Illustrated on-line talks and face-to-face lectures at Discover Bucks Museum.
You can register for the next lecture using the link in the Lecture description below
See also the Thursday evening AAG programme Here
Our lectures are free but if you wish to contribute towards our running cost then you can donate Here . If you are not a BAS member, the benefits of membership and an opportunity to join online can be found Here.
Lectures are free and in normal times held one Saturday each month in the County Museum, Church Street, Aylesbury HP20 2QP starting at 2.30pm and lasting about one hour plus time for discussion. Refreshments are available after the event.
Saturday October 21st: An extended history of Long Crendon
Speaker: Julian Hunt (BAS President)
Julian has continued his studies into the early development and industrial history of Long Crendon village. Following on from the society outing to the village in August 2023, Julian will add more detail to a village that has multiple Manors and retained it medieval Court House.
Saturday November 18th: The Vernons of High Wycombe
Speaker: Jackie Kay (BAS Council member)
Jackie has been exploring the lives and surviving legacies of members of the Vernon family who were hugely influential in the development of the town of High Wycombe in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She will outline the local (and international) impact of three cousins: Arthur, Robert D and Walter L, were born in High Wycombe within a few years of one another in the middle of the nineteenth century but led surprisingly independent lives.
Saturday December 9th: Discovering Buckinghamshire Horse mills
Speaker: Mike Farley (BAS Vice president)
The county’s wind and watermills have received much attention, but few are aware of the existence of the more ephemeral horse mills that are first recorded here in the medieval period. Mike will describe his own research on this interesting topic and hopes that research by others will bring further examples to light.
Saturday January 13th 2024: Justice of the Peace diaries, 1689 to 1788
Speaker Roger Bettridge
Social history as it was seen in the diaries of two JPs working in south Bucks during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Saturday February 10th 2024: Curcus monuments of Buckinghamshire and the Great Ouse Valley
Speaker Dr David Saunders
Buckinghamshire’s prehistoric history; as seen through some of the county’s earliest monuments.
David updated the Active Archaeology Group with some of his latest research into Cursus monument last year. After more research he will present us with his thoughts on these enigmatic structures.
Saturday March 9th 2024: Sarsen Stone Quarrying in Southern England
Speaker Dr Katy Whitaker
Focussed on a vanished industry in Buckinghamshire and Wiltshire, as published by Katy in the journal for Post medieval archaeology. A guest of the Bucks Geological Group.
You may be familiar with sarsen stone at Stonehenge and Avebury in Wiltshire, in the form of huge boulders used to make the stone circles. But in southern England, sarsen boulders and cobbles have been used in many different ways for the past 4,500 years. This talk will cover sarsen stone geology, distribution and the archaeology of the important post-medieval industry that once flourished in Buckinghamshire.
Saturday April 13th: Pest/Plague Cottages
Speaker Alison Wall
Alison will present her studies on Medieval isolation cottages (for a recently published book) . How society handles a pandemic, ancient and modern (Covid) methods.
Details of how to obtain the book can be found Here and Alison will have some copies of the book with her at the Lecture in the Museum.
This Lecture will be presented at 14:30 in the Learning Zone at Discover Bucks Museum (Aylesbury) and will be streamed from there.
Saturday May 11th (after the AGM): Recent investigations at Grims Ditch
Speaker: Lucy Lawrence (Bucks County Arch Service)
Lucy will update us on the results of excavations by HS2 (2021/22) and further geophysics by YAC members on this extensive (but enigmatic) Chilterns monument in 2023.
The AGM will start at 14:00 and the lecture will start after the AGM (circa 14:45) all on the same Zoom session.
Register now for the online lecture Here (We will email the Zoom meeting invitation to you).