History

History - August Trip
Wednesday, 23rd August 2023
Grimsthorpe Castle, Bourne, Lincolnshire

Grimsthorpe Castle, built of golden limestone quarried locally, rises majestically above its sweeping parkland. In 1516 the land was presented by Henry VIII as a wedding gift to the Spanish bride (a lady in waiting to Queen Katherine of Aragon) of William, the 11th Lord Willoughby de Eresby. So some of the building dates from Tudor times, but the splendid main frontage was the last masterpiece of Sir John Vanbrugh, architect of Blenheim Palace, Castle Howard, Seaton Delaval Hall etc (and a playwright). The Castle remains in the same family, and in a series of richly decorated and furnished rooms there are many fine pictures. The house also contains one of the largest collections outside the Royal palaces of Royal thrones and furnishings. This is because the Willoughby family retain the hereditary office of Lord Great Chamberlain.

Meet at the Castle, which is located near Bourne, Lincolnshire - the postcode is PE10 0LY - at 11.00. We have booked a guided tour of the house at 1130, and expect to have completed our visit by about 2 pm.

See below for catering arrangements.

The cost is £14.00 per person (no concessions), including the guide led tour of the house. Please use the attached booking form (word Document) to book your place. We need to make our own way to the Castle, so please let Pauline May know via the form if you need a lift or are happy to give a lift, and we will do our very best to arrange a car share. The journey should take just over an hour, so to be on the safe side we would recommend leaving by about 0930.

Participants must be u3a members.

If you are interested in joining the trip, please contact Pauline May before Monday 14th August at ppc.wat@ntlworld.com or on 01509 552834 or 07455 167929.

By Richard Croft, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47714034

Catering Arrangements

This is a request and clarification from Grimsthorpe in respect of the catering available there on August 23rd. As previously mentioned you can take your own picnic and use the use the numerous picnic tables in the castle park if you wish. There is also catering laid on near the entrance to the castle (a temporary system while the castle’s own facilities are upgraded, I think). This is the "March Hare", and it operates out of a relatively small trailer van.

The choices listed by Grimsthorpe are as follows:

Tea/coffee and biscuits
Sandwiches and Toasties with various fillings
Jacket potato ditto
Soup and a roll
Soup and sandwich
Ploughman’s
Quiche and salad
Sausage Roll
Toasted tea cake and jam
Afternoon tea

You will be able to use the facility on a walk-up basis, but if you want to order food in advance you should please let Pauline know your choices by August 9th at the latest. That’s the date requested by the operators of the March Hare. As always they will want to know of any food allergies. (Pauline's contact details are given above.)

History

Activity

A group of enthusiastic members who meet on a monthly basis and who have an interest in all aspects of history. We aim to develop those varied interests through talks by our members, invitations to speakers and arranging visits to places of significant historical interest.

See below for some examples of talks and trips.

Where and When

Venue: Church Hall, Good Shepherd Church, Park Road, Loughborough, LE11 2HJ
Frequency: Monthly
Day: 4th Wednesday of the Month
Time: 10:00 am to 12:00 noon

Other Information

Group Charge: £13.00 per annum
Group Size: 70

Contact Details

Group Leader: Jim Miller
Telephone: Visit Members Area
Email: History@charnwoodu3a.org.uk

History - June Trip
Wednesday, 28th June 2023
National Justice Museum
High Pavement, Nottingham

The theme of the museum, which is based in the Grade II listed Shire Hall (pictured right) , is that of crime, punishment and social justice through time. We have booked a tour, which will take around one hour, after which we are invited to enjoy the museum at our leisure.

We are meeting at 10:30 at the museum on High Pavement,
Nottingham NG1 1HN and our tour starts at 11:00. The cost is
£13.00 per person.

Participants who must be u3a members need to make their own way to Nottingham, but we may be able to arrange lifts.

If you are interested in joining the trip, please contact Pauline May before June 19th at ppc.wat@ntlworld.com or on 01509 552834 or 07455 167929.

History - July Trip
Wednesday, 27th July 2022. 10:30am
Museum of Making, Derby

The History Group organised a visit on the morning of Wednesday 27th July to the Museum of Making at Derby, a museum which has received numerous accolades since its fairly recent [re-]opening, including the prestigious Museum of the Year award from the Art Fund. It is on the site of Derby Silk Mill, said to be the world’s first factory in the modern sense of the word, and it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site (Derwent Valley Mills). It features all the most up-to-date presentation technologies, and should be intensely interesting.

Museum of Making, Poppies exhbition 2020
copyright Tony Westaway

History - January Meeting
Wednesday, 26th January. 10:00am
Faster, Better, Cheaper
a Brief History of Manufacturing. Part 2

Our member Chris Butlin has agreed to return to this subject and speak again to us on the topic Faster, Better, Cheaper – a Brief History of Manufacturing.

Please contact Pauline May or Jim Miller know if you would like more information

History3@charnwoodu3a.org.uk

metal spinning - small factory

DECEMBER MEETING
Wednesday 8 December
(NOTE earlier date)

If all goes well we aim to offer two short talks, along with a prize quiz, mince pies and wine and soft drinks.

History3@charnwoodu3a.org.uk

History 3 - November Meeting
Wednesday, 24th November. 10:00am
Faster, Better, Cheaper
a Brief History of Manufacturing.

On Wednesday, November 24th, starting at 10 am we are at last going to resume our programme of face to face talks at the Good
Shepherd Church Hall. Our member Chris Butlin has agreed to speak to us on the topic Faster, Better, Cheaper – a Brief History of Manufacturing.

That sounds like a very formidable subject, and indeed Chris has asked if he can deal with it over two meetings, so all being well he will be speaking to us again with episode two in January!

Please contact Pauline May or Jim Miller know if you would like more information

History3@charnwoodu3a.org.uk

metal spinning - small factory

History 3 - October Meeting
Wed 27th October

This meeting was a visit to Stanford Hall, a Grade 1 listed heritage home built in 1697, near Lutterworth. It begin with coffee/tea and biscuits and was followed with a guided tour of the house at, lasting just over an hour. A visit the early 14th century church was next. This has exceptionally interesting family monuments and wonderful stained glass.

Stanford Hall

History 3 - September Meeting

Wed 22nd September

will be held at Longcliffe Golf Club alongside our annual lunch. The speaker will be Dr Matt Hefferan of Nottingham University, and his topic will be Edward III and his Knights.

It is important to let Pauline May or Jim Miller know if you would like to attend this meeting.

History3@charnwoodu3a.org.uk

History 3 - August Zoom Meeting

Wed 26th August, 10 am:
'Victorian Clean Fast Public Transport: Atmospheric Propulsion'
speaker Roger Boyle, Aberystwyth u3a

When steam engines were first used to move trains in the early
19th century it soon became clear that, although they were in many ways at the cutting edge of technology at the time, they nonetheless presented a number of problems. Locomotives were much heavier than the coaches or waggons that they hauled (partly because the latter were so flimsy and thus very unsafe!), so very heavy and robust rails were necessary; the adhesion between the metal wheels and the rails was limited, so there were problems with gradients and also in any weather which made the rails greasy; the locomotives were very noisy; and huge amounts of filthy smoke, steam, ashes etc were emitted, making life uncomfortable for the crew, the passengers and for those living by the lineside. Several inventors therefore proposed the use of stationary steam engines (which could be large and powerful) to generate a vacuum, usually in a tube lying between the rails. Trains carried a coach linked to this tube by a rod and a piston, and the differential pressure behind and in front of the piston moved the train.

Starcross Pump House

Copyright: Geotek

History 3 - July Zoom Meeting

Wed 28th July, 10 am: History 3,
'Nanpantan and the Paget Family'
speaker Anne Speight

There is a good deal of interesting history concerning Nanpantan more generally, as many members of our group will know. It’s an odd name to start with – some think it is derived from “Nan’s Pantain” – a pantain apparently being an old Anglo-Saxon word for an enclosure (not in any of my dictionaries!), as in Pantain Road. Sometimes, however, the name seems to be spelt differently as “Nanpanton” – maybe just a mistake. A century ago Nanpantan had its Hall, some 20 cottages, presumably owned by the Paget estate,

History 3 -June Zoom Meeting
Wed 23rd June 'London Frost Fairs' -
speaker Mike Stringer

For various reasons (not all of them meteorological) the last such fair, i.e. the last time the lower reaches of the River Thames froze sufficiently solid to allow a great range of activities on the ice (including nearly a dozen printing presses!) was in 1814. In that year solar activity was quite low and a number of substantial volcanic eruptions worldwide (including La Soufriere in St Vincent, which was recently in the headlines again) caused a lowering of global temperatures.

History 3 - May Zoom Meeting

Wed 26th May, 10 am: History 3,
'Bless this House'
speaker Michelle Howes

How people sought to protect their buildings and their occupants in medieval times.

History 3 - April Zoom Meeting

Wed 28th April, 10 am: History 3,
'A History of Fast Writing'
speaker Liz Tarrant (Beckenham u3a)

History 3 - March Zoom Meeting

Wed 24th March, 10 am: History 3,
'A History of Dartmoor Prison: The Early Years'
speaker Tony Westaway

Planned for closure in 2023, this 200+ year old prison is one of Devon's leading tourist attractions. It has proved the inspiration for film makers, TV shows and novelists. The story of how it came to be built in an almost inaccessible and competely desolate part of England is intriguing as is its links to the gambling debts of a member of the Royal family. The story is full of amazing characters, mutinies, riots, escapes and even opera! It is impossible to cover all 200+ years in 45 minutes and so Tony's talk will concentrate on the early years.

Prisoners leaving for work duties. c 1900