LUDLOW LECTURES
History and Landscape of Ludlow and the Marches
The Ludlow Lectures have recommenced in Ludlow Assembly Rooms, Market Square Ludlow SY8 1AZ, following extensive refurbishment and modernisation.
Each lecture starts at 10.00am and finishes at 12.00, with a coffee break in the middle. (Coffee may be ordered before the lecture, at the Bar.)
The programme for Spring 2025 is as follows:
Tuesday 4 February 2025
Phil Playford
Amazing Bats
Bat boxes and habitats are found widely in the Marches. Join Phil Playford as he talks about bats, their habits, habitats and life, and well as what we can do to look after them in town and countryside.
Tuesday 11 February 2025
Tim Hoverd
Excavating Snodhill
Snodhill Castle sits within the Golden Valley in Herefordshire, close to the Welsh border. Twenty years ago the castle was virtually unknown and forgotten. Now ‘rescued’ by the Snodhill Castle Preservation Trust and Historic England, recent fieldwork has shown that it was one of the most unusual and largest castles in the Welsh Marches and is the only non-royal castle to have a Royal, Free Chapel, or ‘Royal Peculiar’. Its complex and fascinating story will be told by lead archaeologist, Tim Hoverd.
Tuesday 18 February 2025
Hugh Wood
The Palmers’ Guild
For 300 years the Palmers’ Guild was at the heart of Ludlow life. It offered to ease its members’ passage through purgatory but, unlike other religious guilds, it was open and accessible to all. At its height it had over 5000 members ranging from Richard, Duke of York right through to rural villagers in mid-Wales who could only afford a few pence a year. The story of this highly successful guild will be told by local historian Hugh Wood.
Tuesday 25 February 2025
James Nason
Restoring Pitchford Hall
Pitchford Hall is one of the most dramatic looking timber framed buildings in Shropshire and has the oldest tree house in the world in its grounds. It isn’t just the building that has an interesting story though. Sold in 1992 by the Colthurst family, it was bought back in 2016 by Rowena Colthurst and her husband James Nason and is their ongoing restoration/conservation project. He will share some of the family story and adventures in this magnificent building. A must for anyone with an old house in mind!
Tuesday 4 March 2025
Angela Eaton
Women of Hereford
A presentation spanning a millennium of women who have shaped the history, society and culture of Herefordshire and beyond, from Aethelflaed to more recent times. Angela Eaton is a member of the Hereford Guild of Mayors Guides.
Tuesday 11 March 2025
Colin Richards
Conserving Ludlow's Town Walls - a journey involving traders of the lost arts and crafts.
Anyone exploring Ludlow will find that, hidden at the end of gardens, embedded in buildings and occasionally standing in isolation are the remains of the medieval walls that once surrounded the town and helped to make it what it is today. Now in need of restoration and preservation, Colin Richards, Chair of the Town Walls Trust will share a history of the walls and the Trust’s plans for the future.
For further information please contact:
Amana Winchester
Telephone 07545 257 847
or
E-mail: AmanaWinchester@gmail.com
If you would like to attend these lectures:
1) Please pay £25 by BACS for all 6 lectures.
Sort code: 20-53-22 Account number: 63901157 Ludlow Lectures
Please include your name as the reference so we know who has paid and email me (Amana) so I can look for your name on the bank statement.
2) Or let Amana have a cheque made payable to Ludlow Lectures - £25 per person.
3) Individual lectures are £5 per person and you are welcome to pay in cash on the door.