Tag Archives: Heritage

How do we know? Whodunnit

Hear and read about crime stories from the past at the ‘Whodunnit’ investigative session on Saturday 26th May at Warwickshire County Record Office.

CR2212 Photograph of Mary Ann Clifford taken from the Known Thieves Album at Warwickshire County Record office. Ms Clifford, was found guilty of pedalling bogus birth control potions in the 19th century.

The latest in Warwickshire County Council’s Heritage and Culture’s How Do We Know? series focuses on the criminal records held at the record office and online.  The session will explore the English justice system from the medieval period onwards.

The activity will appeal to those with an interest in both local and family history and participants will be able to study and search for records themselves.

How Do We Know?  is a series of discovery sessions involving lively discussions, artefacts, archives, specimens and illuminating information about Warwickshire’s past.  Held in the spacious searchroom at Warwickshire County Record Office, these regular sessions will focus on different topics across the Warwickshire Museum collections, including archaeology, geology, social history and archives.

How Do We Know … Whodunnit? takes place on Saturday 26th May at 2pm at Warwickshire County Record Office, Priory Park, off Cape Road, Warwick, CV34 4JS. The session costs £6 (concessions £5)..Please call 01926 738959 to book your place.

Jailhouse Jive live

On Saturday 2 June 2012, Warwickshire County Council’s Heritage and Culture are hosting Jailhouse Jive – an authentic 1950’s night-out to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

From 7:30pm for an 8pm start, the night will go on until 11pm with a licensed bar.

The event will offer a unique opportunity to dance the night away to great live music within the historic surroundings of the Old Courts in Northgate Street, Warwick.

Authentic rock n’ roll and jive music will be provided by the local band Phoenix. Guests will also have the fantastic opportunity to learn how to jive with our expert dance teacher Beverley Drew, of Planet Dance and her demonstration couple.

For just £15.00 a ticket, a free buffet is included. Tickets are available from the Warwickshire Museum shop at Market Hall and at St Johns House Museums, or at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/jailhousejive, by post (see bottom for address), or by calling 01926 412069.

Tickets are non-refundable once purchased and will be posted within 7 working days of payment being received; in the event of cancellation by Warwickshire County Council, a full refund will be given.

To purchase tickets by post, please address the letter to ‘Learning and Community Engagement Team, St John’s House Museum, St John’s, Warwick, Warwickshire, CV34 4NF’.

Become a history detective this Easter

Warwickshire County Council’s Heritage Education Team bring the past to life for children in Warwick this Easter.

Children can join the History Detectives Club at St Johns Museum and the County Record Office in Warwick and start investigating the past. With a different case each day, history detectives unravel the clues from the past using real and replica objects and documents in the History Detective’s vault.

Books are being taken now for sessions on Tuesday 3 April to Thursday 5 April, and the following week from Tuesday 10 April to Thursday 12 April, 9.30am – 4.00pm each day.

Full listing of the Easter Holidays History Detectives course:

  • Tuesday 3 April – Crime and Punishment: How were criminals caught and punished in the past? (Event takes place at the County Record Office, Warwick)
  • Wednesday 4 April – Feasts & Treats: What strange and unusual things did our ancestors eat?
  • Thursday 5 April – Caveman Capers: It’s a mammoth task! A day in the life of Stone Age man.
  • Tuesday 10 April – Art Thieves: Can you forge a painting?  Get crafty with pictures.
  • Wednesday 11th April – Onions and Bunions: Discover all about health and food in the past.
  • Thursday 12 April – Jurassic Warwickshire: What would you find if you went back in time?

The History Detectives Club is suitable for children aged 6 – 12 years and places cost are £22.00 per day long session. A 20 per cent discount applies for siblings or if three or more sessions are booked in advance (discounts cannot be used together).

To make a booking or for further information please telephone Heritage and Culture on 01926 412069.

County has ‘Great’ expectations

Leading political figures from Warwickshire County Council have been recruited as global tour guides to highlight Warwickshire’s GREAT destinations, attractions and experiences.

From the wonders of Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon, to the delights of Kingsbury Water Park, it is hoped the personal Warwickshire nominations will help bolster the lucrative “friends and relatives” market, which is worth £3.5bn to the UK economy.

The nominations from the county council’s cabinet members are part of the global ‘Share Your GREAT Britain’ campaign that is being promoted by the Tourism Agency Visit Britain.

The campaign is supported by a variety of marketing tools, including a ‘10 Great Reasons’ mobile phone app and a personalised postcard that can both be downloaded from the Visit Britain website.

International friends or relatives who receive an invitation will be entered into a draw to win two return flights to the UK, while anyone sending an invite has the chance to win a Samsung Galaxy tablet computer.

Tourism chiefs behind the campaign believe personal recommendations – from celebrities and politicians, or family and friends – will be key to attracting visitors from target markets, including the United States, Australia, Ireland and Germany.

Last month Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, unveiled details of a £25m worldwide marketing campaign – ‘GREAT Britain: You’re invited’ – and issued a call to arms to the entire UK population to promote tourism, Britain’s fifth-largest industry in their area.

Cllr Colin Hayfield, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for tourism, said: “2012 really is the time to come to Britain. The Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee each offer fantastic experiences, but there is so much else going on – quite literally something for everyone – including the fantastic product and experiences that my cabinet colleagues and I have highlighted here in Warwickshire. I would encourage all Warwickshire residents to get behind the campaign and promote Warwickshire’s GREAT tourism offer to friends and family overseas.”

The free toolkit is available online from www.visitbritain.org

The ‘GREAT’ Warwickshire recommendations as nominated by Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet Members are:

Arbury Hall

Cllr Martin Heatley (Nuneaton Whitestone): “I would urge anybody to visit and take a stroll in the grounds of Arbury Hall. It is a beautiful Elizabethan mansion house built on the site of a 12th-century Augustinian priory and transformed in the 18th century to become England’s most breathtaking example of early Gothic Revival architecture.”

Kingsbury Water Park

Cllr Colin Hayfield (Arley, North Warwickshire): “I am very fortunate to have the beautiful Kingsbury Water Park on my doorstep. It is Warwickshire’s premier waterside attraction and a favourite for families for over many years. I, like many families, have enjoyed experiencing the park and seeing the vast wildlife in its 600 acres.”

Henley-in-Arden

Cllr Peter Butlin (Admirals, Rugby): “Henley-in-Arden is a real ‘street town’ with a real ‘ye olde England’ feel to it. Visitors can saunter past black-and-white, half-timbered buildings, visit the Heritage Centre and walk up the ‘Mount’ which has exhilarating views of the surrounding countryside. For the foodies among us, there are plenty of excellent restaurants and pubs to explore.”

Shipston-on-Stour

Cllr Izzi Seccombe (Stour & The Vale): “I may be slightly biased, but I love wandering around my local town of Shipston-upon-Stour. It is a real gem on the edge of the Cotswolds offering sumptuous local food in the many coaching inns and is also close to other picturesque villages such as Ilmington and Long Compton, home of the mysterious Rollright Stones.”

Kenilworth Castle

Cllr Alan Cockburn (Kenilworth St. John’s) said: “No visit to Warwickshire is complete without seeing the spectacular ruins of the once-grand Kenilworth Castle. As you walk around the grounds it is wonderful to think that you are literally following in the footsteps of Queen Elizabeth I.”

Stratford-upon-Avon

Cllr Richard Hobbs (Aston Cantlow, Stratford-upon-Avon): “We often take it for granted but Stratford is the number one tourist destination outside London. Steeped in history with the Birthplace and other fine buildings, there is now the new and iconic Royal Shakespeare Theatre which is the best performance space for Shakespeare anywhere in the world.”

The Oxford Canal

Cllr Bob Stevens (Feldon): “For sheer peacefulness and magnificent countryside, a narrow boat trip on the Oxford canal is a perfect getaway to escape the real world – a truly magical experience.”

Ryton Organic Gardens

Cllr Heather Timms, (Earl Craven, Rugby): “Organic gardening is all the rage at the moment, so why not visit its home at Ryton Organic Gardens? It has more than 30 individual gardens in ten acres of landscaped grounds, and a beautiful wildflower meadow – perfect for a spring day.”

Warwick Words

Cllr Alan Farnell (Nuneaton Weddington): “As a former owner of a bookshop myself, and with a love of literature, I recommend a visit to the annual Warwick Words event. The town has a growing reputation as a Festival town and has some great literary connections, including Tolkien and Philip Larkin among others.”

Compton Verney

Cllr David Wright (Caldecott, Rugby): “We are lucky to have a world class art destination on our doorstep in Compton Verney. The Georgian mansion has some magnificent art, surrounded by glorious park land landscaped by the famous ‘Capability’ Brown.”

 

Warwickshire County Record Office shows what life was like for ancestors

Warwickshire County Record Office is holding a workshop called “To The Manor Born” on Tuesday 6th March.  Whether you are a family or local historian this practical workshop will be of interest.  Come and explore everyday lives from the past using original documents from our collections.

The manor played a central part in the lives of most of our ancestors.  The documents created through the administration of the manor tell us how they lived, what jobs they did, how they spent their free time and what laws governed them.  Some of the records date back to the 13th century.  This workshop, run by experienced local and family historian Christine Hodgetts, will trace some of the houses and family histories of our ancestors and explain how to look up the records for yourself.

The workshop takes place on Tuesday 6th March and starts at 10.00 am and finishes at 1.00 pm at Warwickshire County Record Office, Priory Park, off Cape Road, Warwick, CV34 4JS.. The cost for this workshop is £12 per person and tickets should be booked in advance by phoning 01926 738959

Warwickshire County Record Office is involved in safeguarding, managing and developing Warwickshire’s archives so that they can be accessed, interpreted and enjoyed by all those with an interest in Warwickshire’s past and its people. We hold records dating from the twelfth century up to the twenty first.

Talk on family of Victorian photographers at County Record Office

The Speight family of Rugby were leading photographers in Rugby and the Midlands in the Victorian period.  They supplied many of the photos for local history books of the time, including WO Watt’s “Rugby Past and Present” in 1893 and took several portraits of well known characters, including Rupert Brooke as a schoolboy at Rugby in the 1890s.

Come and learn more about them at this illustrated talk at Warwickshire County Record Office in Warwick on Saturday 3rd March at 2.00 pm.  The speaker, John Frearson, is a well known local historian and author, and will illustrate his talk with photographs and other family documents of the period, many of which have now been donated to the County Record Office.

The talk is organised by the Friends of Warwickshire County Record Office as part of their Annual General Meeting.  The Friends of Warwickshire County Record Office are a fund raising body set up to support and promote the work of the County Record Office.

The talk takes place at Warwickshire County Record Office, Priory Park, off Cape Road in Warwick, CV34 4JS.  It starts after the short Annual General Meeting of the Friends at 2.00 pm, and will finish at 4.30 pm.  Tickets cost £3 for non members and can be purchased on the door.  Refreshments will be served.

Warwickshire County Record Office is involved in safeguarding, managing and developing Warwickshire’s archives so that they can be accessed, interpreted and enjoyed by all those with an interest in Warwickshire’s past and its people. We hold records dating from the twelfth century up to the twenty first.

For more information about the County Record Office and its opening hours visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/cro