In this online talk Ruby Vitorino will discuss the rich history and hauntings of the ‘iconic’ Haunch of Venison English pub.
The Haunch of Venison, Salisbury, is an English pub where the over-used adjective ‘iconic’ is truly justified as a description.
It has stood for centuries in the heart of Salisbury, opposite the Poultry Cross, on the edge of the city’s chartered market, and neighbouring the graveyard of St Thomas’s Church. Its stuccoed front, sandwiched between two black and white beamed buildings, and its Edwardian pewter-topped bar, are familiar from engraving paintings and photographs from over the years.
But how many people know its history? From whom was the building erected? Who owned it? Who lived there? Who worked there? And who drank there? This book can certainly answer some of these questions.
What happened to the real severed hand? Did Churchill visit the pub? who were some of the celebrities who have frequently visited over the years? And do ghosts really exist? Whilst we can’t know for sure, Ruby has included many eye witness accounts from customers and staff of the Haunch of Venison who are now certain they can!
This is the first talk Ruby has done since her book ‘The Haunch of Venison, Salisbury: an A-Z History’ launched.
This is a fundraising talk for Salisbury Museum (registered charity no 289850)£9 Members; £12 Non-members
From the purchase of Fonthill in Wiltshire by William Beckford in 1744 to the death of his son in Bath 100 years later.
The social advancements and retreats of the Beckford family relied upon the profits of transatlantic slavery. This talk will explore the extensive collecting and architectural creations of the Beckfords, and highlight how they were made possible by a vast fortune built from the stolen labour of thousands of enslaved Africans.
Dr Amy Frost is an expert on the life and work of William Beckford and the curator of Beckford’s Tower in Bath.
If we are going to be snowed in next week, here are some suggestions for on-line education and enjoyment…
On 13 March 1961 the trial opened at the Old Bailey of the five people arrested for their involvement in the Portland Spy Ring. The case provoked a sensation among the public, with fears springing up of ‘Reds under the bed’. Three Soviet agents were involved who, being ‘illegals’, had no diplomatic immunity and received hefty prison sentences.
On 13 March 2023 David Charnick’s tour ‘Dangerous Secrets‘ begins at the site of the first arrests, by the Old Vic Theatre. From there we visit sites connected with other stories involving assassination, subversion, moles – and another spy ring! The tour is scheduled as a walking tour at 2:30 and as a virtual tour at 9:30. If you can’t make that date, both are being repeated on Saturday 18 March at the same times.
Go here to see what else is on-line – including Shakespeare’s Bankside and Dickens’ Highgate.
And if we can get out and about, we could go over to Bemerton…
And from our friends at Wiltshire Museum, Devizes…
NEW ONLINE LECTURE – William Gowland: Japanese megalithic tombs and Stonehenge, by Prof Simon Kaner
This talk will reassess Gowland’s contribution to archaeology in both England and Japan, setting it in the context of Gowland’s time.
Date: Thursday 30 March 7.30 pm (online) Location: Online via Zoom – the link will be sent on the day pf the lecture Tickets: £7.50 per screen (WANHS members £4.50; Students (using an ac.uk address) £2.50).
The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies
The School of Family History
On-line courses open to everyone.
4 April Tue 7pm The Battle of Agincourt and it’s Heraldry with Professor Anne Curry
19 April Wed 10am Palaeography Level 1 with Caroline Adams
3 May Wed 10am Palaeography Level 2 with Caroline Adams
17 May Wed 10am Palaeography Level 3 with Caroline Adams
31 May Wed 10am Palaeography Level 4 with Caroline Adams
5 June Mon 12pm Sex, illegitimacy and cohabitation, 1700-1960s with Rebecca Probert
Gill Leach joined this course (11 Feb):
“I am working on creating a family photo archive and so signed up for this course. It was excellent. Very well presented and with lots of useful downloads so you did not have to take notes. The presenter is going to write a book on the topic and I will certainly be watching out for publication. There is also going to be an in depth 6 week course later in the year. I would recommend this to anyone interested in creating a photo archive for their family. It will cover the basics and is also full of very helpful tips for those of us who spend far too much time learning by our mistakes!”
Thank you Gill. I, too, have found the IHGS courses excellent. ‘Well worth keeping track of what is coming up.
The Bletchley Park Roll of Honour lists all those believed to have worked in signals intelligence during World War Two, at Bletchley Park and other locations.
As no single list of the personnel of Bletchley Park and its outstations was ever produced, the Roll of Honour has been compiled from information in official sources, publications and, most importantly, that provided by the veterans themselves, their former colleagues and families.
… delves into the psychology of collecting things by dissecting Sigmund Freud’s own collecting passions
From February 25 to July 16 2023.
The objects that people collect sometimes seem to have an energy and life of their own – especially when seen through the eyes of their former owners, but the psychology of collecting becomes all the more fascinating in this instance. This is Sigmund Freud’s individual microcosm.
The treasured antiquities, ornaments, pictures and books which surrounded the father of psychoanalysis as he analysed his patients in London and Vienna, are at the centre of an investigative new exhibition in his Hampstead home. Freud’s Antiquity examines the densely packed displays in his study and explores the layers of meaning, power and significance attached to each object and the reasons why they were of crucial importance to this compulsive collector.
The Freud family came to England as refugees, having escaped Austria following the Nazi annexation in March 1938, and they were fortunate to be able to bring all of their belongings to London.
At the heart of the Freud Museum in the elegant Hampstead house is his study, a wonderfully evocative space, which contains his famous psychoanalytic couch and is the room in which Freud died. Freud worked and saw patients here, surrounded by thousands of antiquities which he sought out and collected .
In his work, Freud repeatedly brought together psychoanalysis and archaeology, viewing psychoanalysts searching for forgotten memories and fantasies as archaeologists digging into the soil for artefacts. Freudian psychologists have since conjectured that collecting is a way of imposing order on the world, so we can only imagine the sense of wellbeing Freud garnered from his personal collection as a Jewish refugee in the last year of his life.
But where did this compulsion really stem from? Was it rooted in childhood? Or was it simply a stress reducer that allowed him to focus on something other than the inner workings of the human psyche?
Freud’s Antiquity is at the Freud Museum at 20 Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead, the final home of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and his daughter Anna Freud (1895-1982), the pioneering child psychoanalyst.
The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies
The School of Family History
On-line courses open to everyone. See link below.
22 Feb Wed 12pm Local History for Family History with Joe Saunders
4 April Tue 7pm The Battle of Agincourt and it’s Heraldry with Professor Anne Curry
19 April Wed 10am Palaeography Level 1 with Caroline Adams
3 May Wed 10am Palaeography Level 2 with Caroline Adams
17 May Wed 10am Palaeography Level 3 with Caroline Adams
31 May Wed 10am Palaeography Level 4 with Caroline Adams
5 June Mon 12pm Sex, illegitimacy and cohabitation, 1700-1960s with Rebecca Probert
Our online tutorials provide guidance on a broad range of topics.
Opportunities presented by the changing commercial character of Salisbury in the nineteenth century were exploited by single women, by widows and by married women, working on their own or in family enterprises.
Retail trades, hospitality and other service industries were the main locations of their contribution as producers and suppliers. This online talk will introduce some examples of women who were active participants, despite the Victorian ideal that men should support their wives and families.
Jane Howells’ special interest is ‘local women’s history’, which is the subject of her PhD thesis (2007) and many conference papers, articles, and talks. She is a member of the steering committee of West of England & South Wales Women’s History Network; and has been the editor of the British Association for Local History News for many years.
“Just to let you know that the next talk in our series, Nigel Rothwell and Dr. Ed Peveler, Reinterpreting Roman Roads in the Chilterns; insights from lidar data, on Thursday 26th January, is now open for booking. This follows closely the similarly themed well attended successful talk this week by Dr. Chris Smart on Devon and Cornwall that will soon be available on our catch up YouTube channel. This talk, like all we promote, has no fee and is open to all, please pass the link on to any others who may be interested in this subject or RR’s in general.
Thornton-le-Street History Group are holding a talk by the renowned Prof. Richard Hingley, The Conquest of Central Britain and the Nature of the Main Roads on Thursday 19th January that sounds very relevant. You can book your place through Eventbrite.”
Description: Re-live the horrors and extent of damage to the City of London during the London Blitz in 1940-41. We will look at contemporary bomb damage maps and discover what was rescued, revealed, restored or even rebuilt after the war making a much more spacious city.
Virtual Tour – unbuilt buildings Monday 16 January 8pm
Getting Around Latin! Zoom Tutorials with Dr Caroline Adams
You do not need any Latin for our Getting Round Latin series of Tutorials. Indeed, they will show you how to extract the necessary genealogical information from documents without understanding how to read Latin.
Each Tutorial stands alone or you can build your knowledge through the series:
Getting Round Latin Documents 1: Title Deeds and Dating Thursday 19th January 10am
Getting Round Latin Documents 2: Manorial and Ecclesiastical Court Documents Thursday 2nd February 10am
Getting Round Latin Documents 3: Accounts and Money, Surveys and Measurements Thursday 16th February 10am
Dr. Caroline Adams has a professional archives qualification and is a registered member of the Archives and Records Association. She was Senior Archivist at West Sussex Record Office, and is now a freelance archivist, palaeographer and historian.
Caroline’s series of Palaeography Tutorials also begins in May.
Tracing the History of Your House Saturday, 7 January, 2-3pm In this talk, Dr. Nick Barratt explores the range of sources available to help you trace the history of your house, or a property that your ancestor once owned or lived in, as well as a structured research methodology and sequential approach.Whilst many of the records may be familiar, there are some unique documents as well which can help you add context to the way your ancestors used to live in their homes. With Dr. Nick Barratt, cost £10 / £6.50 SoG Members.
There are many more excellent courses and one-off online events on the SoG website, including: