Recent Posts

Wiltshire’s Little Known Places

Historical sites you may never have been to.
Speaker James Archard
Have you ever wondered about the hidden historical gems nestled within the picturesque county of Wiltshire?

First 1000 Years Depicting Christ

Martyn has written many educational and history books, particularly on Anglo-Saxon England and the early medieval period, and is an experienced communicator.

1000 YEARS OF WARP AND WEFT

Wool has provided the raw material for clothing for thousands of years and the talk will show how the woollen trade enabled three west Wiltshire towns to become thriving industrial centres.

To Readers of April Parish Magazine

Apologies to readers of April magazine where I mentioned that Graham Bathe would be giving a talk on the First World War training grounds on Salisbury Plain, when it should have read Martin Brown. Martin has now agreed a date for his talk which is Friday 13th September 2019 at 7.30 pm at the Dilton Memorial hall. Posters to follow.

On the 29th March, the history society were treated to an engrossing  historical account on the life of “Lettice”, Countess of Leicestershire, from author Nicola Tallis, with the promise of more to come around November when her latest book is due to be published. Nicola has promised to keep us posted as to possible speakers who we may find of interest.

You may remember that Sally Hendry has kindly agreed to present her talk on The Westbury Workhouse which will take place at 7.30 pm on Friday 3rd May at the Memorial Hall. Sally’s talk will follow the History Societies AGM, which will no doubt have us all on the edge of our seats and ready for something a little more interesting.

May I remind readers that our “Oral History” project sis now ready to start and anyone interested in contributing should again contact myself or any committee member. This project really should enable so many memories, which may seem unimportant to to those who retain them, but in time could provide so much insight into how our previous generations managed their day to day lives.

I can vouch for the value of this type of exercise from my limited experience when interviewing some villagers who lived through WW2 and who had so many interesting little insights as to how real life carried on, rather than the sometimes tedious official accounts.

We now have a time allocated for the visit to Leighton House which is now to be on the 4th May at 10.30 am. Those wishing to take advantage of this visit should contact myself or any committee member, as numbers are limited and therefore need to be finalised by no later than the last week of April.

One of our members asked recently if the society had considered having a talk on one of our local sporting legends … John Atyeo. No doubt some of you might even remember John, either as a schoolboy, England and Bristol City soccer player or according to one of his students who I met recently, a pretty good mathematics teacher who guided  her through “A” Level. He sounds to me a far cry from many of today’s professional soccer players.

Anyway we do now have a contact through The Bristol City Football Club who is prepared to come and speak on some of John’s exploits, and I will be looking into a suitable date. Were any of you to be willing to let the society know of any memories you may have then please do let us know.

A reminder that our talk on Wulf Hall will be going ahead on Friday the 7th June at the Memorial Hall start 7.30 pm. Should be very well worth attending.

All of our meetings are now posted on the Dilton Marsh History Society web page.

Graham Noble