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Future Courses

Typically, information on future courses will be included in Newsletters

Norfolk's Industrial Past 1750-1940

Tutor: Mary Fewter

“Did Norfolk have an industrial past?” - a comment on a par with the famous “Very flat, Norfolk.” Its rural image can disguise the surprising variety and scale of its industries. This course covers the variety and scale of Norfolk’s industry from 18th to 20th centuries, from textiles to heavy engineering and the generation of electricity. This course of five two hour sessions and one outing, led by Mary Fewster, uses a mixture of visual and documentary evidence. Of necessity, some aspects are covered in overview, while there is an opportunity to examine certain industries or firms in more depth.

  1. The Norfolk scene 1750-1940: an introduction to the landscape, economy and society of Norfolk, in relation to its industrial development, plus a focus on extractive industries.
  2. Links with the land: a look at industries providing for, and dealing with the product of agriculture and fisheries.
  3. “The grand source of its wealth”: Norwich industries from the 18th to the 20th centuries.
  4. “Making connections”: the impact of the introduction of services, such as water and gas supplies, and of road, rail and water transport.
  5. Entrepreneurs and diversity: the variety and scale of industrial development throughout the county.

Dates & time: Thursday afternoons 14:30 - 16.30; March 22 and 29, miss a week, then April 12, 19 and 26. The date of the outing and the destination to be arranged during the course, but this may incur an additional cost of an entrance fee.

Location: Scout Hut, next to the Village Hall, Blakeney.
Cost: Members - £48,
Non-members - £55

Booking: to book your place either pay at a monthly meeting or send your cheque made payable to the BAHS to John Peake, Crows Nest, Back Lane, Blakeney NR25 7NP.

Note: early payment secures your place.

Email the Events organiser for further details.

Previous Courses

House History Workshop - 2010 & 2011

Tutor: Pam Peake

The first workshop was held in Autumn 2010 and the second workshop in the Autumn of 2011. Each workshop took place over three mornings and introduced the attendees to the ways in which to approach finding out the history of their house and the local area surrounding the house. Please see newsletters no 31 where there is an article on the last house history workshop.

Attendees of the workshops provided displays at the 2010 and 2011 Christmas Mardles respectively.

'The Story of Illuminated Manuscripts' - October 2008

Tutor: Margaret Forester

The course covered book illustration and decoration from the beginning to the invention of printing, with greater emphasis on the period 500-1200. The weekly programme was arranged as follows:

  1. What types of books were there? What kinds of illustration were there?
  2. How were books made? What sort of inks, pens and paints were used?
  3. Who made these books and why?
  4. The Author Portrait.
  5. The Historiated Initial.
  6. Bible Illustration, or people could vote for which of the various types of illustration they would like to study this session.

Just getting to see some of these original works could be an ongoing project, as they are held in country churches or city libraries, provincial museums or cathedral treasuries, here and abroad. You could, for instance, visit Ranworth Church in Norfolk, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, Durham Cathedral treasury, the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin or the monastic library at St Gallen in Switzerland.

Precious and delicate books are not available to be handled by the general public, but facsimiles are accessible (but not usually on loan) at libraries such as the Norfolk Studies Centre in Norwich Millennium Library. The internet has some excellent sites. Better still is Turning the Pages at www.bl.uk/turningthepages.

'Glories of the Glaven' - September 2007

The course was an in depth study of the three Glaven Churches: Cley, Wiveton and Blakeney. There was a common pattern: first a lecture that highlighted the architectural features, and compared and contrasted these with the other churches, both within the vicinity and across the country; this was followed by a 'fieldwork' morning in the appropriate church seeing and discussing the actual features.

Tutor: Gerald Randall

'Exploring Langham on Foot'- September 2007

Tutor: Mike Medlar&