News for Spring 2010
Nottinghamshire Building Preservation Trust Harry Johnson Award 2010
Nominations are invited for best new building or restoration of a building within a Nottinghamshire setting. Nominations can be from individuals, architects, builders and, especially, parish councils. The prestigious Harry Johnson Award, sponsored jointly by the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the Nottinghamshire Building Preservation Trust, is given every two years to acknowledge the best restoration of a building, or the best new building, within a village setting. The Trust says that an increased number of entries were submitted in 2008.
Nominations should be made and delivered to the Secretary, The Nottinghamshire Building Preservation Trust, The Minster Chambers, Church Street, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, NG25 0HD, to arrive not later that 1 May 2010. There is a nomination fee of £12.00.
Buildings should have been completed within the last three years. The judges will be looking for smaller buildings, especially new-build or restoration of existing structures, and individual effort. It is helpful if before and after photographs can be supplied, together with a brief description of the building and its history.
Further information and nomination forms can be obtained from the Trust at the above address, tel: 01636-819555, email: nbpt@btclick.com. Web site: www.nbpt.co.uk
DR. THOROTON ONLINE!
I can't help thinking that our Society's mentor might turn in his grave at this item, but he is now online! Volume 1 of his Antiquities can be read at www.british-history.ac.uk. Just type 'Thoroton's History of Nottinghamshire' into the subject search line. At present only Volume 1 is available, but by using my influence (!) I have persuaded the British History Online web manager to bring forward the upload of Volumes 2 and 3. Both should be available from mid-February in the Throsby revision of the 1790s.
John Beckett
The Third Trent Valley Geoarchaeology Conference
This conference was entitled The Trent Valley: advancing the research strategy', and held at the British Geological Survey in Keyworth on 18 November 2009.
There were 101 individuals on the list of attendees. The business of the day was conducted through 12 lectures in the big Kingsley Dunham lecture hall, starting at 10 am and finishing at 4.30 pm. There were periods for questions and discussions between papers. The speakers came predominantly from the universities in the study area, Birmingham, Leicester and Nottingham. The papers all included excellent PowerPoint visual presentations but the day would have improved with greater use of microphones. We had half hour tea/coffee breaks morning and afternoon with an hour for an excellent buffet lunch provided in the overall conference fee of £20.
Much of the day was in our Thoroton Society comfort zone of Nottinghamshire but the papers of course included the Trent upstream into Derbyshire and the water catchment area for the Trent, rather than concentrating on the flood plain and river itself. A number of lecturers presented the latest techniques of archaeological surveying. The time periods covered ranged from flint implements of the Upper Palaeolithic in the ice ages to medieval pottery.
The value of the conference was this range of presentations given at the professional level where we were all challenged beyond our particular areas of knowledge.
Leslie Cram
THOROTON EXCURSIONS
As most of you will know, each year the Society enjoys four excursions during the summer months of May, June, July and September. This short notice is asking for volunteers from any of you who would be prepared to offer any helpful ideas or suggestions about new possible venues, or even some assistance with organising an outing. I am sure that there must be one or two members of the Society who say 'Why don't we have a trip to ....?, or 'I would love to arrange a trip to ....' Please have a word with me (at meetings or by telephone 0115 926 9090 or by email a.langton18@btinternet.com) with any suggestions for possible venues, or even offers of organising an outinn The Society has been well served by members who have volunteered in the past to be involved, and indeed who are still involved, and we would like to open the possibility to others too. The involvement with excursions is certainly not a closed shop just for members of the Society's Council. If you have a useful idea but are daunted by the prospect of organising, I am quite prepared to assist and help with the practical details to ensure that we continue to have a programme of interesting and varied excursions. Again, if you would like to know more about what might be involved please have a word with me.
Alan Langton (Excursions Secretary)
Landscape history of Sherwood Forest and Nottinghamshire
Look out for details of this day conference to be by the Society for Landscape Studies in conjunction held in September and which is being organised with The Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire.
THOROTON BOOKSTALL NEWS
One of our members, Ralph Hawthorn has drawn a plan of the Market Square as it was in 1920 including the stall-holders' names. The plan is available at £3.00. Page 1 is an overall view, pages 2-4 are enlargements to enable the names to be easily read. Available in hard copy or in CD form as JPEG images from the Thoroton bookstall at our meetings. Also available in CD format as JPEG files is Nottinghamshire by H. H. Swinnerton at a cost of £1.50
FARNDON BOOK FAIR 2010
Members may be interested to know about the Farndon Bookfair which will be held this year on Sundays 7 March and 10 October. The fair is now under new management and will feature about thirty stalls with booksellers from this county and from Leicestershire, Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Derbyshire. It is the only independent book fair offering second-hand and antiquarian books in the region. A number of the dealers carry a stock of Nottinghamshire and neighbouring counties topography and history books. Some dealers also offer maps and ephemera while others specialise in such things as military books, children's literature or illustrated volumes. The fair is held in Farndon Village Hall and runs from 10 am to 4 pm. Refreshments are available at the venue. Further information is to be had by calling the organisers, Jim and Jan Rayner on 01522-869597.
CORRECTION
In the introduction to Ducal Estate Management in Georgian Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire: the Diary of William Gould 1783-1788 I note that the agent was retained by Lord George Augustus Henry Cavendish to manage his estates in the two counties. Whilst William Gould had dealings with Lord Cavendish, it was the famous scientist, the Hon. Henry Cavendish, who employed Gould as his steward. I apologise for this mistake. Lord Charles Cavendish passed his estates to his son Henry in 1782. Henry's first actions were to appoint Gould as his agent and to fire his father's agent, Thomas Revill whose attitude had for 20 years been 'a mix of servility and arrogance', mitigated by a problem with Revill's throat which meant he could hardly speak. The Duke of Devonshire's agent, John Heaton recommended Gould to Henry Cavendish, citing his 'integrity and judgement on country business.
Michael Hanson