The Salisbury Museum Festival of Archaeology 2023 – over 1,300 welcomed over two days.
23 Sunday Jul 2023
Posted ArchFest, Community, Festival of Archaeology, Special Events, Uncategorized
in23 Sunday Jul 2023
Posted ArchFest, Community, Festival of Archaeology, Special Events, Uncategorized
in20 Thursday Jul 2023
Posted ArchFest, Uncategorized
inSalisbury Museum will be running exclusive Behind the Scenes Tours with Director Adrian Green over the Festival of Archaeology weekend.
Join Director Adrian Green on an exclusive tour of the museum’s major redevelopment project – Past Forward. This £5 million initiative involves the creation of new galleries dedicated to Salisbury’s history, new public facilities and the conservation of our grade I listed building. Work started in March with the strip out of the old gallery spaces which are now being prepared for the new displays.
This tour will be a unique opportunity to see areas that have been opened up for the first time in 40 years and experience the building transformation before the new displays are installed.
Past Forward has been funded with grants from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, a major gift from the Devenish Bradshaw family and grants from many trusts and foundations.
£12 Members; £15 Non-Members
There will be four tours over the festival weekend:
Saturday 22 July – 10:30am and 2:00pm
Sunday 23 July – 10:30am and 2:00pm
20 Thursday Jul 2023
Posted ArchFest, Uncategorized
inA busy programme of talks across the festival weekend. Set in the beautiful grounds of the museum, these talks are included in your donation entry! No booking required.
Talks this year reflect the extensive restoration work being carried out on the historic ‘Kings House’, home to The Salisbury Museum.
Saturday | |
10.30 – 11.30 | Bridget Telfer –Past Forward Project Curator Keys, corsets, otters and a motor car: curating the museum’s new galleries for 2024! |
12.00 – 13.00 | Steve Bush, Project Officer, Cotswold Archaeology Uncovering a major Bronze Age barrow cemetery near Netherhampton, Salisbury |
13.30 – 14.30 | Julian Richards, Archaeologist and curator of the new Pottery Gallery A potted History of Britain |
15.00 – 16.00 | Alyson Tanner, Portable Antiquity Scheme The Story of Coombe Bissett Down through its Finds – Alyson Tanner and Alix Smith |
Sunday | |
12.00 – 13.00 | Michael Gorely, Local Heritage Education Manager, Historic England ‘Using Historic England’s resources to discover your local heritage’ |
13.30 – 14.30 | Andrew Ziminski, stonemason A career in ruins. |
15.00 – 16.00 | Jamie Wright, Archaeologist, and brick history expert King’s House, and Salisbury’s Brick Buildings and Brick Kilns. |
16 Friday Sep 2022
Posted ArchFest, Uncategorized
inTags
It is astonishing to me the frequency with which several of my diverse range of interests coalesce together. This happened again when the Festival of Archaeology coincided with a BBC Radio 4 programme ‘Word of Mouth’ concerning folk names of wildflowers, together with the Wessex Museums’ current Thomas Hardy exhibitions. How are these all connected?
Well, the astrological physician Simon Forman, whose life and times in Salisbury I am researching, was born in Quidhampton in 1552. His father William, a husbandman, died when Simon was 11 leaving his mother, Mary with six sons and two daughters to house and feed. This meant that Simon had to work to help support the family, rather than attend school. At the age of fourteen, he apprenticed himself to one Matthew Commin who, according to Simon Forman in his ‘Autobiography’, “useth many occupations. Firste he was a hosier, and thereby he learned to sowe and to make a hose; then he was a merchante of cloth, and of all smalle wares, an sold hops, salte, oille, pitch, rosine, raisons, and all poticary drugs and grocery, whereby Simon learned the knowledge of [herbal medicine]”.
As (Professor) Lauren Kassell has commented in ‘Medicine and Magic in Elizabethan London’ (2005). ‘While swarming with detail, Forman’s notes are deceptively incomplete…. He seldom wrote about the people with whom he lived, travelled, worked, spoke, or called angels’, This leaves Simon Forman as the only source of information concerning his life in Salisbury and this has compromised my ability to publish in any respected academic journal. Thus I’m considering taking up the suggestion of a journalist I met while attending one of Tom Bromley’s ‘Literary Walks of Salisbury’ and incorporating my thoughts into a historical novel. To this end I have been conducting my research by attending a ‘George Herbert Herbal Walk’ organised by the George Herbert Society, various wildflower walks during which their folk names and uses in herbal medicine are described, and now the Weorod demonstration during the Festival of Archaeology. Weorod member, Helen provided some fascinating information. In the accompanying photograph, Helen is shown preparing a salve of mint in vinegar, which is applied to the skin with a feather. This is used to treat fungal infections of the skin especially, for example athlete’s foot and Candida infections.
Helen also showed a small sachet of coriander. This was once thought to have aphrodisiac properties and was added to love potions during the mediaeval and Renaissance periods. The 17th Century herbalist and astrologer, Robert Turner said that “when consumed with wine, coriander stimulates the animal passions”. This was of particular interest to me as, returning to Simon Forman, many of his clients were women. Forman’s Casebooks records show that he had more female patients than male patients. Forman’s explanation for this was that illness is part of God’s postlapsarian curse, and woman was more guilty than man because she listened to the serpent, and therefore received more diseases. Despite having a reputation as a consultant to lovelorn women only about 12% of women came to him for non-medical advice, slightly fewer than for his male patients which ranged between 13% to 20%. depending on the year in question. Most of Forman’s patients were aged between 16 and 49 and the women came to him predominantly with complaints relating to childbirth or their reproductive systems including menstrual problems. Also worth noting is Forman’s posthumous linkage to the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, which irrevocably tarnished the image of respectability that he had worked so hard to create. During the subsequent trial, Forman was blamed for providing the accomplice of Frances Howard, Countess of Essex, with the poison used.
At the Festival of Archaeology I took the opportunity to introduce Romilly (who was demonstrating natural dyes in the back garden) to Helen, and we three then had a most interesting discussion ranging across Helen’s preparations and covering medieval medicine, which also involved superstition, magic, religion and charms. With regard to the latter, Helen showed a plantain leaf which a patient would wear around their neck on a red thread, the colour red being very important for warding off evil spirits or bad luck. Romilly explained that red items used for such purposes is common across many cultures of the world. Plantain itself was considered efficacious for cough, wounds, inflamed skin or dermatitis and insect bites.
The link with Thomas Hardy arose from the Radio 4 ‘Word of Mouth’ programme concerning folk names for various wildflowers. The concept of the ‘Doctrine of Signatures’ was explained. Dating from the time of Dioscorides and Galen, this was described as being a kind of ‘sympathetic magic’ and opines that herbs resembling different parts of the body can be used by herbalists to treat ailments of those body parts. ”God would have wanted to show men what plants could be used for” and we would know how to use them”. For example, toothwort was thought to resemble teeth and could thus be used for treating toothache. The conversation broadened to cow parsley, which is sometimes called ‘mother die’, a name that is also given to common hawthorn, as folklore suggests that your mother would die if these plants were taken indoors.
There was quite a lengthy section on ‘plants and sex’, and wild arum is said to have more allusions to sex than any other plant. This is because, in Spring, it has a large pale green ‘leaf’ or bract, forming a kind of hood which protects a purple finger-like spike (the spadix) of minute flowers. This is evocative of a penis nestling in the vulva and has given rise to folk names including ‘Lords and Ladies’, Wake Robin’, ‘Cuckoo pint’, and ‘Kitty-come-down-the-lane-jump-up-and-kiss-me’. This is a Somerset name and is probably the longest vernacular name for any wildflower. It is suggestive of a clandestine meeting involving a certain amount of intimacy.
Fig. 3 ‘Lords and Ladies’, Arum maculatum, whose bract and spadix are evocative of the ‘marriage organs’
The presenter commented that some of these names are “very Thomas Hardy-like”. Indeed, we know from the parallel Thomas Hardy exhibition at Wiltshire Museum, Devizes of Hardy’s interest in folklore.
Fig. 4 From a display board at Wiltshire Museum, Devizes.
Thank you Alan. Always so fascinating. I look forward to that novel!
25 Monday Jul 2022
Posted ArchFest, Collections, Festival of Archaeology, Uncategorized, Wessex Gallery
in25 Monday Jul 2022
The weather was kind, we were joined by friends old and new – all eager to share their passion for archaeology – and the public came along.
There were families (including one that diverted on their journey from London to Wales!), visitors to Salisbury, people from overseas, famous archaeologists, budding archaeologists, little ones realising they could be archaeologists, all enjoying and having fun. Even Thomas Hardy!
Thank you – Wessex Museums, Scrapstore, Salisbury Cathedral Education, CBA Wessex, Cranborne Chase AONB, The Outside, Tim Lowe (as Thomas Hardy), Weorod, Ancient Wessex, The Bowmen (and women), Wiltshire Museum, Wessex Archaeology, NT and HE Stonehenge, Hampshire Cultural Trust, Friends of Claendon, musicians, cafe, Chris Elmer, PAS, Past Foward, Simon Cleggett, Lorraine Mepham, Phil Harding, Alice Roberts, Julian Richards, Museum Director Adrian Green and staff and Volunteers and visitors.
06 Wednesday Jul 2022
Posted ArchFest, Festival of Archaeology, Shop, Special Events, Uncategorized
inFurther to our exciting news yesterday, we are very pleased to welcome back an old friend, Dr Alice Roberts, as part of our offering during the Festival of Archaeology Weekend, 23, 24 July.
Buried: A Talk by Professor Alice Roberts followed by book-signing
Sat 23 July 2022
4pm Lecture Hall*
We are delighted to welcome special guest Professor Alice Roberts to this year’s Festival of Archaeology. Alice will be giving a talk on her new book Buried, which picks up where Ancestors left off – starting with the Romans, then the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings. Combining archaeological finds with DNA research and written history, she will shed fresh light on how people lived – by examining stories of the dead.
The talk will be followed by a book-signing. Buried is now available to purchase from the museum shop, or you can pre-order a copy when you book your event ticket via Eventbrite here,
Books are £20 each (£18 members) and will be ready for collection from the museum shop on the day.
Places limited and expected to sell out, so early booking advised.
All tickets £20
*Entry to the museum and show-ground does not include entry to this talk
06 Wednesday Jul 2022
Posted ArchFest, Collections, Festival of Archaeology, Uncategorized, Wessex Gallery
inThe Amesbury Archer: 20 Years On – Film screening followed by Q&A
Sat 23 July
1:30pm Lecture Hall
On 3 May 2002 Wessex Archaeology excavated the grave of a man dating to around 2,300BC. Discovered three miles from Stonehenge, his grave contained the richest array of items ever found from this period.
The Amesbury Archer: 20 Years On will uncover fascinating new evidence with interviews from the original excavators and important discussions of what new DNA technologies have been able to tell us in the intervening years.
Tickets are free but places are limited so pre-booking advised
To book your place visit Eventbrite here
Beyond the Stones – Film screening followed by Q&A
Sun 24 July
1:30pm Lecture Hall A new feature-length documentary celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Sites, Beyond the Stones focuses on our connection to the World Heritage Site landscape through people, communities and journeys – both now and in the past.
It explores what we can learn from more recent excavations within the Stonehenge landscape at sites like Bulford and Larkhill, with special contributions from the Wessex Archaeology experts who excavated the sites. This immersive, evocative and accessible film will be showcased as part of the Festival of Archaeology.
Tickets are free but places are limited so pre-booking advised.
To book your place visit Eventbrite here
05 Tuesday Jul 2022
Posted ArchFest, Festival of Archaeology, Uncategorized
inRemember last year?
It’s back! This year will see the museum grounds full of fun and fascinating stands from archaeology, history and living history experts, providing a packed weekend of entertainment right in the centre of Salisbury.
Listed in no particular order, the weekend includes:
Rockbourne Roman Villa ~ College of Chivalry ~ Wessex Archaeology ~ The Rifles Museum ~ English Heritage Stonehenge ~ Damian Clarke, Hurdy Gurdy Musician ~ Wiltshire Museum ~ Ancient Wessex Network ~ Companions of the Longbow ~ Cranborne Chase AONB & Chase and Chalk Landscape Partnership Scheme ~ Council for British Archaeology, Wessex ~ Scrapstore (making Amesbury Archer art!) ~ Salisbury Cathedral Education ~ Tim Lowe as ‘Thomas Hardy’ ~ Museum Cafe and much more!
And some VERY special speakers!
29 Tuesday Mar 2022
Posted ArchFest, Collections, Exhibitions, Special Events, Wessex Gallery, Wessex Partnership
inYou might be wondering if the current British Museum exhibition on Stonehenge is worth the bother. After all, you do not have to travel to see items from Salisbury Museum and the stones are just up the road. So I had mixed views on the value of my trip up to London.
I was wrong, it really is worth the effort.
Of course, it is special to see the loans from Salisbury Museum, and to take some pride in seeing Salisbury Museum clearly credited on the labels. ‘Not to mention the opportunity to engage random strangers in conversation and encourage them to make a visit to Salisbury to see more.
But the overall content of the exhibition is much more than Stonehenge. It brings together artifacts from across Britain, Ireland and Europe and links them by common theme. The famous British finds from the familiar sites of the Langdale Valley, Grimes Graves and Seahenge are represented. But there are also important and not so familiar things to discover such as the stone plaques from Portugal, bronze bird bowls from Denmark and amazing gold hats from Germany and France.
Give yourself plenty of time, there is lots to see. There is some level of chronology in the layout but there is no need to join the crowd and wearily shuffle the given route. Heading for the end and going backwards or taking it by theme worked for me. Also, there is a lot of information in the labelling, so, to avoid being huddled up with the “label-log-jam”, download them onto your phone beforehand from the British Museum website.
The exhibition runs until 17th July 2022.
Thank you Gillian! We will try spotting The Salisbury Museum’s items which some Volunteers know so well.
Please note: Members have recently received an email with a discount code for 25% off on The World of Stonehenge exhibition tickets at The British Museum. Welcome letters to new Members will also include the promo code, so feel free to mention to prospective Members that Membership currently includes discounted tickets to The World of Stonehenge.