What’s On?Events on Cranborne ChaseCharacters of the Chase – Performance Evening 📅 Wednesday 1st May⏰ 7:00 – 10:00pm 📍 Ancient Technology Centre, Cranborne🪙 FREE ENTRY (Booking Required) Join us, for a very special evening where historical characters of Cranborne Chase will come to life in a performance at the atmospheric Ancient Technology Centre. Book Here
The Chase & Chalke resident artists are currently sharing the wonders and stories of Cranborne Chase National Landscape in a special exhibition supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
⏰During Salisbury Library opening times
📅 30th March – 11th May
📍 The Young Gallery, Market Walk, Salisbury
🪙 FREE ENTRY
Dive into Dorset’s rebellious past at the Museum of East Dorset’s new exhibition, “Rebellion and Revolt.” Explore the tough choices locals faced during the English Civil War and Monmouth Rebellion. Go beyond battles – delve into the moral dilemmas that divided families and friends. The exhibition opens April 27th and runs until October 12th. Don’t miss this chance to see history come alive!
Behind the Scenes Tour: Saturday 3rd February 2.30pm.
🔍Following last year’s sell-out Behind the Scenes Tours, we are now running the tours on the first Saturday of every month, starting at 2.30pm.🔎
Led by the museum Director or another member of the team, this 90-minute tour is a unique opportunity to explore areas of the museum not seen by the public and view some of the many fascinating items in hidden away in the King’s House. Limited to 10 places, pre-booking advised.
Please see our website for more information & booking. £12 Members; £15 Non-members Pre-booking essential – book here
Potential WW2 Archaeological Sites Discovered Volunteers on the Champion’s of the Past project have discovered many interesting features during their work using the Cranborne Chase LiDAR Portal, which shows super detailed scans of the landscape, and can show up previously unknown archaeological structures and formations.
The below image shows features that volunteers think were dug around 1940. These were possibly anti-landing pits – dug with the intention of preventing the landing of enemy aircraft. These were usually dug in a rough grid formation. On the image, you can see the pits as rows of ‘dots’ between the roads, covering the area. What do you think they could be??
The below image shows an early field system of banks and ditches, situated near the village of Chettle. These aerial images and LiDAR visualisations show how farming was organised in by-gone eras, and possibly inspire surveys for settlements or evidence in the field.
Volunteers have identified a whopping 1000+ new potential archaeological sites so far while using the LiDAR Portal, but there is plenty more to be found and discussed.
If you’re interested in finding out more, why not have a closer look by visiting the portal here:
The portal is free to use, and features training modules if you get stuck understanding the visualisations.
You’ll be able to join our other volunteers and explore the archaeology of the area from your home, and discover amazing buried secrets using this wonderful resource!
You can read more on our Volunteer Hub or email us at chaseandchalke@cranbornechase.org.uk
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In 2023 The Chase & Chalke team launched the Creative Writing Competition, and over 80 of you responded to the theme ‘Cranborne Chase: A Sense of Place’ with an amazing range of entries. From short poems, to long form pieces.
We’ve learnt so much over the course of the competition.
Our wonderful panel of expert judges took to the task of delving into your wonderful words, and selecting the pieces that they felt best represented the response to the theme. Thank you to all entrants to the competition!
Chalke History Festival has a brand new website, name and branding for 2024. Visit the new website and take a look.
James May, The Rest is History’s Tom Holland & Dominic Sandbrook, Max Hastings & Bettany Hughes are just some of the big names already scheduled to appear.
On this specially-priced 3-week evening course, Mia Bennett will help us uncover the basics of DNA testing for genealogy & how to make best use of it: Demystifying DNA TestsTest Taken, Now What?Starting to Use Your DNA Results in Family History
With Mia Bennett cost £30 / £19.50 SoG Members
NEW LECTURE: The Hunt for Stourton Castle An afternoon lecture at Wiltshire Museum, by Martin Papworth
In July this year, following clues from historic maps and geophysical survey, National Trust archaeologist Martin Papworth with a team of volunteers, excavated a group of trenches in the parkland in front of Stourhead House. Would Stourton Castle be revealed in the 10 days available? Despite all the earlier research; success was not guaranteed.
This talk will provide the background to the search for Stourton Castle and then consider what the archaeological trenches eventually revealed.
Date: Saturday 25 November Time: Start 2.30 pm Location: Wiltshire Museum (we are not able to make this a ‘hybrid’ event) Tickets: £8 (£5 WANHS members; £5 students) – booking essential.
For more information and to book online – click the link below.
ONLINE LECTURE – from the Victoria County History:
Francis Kilvert and tales of Langley Burrell, by Dr Louise Ryland-Epton, Contributing Editor, Wiltshire VCH
A talk combining Kilvert’s anecdotes with historical research and photographs , including tales of murder, ghosts, melting butter and the dog which hung itself!
Date:Wednesday 8 November, 7.30 pm Location: Online via Zoom. The link will be sent on the day of the lecture. Tickets: £10 per screen. All revenue from these talks goes to the Victoria County History.
NEW A one-day conference highlighting the industrial heritage of Wiltshire.
Talks include:
Building Georgian Chippenham – architects, builders and materials, by Mike Stone (previously scheduled for 2022)
Iron stone and Steam: Brunel’s Railway Kingdom, by Tim Bryan, Director of the Brunel Institute
Bath in the 1970s: Industrial Heritage, Environmental Conservation and Festivals, by Stuart Burroughs, Director of the Bath at Work Museum
Restoring the Wilts and Berks Canal, by John Farrow
Taking to the road in Georgian Wiltshire, by John Chandler
Date: Saturday 21 October 2023 Times: 10am to 4.30pm Venue: Devizes Town Hall, SN10 1BZ Tickets: £15 (£13 WANHS members) – held at the 2022 rate. Lunch not included
New Archaeological Finds in BowerchalkeVolunteers on the Champions of the Past project discover evidence of ancient settlement spanning thousands of years during a field survey.
We have had some fantastic new findings as part of the Champions of the Past project. Earlier this month a small band of volunteers made a site visit to a possible new enclosure site in Bowerchalke in response to some interesting results from our new Cranborne Chase LiDAR Portal.
The team visited the site to locate and measure any surface evidence of the possible archaeology beneath the ground. While they were there, the team also carried out a fieldwalking survey of an adjacent field. The team were pleased to discover some pieces as they searched. Roy, one of our brilliant volunteers, carried out the washing of the finds, and conducted a summary identification. Because of his work, we know that the finds represent evidence of more than two millennia of evidence of nearby human habitation. The finds include pieces of early ceramics, metal slag, flint, and Victorian to 20thC pottery. We’ll be revisiting the site early next month to carry out a geophysical survey of the site to start mapping the archaeology and find out even more about what lies beneath this otherwise anonymous field of grass pasture in the Chalke Valley.
Interested to join the hunt? We’re always looking for more team members so why not get involved with the Champions of the Pastproject today?
Join us for a unique, family-friendly living history event with combat displays and activities, all set in the beautiful village of Rockbourne. Following on from last year’s successful 80th anniversary event, Rockbourne Rediscovered, Rockbourne will be invaded again this August by some of the best period living history groups in the area. Expect displays and demonstrations spanning the Iron Age, Romans, Gladiators and Saxons, plus lots of craft and making activities for children, including decorating your own shield, all included in the ticket price! Come face-to-face with Saxon warriors and Roman soldiers, and learn more about the site’s Iron Age past. There will also be the chance to take a tour of the villa and archaeological site with an archaeologist. Book here
SALISBURY CATHEDRAL
Baroness Hale: A Lecture on the Legacy of Magna Carta Wednesday 9 August
19:15 Academic lawyer, law reformer and judge, Baroness Hale of Richmond joins us on the 9 August for a lecture on the legacy of Magna Carta. Baroness Hale made headlines in 2019 as the head of the Supreme Court who ruled the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson acted unlawfully when he advised the Queen to suspend Parliament. The spider brooch she wore on that fateful day became one of the most famous accessories in recent history, providing a topical title for her 2021 memoir, Spider Woman: A Life. Tickets are £10 (student tickets £5). Go here for more and to book.
SOCIETY OF GENEAOLOGISTS
Like to plan ahead? Browse our events in chronological order by clicking HERE
CCAONB
Cranborne Chase AONB and Chase & Chalke team to attend Chalke Valley History Festival 2023 We’re delighted to confirm that once again we will be attending CVHF with our large marquee again this year. The Festival runs from the 26th June – 2 July. If you are planning to attend, then why not find us and say hello!
From MUSEUM CRUSH
Sir Brian May’s extensive collection of Victorian stereoscopic images goes on show in a major exhibition at Watts Gallery
Queen guitarist Brian May is renowned for his extracurricular interests, including astrophysics and the environment. But long before both axe wielding – and possibly even star gazing – came a burgeoning interest in stereoscopy, the 19th-century photography craze that enabled pictures to appear in 3D.
And it was all down to breakfast cereal. The 1960s and 1970s were the heyday of cereal box gifts and when the 12-year-old Brian sat down at the breakfast table for his Weetabix, he found a free stereoscopic card which pictured a pair of hippos.
The Weetabix packet bore the instruction: “Send One and Sixpence and a packet top, and we will send you a Vistascreen viewer, so you can see your cards in magnificent 3-D realism.” Brian sent off for the viewer, was captivated by the result, and so began a lifelong passion that resulted in one of the largest archives of stereoscopic images in the world.
Totalling over 200,000 photographs, including the Weetabix hippos, the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy, as the collection is now called, became a charitable incorporated organisation in 2022 and today employs two curators who care for the mostly Victorian and Edwardian photos on metal, glass and paper, as well as little more than 500 stereoscopic viewers of all shapes and sizes from the 1850s to the 1970s.
Stereoscopic photographs comprise two images of the same scene taken from slightly different viewpoints. When these are mounted side by side and viewed through a stereoscope, the observer sees just one three-dimensional image.
Much like the 3D experiences we enjoy today, the experience of seeing these pictures fuse into one and having the chance to virtually transport oneself into another place, would have been a truly thrilling experience for Victorian viewers. Stereoscopic photographs eventually became affordable, and in the late 1850s and 1860s they circulated world-wide in their tens of thousands.
Sir Brian’s collection of these pioneering photographs is today widely used in articles, academic papers, books, exhibitions, in-person and online talks, as well as on social media, making it one of the most talked and written about set of images in any similar archive.
Mostly centred on British and French early photographs it has recently been extended to include thousands of American stereo cards from the turn of the twentieth century. Several different private collections have also been lately added to the archive which now holds a record 530 stereoscopic daguerreotypes.
This being the Watts Gallery, the attention here is firmly on the Victorian hey-day of stereoscopy, with the highly interactive exhibition exploring the wide breadth of subject matter found in the collection, from celebrity portraits to snapshots of Victorian life and travel. Stereoscopic photographs and paintings from Watts Gallery Trust’s own collection also feature among the loaned works.
Presented thematically, the exhibition introduces the collection and the medium via the first images collected by Sir Brian (including the Weetabix hippos and the Vistascreen viewer) together with examples of the earliest viewing devices and photographs of Victorians at home, sharing and viewing their own collections of images.
“Stereoscopy was the precursor for today’s virtual reality and digital 3D experiences,” says Lead Curator Dr Emily Burns. “Many visitors to the Victorian Virtual Reality exhibition will be familiar with using View-Masters or watching films in 3D, but perhaps not so many will know that this fascination for making the 2D appear in more realistic relief has its origins in a Victorian craze that began over a century ago.
“Stereoscopy was a wildly popular and democratic technology and artform, allowing anyone who could buy or borrow a viewer and cards to encounter celebrities, transport themselves to far-flung places, feel closer to rare works of art and be entertained by theatrical tableaux.” Rebecca Sharpe and Denis Pellerin, who are co-curators of both the Brian May Archive of Stereoscopy, hope visitors will “enjoy travelling back in time and immersing themselves into the world and lives of our nineteenth-century counterparts”.
“By identifying key themes we will highlight the extraordinary breadth and depth of Sir Brian May’s collection which now totals over 200,000 photographs.”
Victorian Virtual Reality: Photographs from the Brian May archive of Stereoscopy is at Watts Gallery Artists Village from July 4 2023 – February 25 2024.
Long-term readers may remember Volunteer Alan Crooks’ Blog item on the same topic several years ago, and of course the stereoscope set up in The Salisbury Museum until recently for visitors to enjoy.
Cranborne Chase LIDAR Portal has launched – what will you discover?
We’re thrilled to be able to let you know that the Cranborne Chase LiDAR Portal has been launched. If you have an interest in archaeology and if you’ve ever wondered what those humps and bumps in the landscape could be, now you can explore this fascinating new website and see for yourself. Click here to explore the new Cranborne Chase LIDAR Portal website where you can create and account. From here you can access training material design to get you identifying new archaeological features with the portal. You can also explore historic maps, aerial images, and even see where all the currently known archaeological features are.
We’ve created this video to explain how the process works, from training to accessing the porta: Watch the intro video on youtube here We really value all of your input in exploring the archaeology of the Chase & Chalke landscape so please don’t forget to register on the Chase & Chalke Volunteer Hub here and log your volunteer hours using the new Portal under ‘Cranborne Chase LiDAR Portal’. You can learn more about the Champions of the Past project on our website:
Dark Ages Weekend at the Ancient Technology Centre on 30 & 31 July Visit the spectacular Ancient Technology Centre and explore hands-on living history. Meet the Saxon Forager, see living history displays & demonstrations, try our scrummy tea and homemade cake, try wool washing, daubing, breadmaking, pole lathing, blacksmithing or just sit down and enjoy some storytelling… Adults £10, Children £5, under-4s free.Tickets available on the gate and via Eventbrite. Family tickets available £30 for two adults and up to five children.
There are some great events including street parties and beacon lighting happening across Cranborne Chase including the BIG Jubilee Picnic at Sixpenny Handley on Friday 3 June, a community Jubilee event in Sutton Veny on Saturday 4 June, a huge selection of events happening in Warminster, a village fun day where they’re continuing to fundraise for a new playground in Barford St Martin also on Saturday 4 June and lots more…
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Come and say hello to our Farming in Protected Landscapes team at the Chalke Valley History Festival
We look forward to seeing everyone at the Chalke Valley History Festival this year. If you want to find out more about the Farming in Protected Landscapes Programme we will have displays and some of the team will be on hand to answer any questions.
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Free Training on the Crystal Clear Ebble – register your place now
We still have a few places available for free training in Water Vole Surveying and Identifying River Plants on 31st Mayand 1st June.
The training sessions are part of the Chase & Chalke Landscape Partnership Scheme Crystal Clear Ebble project and are being delivered by our partners Wessex Rivers Trust and Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. All sessions are free with everything you need being provided, including waders for the water vole training session.
Register as a volunteer on the Chase & Chalke Volunteer and Training Hub, take your pick of these fantastic free training sessions and join us a volunteer surveyor to help us monitor the health of this beautiful chalk stream.
• Water Vole Survey Training – Wednesday 1 June Find out more about the unique importance of the River Ebble by visiting our YouTube Channel and listening to Matt and Alex from the Wessex Rivers Trust explain more about the Crystal Clear Ebble Project.
We know that many parishes have plans for events around the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend and the extra bank holiday.
There are Jubilee picnics, fancy-dress competitions, playground fundraisers, fetes and lots more happening across the AONB! We’ll let people know about your events via our social media pages so please email us with your details or complete our online form so we can also add your event to our website – or email us atinfo@cranbornechase.org.uk
A new walk around Sixpenny Handley and Woodcutts thanks to 1st Woodcutts CubsExplore the historic village of Sixpenny Handley and surrounding countryside including the Romano-British settlement at Woodcutts and the Shire Rack, an ancient county boundary that still marks the border between Dorset and Wiltshire. Find this walk on the Explore pages of our website under ‘Long Walks’ and see what else there is on offer for you try this Spring and Summer. This walk was created thanks to the leaders at 1st Woodcutts Cubs and forms part of the Chase & Chalke Ancient Ways project. The leaders also took part in our Heritage Schools Cluster training, provided by Historic England, and used their experience to research and design this new route and guide with their young people. A perfect synergy of Chase & Chalke Landscape Partnership Scheme projects supporting community action.
Dark Sky Friendly Awards in Tisbury & Dinton
We’re pleased to announce that Wallmead Farm near Tisbury and Marshwood Farm Camping near Dinton have been awarded full 5-star accreditation and a Dark Sky Friendly Award.
Steve Tonkin, Dark Skies Adviser at Cranborne Chase AONB, said: “We’re delighted to give out these first awards to these very worthy recipients. They have made huge efforts to reducing artificial light at nightand installing the right lights in the right place.”If you’d like to find out how you can become one of our Dark Sky Friendly businesses, and details of how the AONB may be able to contribute to the costs through grant funding, please get in touch with Steve at stevetonkin@cranbornechase.org.uk
Director Alfred Hitchcock is an acclaimed master of suspense and still one of the most influential and recognisable personalities in cinema. Follow this virtual tour of London and discover the places and spots that were part of his life story