top of page

Lectures during the years 2005-09 when David Lloyd ran this programme  . . .

2005-2006 Victorian Ludlow and its Countryside

 

Lecture 1: The Victorian Age

Lecture 2: Country houses and their estates

Lecture 3: Agriculture

Lecture 4: Crafts, manufacturing and communications

Lecture 5: Ludlow in 1843

Lecture 6: Ludlow as a Market town

Lecture 7: The Borough Council

Lecture 8: The Great Lawsuit

Lecture 9: Parliamentary Representation

Lecture 10: Leisure

Lecture 11: Population and society

Lecture 12: The Church of England, Non-Conformity

Lecture 13: Education

Lecture 14: Poor law and outrelief; the Workhouse

Lecture 15: Crime and punishment

Lecture 16: The villages

Lecture 17: Ludlow in 1910

Lecture 18: Ludlow suburbs 1

Lecture 19: Ludlow suburbs 2

Lecture 20: Ludlow and the British Empire

2006-2007 Historic Towns and Cities

 

Lecture 1: Urban elements: an introduction to the course

Lecture 2: The first towns and cities

Lecture 3: Towns and cities of the classical world: Greece and Rome

Lecture 4: Roman towns in Britain

Lecture 5: The early Anglo-Saxons and their towns

Lecture 6: Later Anglo-Saxon and Danish towns

Lecture 7: The growth of towns under the Normans and afterwards

Lecture 8: The origins and early development of Ludlow, a composite town

Lecture 9: Life in medieval towns: Shrewsbury and other case studies

Lecture 10: Urban myths, legends and entertainments

Lecture 11: Renaissance cities of Europe

Lecture 12: Tudor and Stuart London, a case study

Lecture 13: Urban renaissance after 1660

Lecture 14: Urban planning, including Paris and Washington

Lecture 15: Small towns in early modern Europe

Lecture 16: Spas and seaside resorts

Lecture 17: Towns and cities of the industrial revolution

Lecture 18: Cities of the British Empire and across the world

Lecture 19: Urban problems, the Civic Gospel

Lecture 20: Towns and cities in the works of artists and writers

 

 

2007-2008 Great Houses of Shropshire

 

Lecture 1: Overview; the roles and functions of the Great Houses

Lecture 2: Houses before 1660

Lecture 3: Architectural history, 1660-1800

Lecture 4: Architectural history from 1800

Lecture 5: The gentry: the Actons of Aldenham

Lecture 6: The Great House as a power base - The Harleys of Brampton Bryan

Lecture 7: Empire and Industry - Clive of India and his descendants

Lecture 8: The Great House and the village

Lecture 9: The land around the Great House; Pairings of Country and Town Houses

Lecture 10: Leisure and pastimes

Lecture 11: Timber and Brick: the master mason from medieval to Stuart times, 1500-1689

Lecture 12: The architect from the 18th to the 20th centuries

Lecture 13: The Plan of the House and what it tells us about life styles

Lecture 14: Land around the Great House

Lecture 15: Lords of the Manor and their Ladies

Lecture 16: Life in Service

Lecture 17: Sons and Daughters of the Great House: Staying at Home and Going Forth

Lecture 18: Transport at the Great House: Horses to Cars

Lecture 19: The Rich Man in his castle, the Poor Man at his gate

Lecture 20: Challenges to the Great House tradition

 

 

2008-2009 Ludlow, the Marches, and the Wider World

 

Lecture 1: Portrait of the Marches

Lecture 2: Early days

Lecture 3: Shaping the Landscape

Lecture 4A: Medieval Life

Lecture 4B: Pilgrimage

Lecture 5A: Renaissance and Reformation

Lecture 5B: Tudor Time Line

Lecture 6A: Elizabeth and James

Lecture 6B: Council of the Marches

Lecture 7A: Civil War

Lecture 7B: Consuming passions

Lecture 8: Improvement

Lecture 9: Enlightenment

Lecture 10: Folklore

Lecture 11A: Prince Regent to Prince Consort

Lecture 11B: British Empire

Lecture 12A: The Greatness of Britain

Lecture 12B: Into the Modern World

Lecture 13: The Great War, 1914-18

Lecture 14: Flappers and filmstars

Lecture 15: Depression to Conflict

Lecture 16: Austerity to Boom

Lecture 17: the Spirit of Welshness

Lecture 18: the Sixties

Lecture 19: Wither Ludlow?

Lectures in the period 2010-17 under the title "History and Landscape of Ludlow and the Marches" . . .

2 Nov 2010 Roy Coles "Fair Ludlow Town Part 1"

 

9 Nov 2010 Michael Rosenbaum "The deep structure of Shropshire" followed by "From Continental Drift to Plate Tectonics"

 

16 Nov 2010 Michael Rosenbaum "The building blocks of Shropshire: Rocks" followed by "Building the Blocks: Shropshire's history from a geological perspective"

 

23 Nov 2010 Michael Rosenbaum "Evolution of the Shropshire landscape" followed by "Modification by ice"

 

30 Nov 2010 Margaret Clark "David Lloyd and his place amongst historians"

 

7 Dec 2010 John Nash "The history and restoration of Lane's House"

 

1 Feb 2011 Roy Coles "Fair Ludlow Town Part 2"

 

8 Feb 2011 Julia Ionides "The Ludlow Guildhall"

 

15 Feb 2011 Andrew Pike "Castles of the Marches"

 

8 Mar 2011 Jean Brown "Ludlow's Victorian History"

 

15 Mar 2011 Michael Page "Keeping Time in Ludlow"

 

22 Mar 2011 Duncan James "The Buildings of Ludlow"

 

18 Oct 2011 Shaun Ward "St Laurence's Church - Change and Decay"

 

25 Oct 2011 Caroline Magnus "The story of Stokesay Court"

 

1 Nov 2011 Colin Richards "Post-war development of Ludlow"

 

8 Nov 2011 Sylvia Watts "Almshouses of Shropshire"

 

15 Nov 2011 Olwen Hughes "Ludlow as seen through the artists eye"

 

22 Nov 2011 John Farley & Peter Carty "Tales from Wenlock Edge"

 

31 Jan 2012 Glyn Barratt "Titterstone Clee – A Hill through Time"

 

7 Feb 2012 Michael Page & Tim Booth "The Mills of Ludlow – medieval & later"

 

14 Feb 2012 Andrew Wigley "The History & Archaeology of Ludlow's Landscape"

 

28 Feb 2012 Karen & Andy Johnson (Logaston Press) "A Marches Miscellany – Impressions of its history & landscape formed while publishing Marches authors"

 

6 Mar 2012 Liz Pitman "Pigsties & Paradise (Lady Travellers in Wales 1795-1860)"

 

13 Mar 2012 Jane Allsopp "The Ludlow Road. The local landscape of A.E. Housmans poetry"

 

16 October 2012 Roy Coles "Fair Ludlow Town continued..."

 

23 October 2012 Michael Rosenbaum "Creation of the Landscape – the classic view from Whitcliffe"

 

30 October 2012

Tony Pollard "The Talbots – Shropshire Politics/Shropshire during the Wars of the Roses"

 

6 November 2012

Alf Jenkins "Industrial & Social History of the Clee Hills"

 

13 November 2012

Clive Richardson, Anne Gray & Gareth Owen "Ludlow Men in 1st World War – their stories with poems & songs"

 

20 November 2012

Jonathan Wood "Shropshire's Anglo-Saxon Churches"

 

Tuesday 5th February 2013

The railway through Ludlow

Michael Rosenbaum

 

Tuesday 12th February 2013

Thomas Telford's Shropshire Legacy/Ludlow through Time

Dorothy Nicolle

 

Tuesday 19th February 2013

Five Centuries of Mortimer Forest – Tudors to the Present

David Lovelace

 

Tuesday 26th February 2013

Constructive Conservation – the Marches Historic Environment

John Yates

 

Tuesday 5th March 2013

South Shropshire Churches since the Reformation

Tim Bridges

 

Tuesday 12th March 2013

The Story of Church Stretton

Tony Crowe

 

Tuesday 15th October 2013

The railway through Ludlow ..... and Beyond

Michael Rosenbaum

 

Tuesday 22nd October 2013

Why didn't you fight in the Great War Daddy? - South Shropshire 1914-18

Derek Beattie

 

Tuesday 29th October 2013

Recreation and Husbandry - historic deer parks in Shropshire

Sandra Morris

 

Tuesday 5th November 2013

William Foxe of Ludford - a 16thC recusant philanthropist

Jonathan Moore

 

Tuesday 12th November 2013

Civil War in the Marches

John Barratt

 

Tuesday 19th November 2013

Sex and the Single Pearl

Mike Kelly

 

Tuesday 18th February 2014

The Blue Plaques of Ludlow

John Nash

 

Tuesday 25th February 2014

Conserving the built environment around South Shropshire

Stephen Treasure

 

Tuesday 4th March 2014

Finds from the Fields;  a look at the archaeological treasures from South Shropshire and beyond

Peter Reavill

 

Tuesday 11th March 2014

Aspects of the Stiperstones

A team from the Stiperstones and Corndon Landscape Partnership

 

Tuesday 18th March 2014

The Whitsun Riots of 1605: Catholic Commotion in Herefordshire & Monmouthshire

Wendy Brogden

 

Tuesday 25th March 2014

Conserving the metaliferous mining heritage of South Shropshire

Colin Richards

 

Tuesday 21st October 2014

Shaping the Ludlow Landscape – a Ludlow Walk

Michael Rosenbaum

 

Tuesday 28th October 2014

1000 years of building with stone in Herefordshire & Worcestershire

Kate Andrew

 

Tuesday 4th November 2014

Investigating the Leominster Canal:  a virtual excursion

Gerry Calderbank

 

Tuesday 11th November 2014

Saints and Sinners:  a Ludlow perspective

Michael Tavinor

 

Tuesday 18th November 2014

Hampton Court, Herefordshire:  the ups and downs of a Border landscape

Catherine Beale

 

Tuesday 25th November 2014

Writers' Shropshire

Gorden Dickins

 

Tuesday 10th February 2015

More about Ludlow

Roy Coles

 

Tuesday 17th February 2015

Offa's Dyke

Paul Belford

 

Tuesday 24th February 2015

Berrington Hall – its History & Architecture

Frank Ryding

 

Tuesday 3rd March 2015

“I've got a bit of a Blighty One” - Stokesay Court's role as a Hospital in World War 1,

1915-1918

Caroline Magnus

 

Tuesday 10th March 2015

The Telford Giant and the Little People - a Perspective on the Development of Telford

Allan Frost

 

Tuesday 17th March 2015

The Ceramics of Ironbridge Gorge – the Development & Influence of a Shropshire

Industry

Kate Cadman

 

Tuesday 20th October 2015

The Story of Ludlow Workhouse

John Nash

 

Tuesday 27th October 2015

From Deerparks to Landscape Parks: designed landscapes of Shropshire

Sandra Morris

 

Tuesday 3rd November 2015

How the canal almost came to Ludlow

Michael Rosenbaum

 

Tuesday 10th Novemberh 2015

Photographing the Landscape & Natural World of Shropshire – a most rare vision

Mark Sisson

 

Tuesday 17th November 2015

William Penny Brooks and the Wenlock Olympian Games

Catherine Beale

 

Tuesday 24th November 2015

Traditional Shropshire Agriculture in Pictures – the past 200 years

Colin Richards

 

Tuesday 2nd February 2016

The Reader's House, Ludlow

Michael Page

 

Tuesday 9th February 2016

Medieval New Towms of  the Welsh Marches and their Surprising Context

Peter Cornah

 

Tuesday 16th February 2016

The Singular Stiperstones – Landscape, Literature and History

Tom Wall

 

Tuesday 23rd February 2016

The Ludlow Palmers' Guild

Hugh Wood

 

Tuesday 1st March 2016

“Black by day, Red by night” - an introduction to the Landscape of the Black Country – 1700-1950

David Eveleigh

 

Tuesday 8th March 2016

A Walk to the Paradise Garden:  Gardens of the Middle Marches

Jane Allsop

Tuesday 25 October 2016

How the Other Half Lived – Ludlow's Working Classes 1850-1960

Derek Beattie

 

Tuesday 1 November 2016

On the Trail of the Mortimers

Philip Hume

 

Tuesday 8 November 2016

Shropshire – A Romantic View

Gordon Dickins

 

Tuesday 15 November 2016

“They Shall Grow Not Old” - The Ludlow men who were killed in the 2nd World War (with poetry & song)

Clive Richardson

 

Tuesday 22 November 2016

Churches of Shropshire  – an Architectural Tour

Andrew Pike

 

Tuesday 29 November 2016

Woodland Past & Woodland Future - the Marches from the last glaciation to current challenges

Andrew Allott

 

Tuesday 7 February 2017

“Old Bill” of World War I & his creator Bruce Bairnsfather - the Ludlow connections

Keith Pybus

Tuesday 14 February 2017

The Story of Bishop’s Castle

David Preshous

Tuesday 21 February 2017

The discovery of Thomas Hakluyt’s houses (Ludlow) & other timber-framed buildings in the Marches

Duncan James

Tuesday 28 February 2017

Thomas Andrew Knight of Downton Castle & his contribution to horticulture

Murray Mylechreest

Tuesday 7 March 2017

Archeology & Artefacts of Ludlow

Leon Bracelin

Tuesday 14 March 2017

Sir Henry Sidney & the Ludlow Castle Heraldic Roll

Hugh Wood & Rosalind Caird

Tuesday 24 October 2017

The Silurian

Michael Rosenbaum

Tuesday 31 October 2017

Cleobury Mortimer 100 years ago and its famous soldier-author

Mark Baldwin
 

Tuesday 7 November 2017

Ancestor of Skyscrapers:  the Story of Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings

Joanna Layton    

Tuesday 14 November 2017

Dorstone Hill, Herefordshire:  a Neolithic Landscape

Keith Ray                
 

Tuesday 21 November 2017

From the “ Most Extraordinary District in the World” to a very Poor Fag End of it: Archeology at the Ironbridge Gorge    Shane Kelleher

Tuesday 28 November 2017

Ludlow’s Georgian Elegance

Jonathan Wood

Tuesday 30 January 2018

The Renaissance of Ludlow – from post-war decline to recognition as an international heritage centre
Colin Richards

Tuesday 6 February 2018
Medieval Shrewsbury and its three-dimensional archeological landscape
Nigel Baker

Tuesday 13 February 2018
A Tale of Two Rivers – the East and West Onny
David Preshous

Tuesday 20 February 2018
Hand in Glove: the Glove Industry of Ludlow, 1600-1830
Sandra Morris

Tuesday 27 February 2018
Bewdley, a Marches river port, and its connection with Prince Arthur
Richard Perrin

Tuesday 6 March 2018
Marcher Castles in Transition – from War to Peace - from Military Might to Residential Splendour 1250-1350
Neil Guy

Tuesday 9 October 2018

The Elan Valley Aqueduct - Ludlow’s biggest construction project
Michael Rosenbaum

Tuesday 16 October 2018
The Teme in Trust
Tony Bostock

Tuesday 23 October 2018
St Laurence’s Ludlow:  800 years of change
Shaun Ward

Tuesday 30 October 2018
Power & Stone - the lasting effect of ecclesiastical secular & Templar architecture on the Shropshire & Herefordshire landscape
Geoffrey Adams

Tuesday 6 November 2018
The Broad Gate and Ludlow’s defences
Michael Page

Tuesday 13 November 2018
Remembrance - internationally, nationally and locally
Clive Richardson

Tuesday 22 October 2019

Changing Leisure Patterns in Ludlow, 1850-1950

Derek Beattie

Tuesday 29 October 2019
Croft Castle’s Fishpool Valley.  Excavations & Investigations - 2017 to 2019

Stephen Wass

Tuesday 5 November 2019
The Sword & the Ring: how the Mortimers of Wigmore acquired control of the Central Marches

Philip Hume

Tuesday 12 November 2019
Late Medieval Woodwork in St Laurence’s Church

Peter White

Tuesday 19 November 2019
Exploring the Place-Names of Southern Shropshire

John Baker and Jayne Carroll

Tuesday 26 November 2019
Walking the Pipe: the Elan Valley Aqueduct in words and song

Kate Green and Michael Rosenbaum accompanied by musicians Faith Brackenbury and John Neilson

Tuesday 4 February 2020

The Knights of Downton Castle.  In pursuit of their passions 1700-1850.

Barney Rolf-Smith
 

Tuesday 11 February 2020

Mineral, Vegetable and Animal - the making of the Marches Landscapes

Andrew Allott

 

Tuesday 18 February 2020

Rediscovering elusive mammals of the Marches

Stuart Edmonds

 

Tuesday 25 February 2020

Ludlow Memories - Life & Times of a Market Town. Photographs from Victorian Era to modern times.

Colin Richards

 

Tuesday 3 March 2020

Pitchford Hall:  “The most splendid black-and-white Building in Shropshire” (Pevsner)

Duncan James

 

Tuesday 10 March 2020

The Welsh Invasions of Shropshire in the 12th and 13th centuries

David Stephenson

Tuesday 26 October 2021

Rescuing ruins in the Marches - the work of the Landmark Trust

Alastair Dick-Cleland

Tuesday 2 November 2021

The Ludlow middle classes at play, 1800-1950

Derek Beattie

Tuesday 9 November 2021

Who were the Knights Templar? The beginning and end of a religious fighting order, and their presence in the Southern Marches

Gil McHattie

Tuesday 16 November 2021

Recent research into Ribbesford House, Bewdley. Its role in the Marches and the power of the Mortimers

Tim Cornah

Tuesday 23 November 2021

“The King’s Writ does not run here.” The Welsh Marcher Lordships

Philip Hume

Tuesday 30 November 2021

The Angel Roof in St. Laurence’s Church, Ludlow, in relation to others in the Marches

Robert Walker

Tuesday 1 February 2022

Decorative Ludlow - a journey through time, looking at the Ornamentation on Buildings                                        Colin Richards

Tuesday 8 February 2022

Stepping Stones in the Landscape - Recovering Nature in the Shropshire Hills

Peter Carty

Tuesday 15 February 2022

Kilpeck Church and Herefordshire Romanesque Architecture

Brian Anderson

Tuesday 22 February 2022

The story of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) in Shropshire and Herefordshire

Bernard 0’Connor

Tuesday 1 March 2022

Recent  excavations, survey and repair work at Nordy Bank Hill Fort, Clee Liberty
Matt White, Chris Matthews

Tuesday 8 March 2022

The Broad Gate (Ludlow) from the early 1700s to today

Valerie Thomas

Tuesday 25 October 2022
Mortimer Forest: Its History, Industries & Wildlife
Alan Reid & Colin Richards

Tuesday 1 November 2022
"A Mortimer! A Mortimer!” The Mortimers in battle
Philip Hume

Tuesday 8 November 2022
Downton Gorge: That Matchless Valley
Tom Wall

Tuesday 15 November 2022
Archaeology of the early steam engines in Ironbridge Gorge
Michael Nevell

Tuesday 22 November 2022
The Medieval Stained Glass at Ludlow in the context of the Marches
Robert Walker

Tuesday 29 November 2022
Ludlow Castle: its History and Archaeology
Leon Bracelin

Tuesday 31 January 2023

The Making of the Shropshire Landscape; how interpretations (or things) have changed since 1972

Trevor Rowley
 

Tuesday 7 February 2023

The Shropshire Museums’ Geology collection: how it evolved and why does it matter?

Michael Rosenbaum
                                                                                                                          
Tuesday 14 February 2023

Sir John Oldcastle of Herefordshire:  the origins of Falstaff

Andrew Johnson
      
Tuesday 21 February 2023

Leper Hospital to Gentry Mansion: Ludford House, the building & its place in Ludlow History

Duncan James

Tuesday 28 February 2023

Archery and Archers in the Marches, from Robin Hood to the Archers of Teme

Mark North

Tuesday 7 March 
2023

Wildlife and Wonder from the landscape of the Shropshire Borders

Andrew Fusek Peters

Tuesday 24 October 2023
The Atlantic Salmon in the River Severn & its tributaries, including the Teme
Chris Bainger

Tuesday 31 October 2023
Oswestry, the forgotten castle! Its importance in the Northern Welsh Mar
ch
Roger Cooper

Tuesday 7 November 2023
Treasure Tales & Hidden Hoards: the Herefordshire Viking Hoard
Peter Reavill

Tuesday 14 November 2023
Industrial Ludlow - an historical walk around Lower Corve Street
Mike Beazley  

Tuesday 21 November 2023
It’s the Mortimers wot won it:  the Wars of the Roses, the Mortimers & Ludlow
Philip Hume

Tuesday 28 November 2023
On the fringes or at the heart of it? The Roman period in the Central Marches
Roger White

Tuesday 30 January 2024
The Impact of the Norman Conquest on the Welsh Marches
Trevor Rowley            

Tuesday 6 February 2024
The Iron Industry in Shropshire
Richard Hayman
          
Tuesday 13 February 2024
Stories of Hop Growing in the Marches
Marsha O'Mahony
          
Tuesday 20 February 2024
Caring for Landscapes and Wildlife in Herefordshire
Iain Carter
          
Tuesday 27 February 2024
Ludlow's Timber Framed Buildings: What makes them so special
Duncan James
          
Tuesday 5 March 2024
Shropshire and Romanticism
Gordon Dickens

Tuesday 15 October 2024

Mrs Lybbe Powys, an 18th century tourist, and her visit to Ludlow in 1771

Mrs Lybbe Powys, an indomitable lady tourist, travelled through the country in the later eighteenth century, keeping a detailed record of her observations.  This talk first places her in the context of early tourism, showing how and why she travelled, and then describes her visit to Ludlow in 1771.  Valerie is the author of ‘The Broad Gate’.
Valerie Thomas

 

Tuesday 22 October 2024

The Story of Ludlow Workhouse

Based on the book by Derek WilliamsJohn’s talk will trace the history of its arrival in Ludlow, how it operated and developed and concludes with the personal memories of a local resident who visited the workhouse as a child.

John Nash

 

Tuesday 29 October 2024

Mothers-in-War: The Women of the Wars of the Roses

Accounts of the Wars of the Roses are dominated by men – kings and kingmakers, traitors and tyrants. But they were equally shaped by women, driving the action and risking their lives to secure the throne for their sons. From Ludlow’s own Cecily Neville, matriarch of House York, to Margaret Beaufort, mother of the Tudor dynasty, acclaimed local author Annie traces the risks they took and the prices they paid.

Annie Garthwaite

 

Tuesday 5 November 2024

All the Wide Border - a Marcher Legacy

An exploration of the persistence of the Marcher identity, 500 years since its official abolition.  Mike is the author of All the Wide Border: Wales, England and the Places Between, named by Waterstones as one of the best ten travel books of the year.

Mike Parker

 

Tuesday 12 November 2024

Excavations, Survey and Research at Shrewsbury Castle

An archaeologist-free zone until the summer of 2019, Nigel has led the excavations and surveys that have taken place over the last 5 years at Shrewsbury Castle, as well as taking a fresh look at the historical evidence. The result has been a transformation of our understanding of the site - how the castle was first built, what happened to the parts of it that are no longer visible and, crucially, what was there before.

Nigel Baker

 

Tuesday 19 November 2024

The Pre-Reformation Religious Houses of Ludlow

Local historian and town guide Mike, leads this virtual pilgrimage around the pre-Reformation religious houses in Ludlow, from late Anglo-Saxon times to the dissolution of the religious guilds in 1552.

Mike Beazley

bottom of page