A Report of the Meetings of

The Warmington Heritage Group

2017

19^th January Edge Hill Tea Rooms Andrew Baxter

Andrew, as usual, gave us a very personal view of the tea rooms that had attracted visitors from a wide area for a number of years. It was almost a cottage industry with several families joining in.

16^th February Burials and Bones in Cropredy Churchyard. Stephen Wass had been involved in a community dig at the church that had been funded by the HLF in order to provide some much needed facilities. There was a great deal to discover, lots of bones (only recently re-buried) headstones used to make a path and, of course the painted roof timbers. Read the full story at http://www.church-of-st-mary-the-virgin-cropredy.org/Archaeology/Dig.html

16^th March The Cotswolds AONB — A celebration of 50 years. Robert Barber. The AONB were hoping to gather in photographs of the area to show how things had changed over the last 50 years. Robert gave a very short presentation but sadly we were not able to follow this up.

http://www.cotswoldsaonb.org.uk/

20^th April  – Andrew Baxter – ‘The Cleverness of Ancient Astronomers’ John Hunter had to change the date of his talk and so Andrew stepped in at short notice to talk about the cleverness of ancient astronomers. It proved a real eye-opener for those able to keep up with the geometry!! – an amazing look at the accuracy and dedication underlying their discoveries.

18^th May Forensic Archaeology. John Hunter took us through the various ways that forensic archaeology can help solve the who, the how and the when. His branch of archaeology is often an essential aid when locating and recovering buried human remains. It draws together specialist search techniques and applies exacting manual archaeological methods in the excavation of remains and recovery of buried evidence. John Hunter and his team had been particularly helpful in the recovery of the burial chamber at the dig site in Warmington

22^nd June was a chance to celebrate the summer solstice (almost!!) at Hanwell Observatory plus a look at Stephen’s work in the castle grounds. Following from the cleverness of ancient astronomers, Andrew invited members to look at the exploits of some current astronomers at the community observatory in the grounds of Hanwell castle

http://www.hanwellobservatory.org.uk/drupal/acknowledgements

http://www.polyolbion.org.uk/Hanwell/Project.htm

20^th July – Rollright Stones. David Shirt, one of the founder trustees of the stones, gave a fascinating talk about the stones; their history, meaning and management. We then went for a guided tour (in the pouring rain) on the following Saturday. A link to our next event was unexpected…..the previous owner of the Stones was Pauline Flick, daughter of Percy Flick, the sometime MD of the Hook Norton Brewery.

http://www.rollrightstones.co.uk/stones

5^th August.  An outing to Hook Norton Brewery. (1^st Sat of the month – beam engine and Shires) A brilliant visit although some of us found the precipitous staircases to the top of the building a bit challenging – a bit like being on board ship. The guide was excellent, the beam engine burst into life, the shire horses friendly and the tasting session afterwards was, for some, the icing on the cake. There was also an interesting museum and a shop full of goodies.

https://www.hooky.co.uk/

21^st September. Warwickshire Women and the Fight for the Vote.  Sarah Richardson gave an overview of the general fight for suffrage and then linked it to more local personalities. This was an excellent talk and Sarah will certainly be asked to come again.

Oct 13 – Fund raising dinner with Professor Carenza Lewis at Primrose Hill farm. This was a huge success and raised just over £1500 towards the cost of professional finds analysis. The WHG owe an enormous thank you to Sue who masterminded the event, John Jeffries who donated the use of the room, Sam at the Herb Centre who provided printing and a raffle prize of lunch for two, The Manager of the Falcon who provided a dinner for two and all the other donations we received not forgetting the 90 people who came and helped make it such a memorable evening

19^th October Members miscellany. Another huge thanks to Andrew, Stephen and David. Andrew shed new light on Edgehill and made some surprising links with America. Stephen talked about the various roles he undertakes as an archaeologist; from painstaking excavation and research leading to reconstruction for the National Trust to somewhat rushed investigations before the bulldozers on construction sites. David then explained the current status with his work at the herb centre.