moody
Retail in Bury St Edmunds, Past and Present
Monday 5th February
Tom Williamson
Humphrey Repton
Monday 6th March
Annual General Meeting followed by Alex McWhirter, Heritage Officer
‘Infantacide and insanity – A Suffolk Tragedy’
Monday 3th October
Ivor Murrell
The Last Maltings in Bury St Edmunds
Monday 31st October
Peter Minter
The Brickmaker’s Tale
Monday 5th December
Alison Dickens
The work of the Bury St Edmunds Cathedral Archaeologist
Monday 9th January
Tony Redman
Suffolk Building stone and the people who worked it
Monday 6th February
Peter Ridington
Domestic Architecture of Bury St Edmunds
Monday 6th March
Annual General Meeting followed by Libby Ranzetta
The Lark and Linnet: globally rare chalk streams in the heart of Bury St Edmunds
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 5 October
Richard Summers and Martyn Taylor
The Abbey of St Edmund Heritage Partnership
Monday 2 November
John Saunders
People who by their protests or good works made a difference to the town
Monday 7 December
Mike Petty MBE
Samuel Pickwick’s Cambridge Scrapbook 1838
Monday 4 January
Terry O’Donoghue
Honourable Elizabeth Countess of Bristol (neé Elizabeth Felton), Founding of a Dynasty
Monday 1 February
Rebecca Pinner
Arrows, Wolves and Wuffings: Medieval Images of St Edmund East Anglian Churches
Monday 1 March
Annual General Meeting followed by
Jo Sear
Trade and commerce in late medieval Newmarket
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 18th 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
19th 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.
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
