The Wandering Archaeologist

Blandford Museum Victorian Garden Club is hosting a Potato Day in association with Pennard Plants at Pimperne Village Hall

2012-02-29T14:37:00.000Z

Potato Day
Sunday 4th March 2012. 10am - 2pm

Dozens of varieties of potatoes for sale by the single tuber, onion sets, shallots, garlic, Heritage Seeds, fruit trees, rhubarb crowns and much more.

Pennard Plants have been running these events throughout the West Country for several years. This year the Dorset venues are Bridport (14th January), Drimpton (11th Feb) and Pimperne (4th March).

The events are advertised by Pennards through various websites, the Victorian Garden is advertising locally to more than 50 Dorset garden interest and other groups.
Orders placed directly with Pennards may be collected on the day, debit/credit card facilities will be available.

All are welcome to this event, we hope to have craft and produce stalls, and a children's 'potato printing' session. Refreshments will be served; drinks, homemade cakes and light lunches.

Entrance charge 50p, children free.

The venue will be well signed from all the access roads around Blandford and through Pimperne to the Village Hall, where there is ample free parking.
We anticipate that this will become an annual event in the local gardening calendar and hope we can rely on your support.

Thank you For further details please contact Heather 01258 458678

West Kennet Long Barrow and the Surrounding Sites Tuesday 6th March 2012

2012-02-28T14:34:00.000Z

By Peter Knight Lecture organised by the Shaftesbury & District Historical Society
Venue: Anna McDowell Garden Room, Gold Hill Museum, Shaftesbury
Time: 2.30pm
Tickets: £2.50. Shaftesbury & District Historical Society members free.
Further Information: Tel: 01747 852157 or email Gold Hill Museum

Look out for Stone Age Walkers on 30th to 31st March 2012

2012-02-26T09:00:00.000Z

Look out for our Stone Age walkers traversing the landscape along an ancient route from Avebury, through Stonehenge, Old Sarum to the ATC in Cranborne in time for the opening of the Stone Age Weekend Event. Join them along the way to learn more about the local landscape.

http://www.ancienttechnologycentre.co.uk/index.html

Course on the art of landscape at Salisbury Museum

2012-02-25T09:00:00.000Z

Every Wednesday, 16 May – 20 June 2012 (6 weeks), 10.30 am – 12.30 pm. Six lectures by Paul Chapman tracing the evolution of modern landscape painting from the Romantics to the present day.

Focusing on the landscape of the West Country, we will see how painters respond to their environments through changing times. Starting with the painters of the Romantic period and ending with the contemporary artists of today we will cover themes and ideas such as the response to agriculture, industrialisation, times of conflict and urbanization.

Together we will look at the landscape through the eyes of the painters and discover how a sense of place combined with a sense of self, produced some of the greatest English art of the last two centuries.

No previous knowledge is needed and there will be opportunities to contribute and discuss topics and ideas raised by studying these wonderful pictures.
Paul Chapman is an art historian whose specialist area is modern painting from the 1850's to present day.

Booking: Please contact the museum to book.
Cost: Members: £40.00; Non-members: £50.00.

Ancient Springtime Day at the Ancient Technology Centre

2012-02-24T21:00:00.000Z

This is a day of traditional activities to welcome in the Spring at this working farmstead.

Participate in Roman and Iron Age ploughing, ancient crop seed sowing, building cob walls, making Suffolk hurdles and nets and building a hayrick.

10th March 2012 See http://www.ancienttechnologycentre.co.uk/index.html

Congratulations to Salisbury Museum for securing Grant from DSCMS Wolfson Fund

2012-02-23T14:26:00.000Z

The DCMS/Wolfson Fund have awarded £100,000 to the museum towards the development of our new Archaeology of Wessex gallery (working title). This new gallery will be of international importance, telling the story of Salisbury and the surrounding area from prehistoric times to the Norman Conquest.

The Archaeology of Wessex gallery will show why Salisbury has a unique place in the region’s and nation’s history. Our collections include some of the most important archaeological finds outside a national museum in Britain, including artefacts from the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and the Pitt Rivers Wessex Collection. The gallery will place the story of Stonehenge within its wider chronological and regional context.

http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk/about-us/news/museum-secures-grant-from-dcms-wolfson-fund.html

Bags of Creativity coming soon to Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum

2012-02-22T09:00:00.000Z

Saturday 21 April - Saturday 1 September 2012.

Local artist Suzie Gutteridge is working in collaboration with the Museum and local schools and groups to create an exciting and sensory exhibition inspired by two items in the Museum’s Costume Collection. By treating this installation as an ‘archive’, the exhibition will also show visitors how the Museum documents and records its own Collections.

The Lavender Pin Cushion currently on show in the Costume Gallery and the Tudor Sweet bag (or pomander) held in the reserve collection have provided a basis for Suzie’s own modern versions of the sweet bag which will be filled with lavender. Tudor sweet bags could be used to hold small, often scented, gifts.
Through Bags of Creativity Suzie shows how upcycling (finding a new use for an unwanted object) can result in unusual and exciting artwork. She has invited a range of groups, schools and individuals to make and decorate their own sweet bag from old clothes or bits of material which hold personal memories for them.

By following the Museum’s collection procedures, Suzie plans to create her own ‘archive’ for the sweet bags. Each bag will be separately documented with its own accession number, label and object history using the stories and memories evoked by the upcycled item

This promises to be a fun, visual, sensory artwork. There will be plenty of opportunities to take part, please see the What's On section of this website.

See behind the scenes at Stourhead House

2012-02-21T14:04:00.001Z

Following last week’s snow, Stourhead house will emerge from it’s winter hibernation this weekend.
The team have been busy all winter with conservation cleaning and a thorough inspection of the historic collection inside. For the three weekends between 18 February and 4 March the team are giving you the opportunity to step inside and see this work in action, and to find out more about how they look after all the valuable objects, including the famous Chippendale furniture and numerous paintings.

Opening times are 11am-3pm and last entry is 2.30pm.

http://stourheadnt.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/rise-and-shine/

Conference in Bristol on Localism and Heritage Wednesday 7th March

2012-01-25T09:00:00.000Z

English Heritage and Bristol City Council are holding a joint conference entitled Localism and Heritage: Working Together to explore what localism means for heritage.

The conference is on Wednesday 7 March at the Bristol City Conference Hall and is aimed at community groups, local amenity societies, elected members, local government and private sector conservation, design and planning professionals and any individuals involved in planning and managing change in the historic environment in the South West.

Check out the winter news from Stourhead house...

2012-01-24T09:00:00.000Z

...and find out what happens behind the scenes when the house is closed. See here for the Stourhead Blog.

Check out Will Self pondering the meaning of cemetries, AONBs and the meaning of 'english heritage' in his latest blog

2012-01-23T17:01:00.000Z

Will Self's latest Madness of Crowds Column ponders Death in the Suburbs and wonders whether we would not all be better buried under areas of outstanding natural beauty

Check it out at http://will-self.com/2012/01/22/death-in-the-suburbs/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=death-in-the-suburbs

New energy guide for owners of historic homes

2012-01-18T09:00:00.000Z

Saving energy: a guide for owners of historic homes

An Historic Towns Forum project in conjunction with The Prince’s Regeneration Trust and fourth year UWE architecture and planning student Heidi Tremlett, has produced a useful guidance leaflet to show how historic home owners can reduce CO2 emissions in their homes. Download the leaflet here.

DCMS opens up debate on Cultural Value

2012-01-17T21:00:00.000Z

What does 'cultural value' mean, and to whom?

The latest blog post from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) seeks to stimulate discussion across the cultural sector on the very idea of measuring cultural value. Dr Claire Donovan is an academic working at DCMS to write a report on this issue, and wants to know what we in the heritage sector, and those in the arts, libraries, and museums sectors, think.

Dr Donovan asks can the value of culture be measured by government in monetary (or other) terms, or is it ‘priceless’? Is ‘measure’ the right word? What is ‘culture’ anyway? What does ‘value’ mean and to whom? And how should DCMS go about deciding what to support with public money? Get involved in the discussion here.

Survive the Stone Age this Spring at Salisbury Museum

2012-01-16T09:00:00.000Z

Surviving the Stone AgeVenue: Major Exhibition Galleries / Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum
Category: Exhibitions
Date: 28 Jan 2012 - 12 May 2012
Time: 10:00 - 11:30

When the climate changes from warm to freezing, the plants and animals you rely on for food and clothing die out or disappear, how would YOU survive? Packed full of fun activities set alongside Ice Age animal bones and the oldest objects made by people found in this area, this exhibition looks at how the earliest people survived over 300,000 years ago.
Specially suited for primary school ages or families, but with something of interest for everyone, you will be asked to think about whether you think you could have lived in a time before farming, when people survived by hunting and gathering and when extreme climate change threatened their existence.
Plus, if you enter our cave Art Competition, you get free admission in to the exhibition if you bring your entry with you. We will display it in the exhibition and you have chance of winning a special Behind the Scenes tour with the Museum’s Director who will even let you touch a real mammoth bone!

Landscapes of Thomas Hardy's Wessex opens tomorrow

2012-01-13T09:52:00.000Z

Landscapes of Thomas Hardy’s Wessex: Works by Dave Gunning, David Inshaw and Rob Pountney
Venue: Small Exhibition Gallery / Salisbury & South Wiltshire MuseumDate: 14 Jan 2012 - 14 Apr 2012
Time: 10:00 - 11:30
A collaboration between three artists who have depicted the dramatic landscapes and ancient archaeological sites of Hardy’s Wessex landscape. Key works were specifically selected by the artists to show their varied and eclectic response to the places in Wiltshire that Hardy wrote about. Ranging from compressed charcoal drawings, prints, steel etchings and oil paintings, the work of Dave Gunning, David Inshaw and Rob Pountney is displayed in the Museum’s upstairs gallery.

By personally selecting a small number of key pieces from their huge bodies of work, these artists give a unique glimpse into their own reactions to their art. They are showing what they consider to be their most revealing and emotional responses to a landscape they have got to know intimately, both through Hardy and through their own experience of it.

Lecture on the Saxons of Wessex in Shaftesbury

2012-01-10T09:00:00.000Z

Saxons in Wessex - Tuesday 7th February 2012 - Adrian Green

Lecture organised by the Shaftesbury & District Historical Society
Venue: Anna McDowell Garden Room, Gold Hill Museum, Shaftesbury

Time: 2.30pm

Tickets: £2.50. Shaftesbury & District Historical Society members free.

Last chance to see 'Art in the Shadow of the Chase' at the Dorchester Museum...but the exhibition is moving to Salisbury in May if you miss it

2012-01-09T09:59:00.001Z

'Art in the Shadow of the Chase' is a free exhibition opening at Dorset County Museum, Dorchester on the 22nd October. Focusing on artists who have been inspired by the Cranborne Chase. The exhibition runs until 21st January 2012

"Cranborne: Art in the shadow of the Chase" is a ground-breaking exhibition about the artists who over the last hundred years have found in Cranborne Chase and its hinterland a landscape of ‘bare bone’ beauty and retreat.

The paintings, drawings, sculpture and other artwork in the exhibition have come from a variety of sources, and range from early neo-romantic work of the 1920s to contemporary work specially made for this exhibition. The list of artists is extensive and includes painters: John Craxton, members of the Nicholson family (Winifred, Ben, E.Q., Tim), Lucian Freud, Derek Hill, Augustus John, Henry Lamb, Katharine Church (Kitty West), Frances Hodgkins, Nora, Amy and Gabriel Summers, James Allardyce, Peggy Rankin, Christopher Row, Mavis Freer, Ursula Leach, Brian Graham, John Hubbard, Paul Jones, Howard Pearce and John Hitchens. There is also sculpture by Elisabeth Frink, Peter Thursby, Ian Middleton and Ann Catherine Row; pottery by Richard Batterham, Chris Carter, Lucy Yarwood and Leonie Summers; glass by Joseph A. Nuttgens and textile rugs by Louisa Creed and Rod Hill.

In spite of all the changes which have occurred in the last hundred years with increasing urbanisation of the countryside, the Chase has remained topographically intact. It is still a breath taking landscape, an area of outstanding beauty, sparsely populated with large estates small hamlets and villages. It remains an ‘island’, a place apart, and it is this isolation, along with its unique landscape which continues to attract artists today. Like threads of a mycelium there continues to be connections between places, painters and their art. Pulling together the work of artists from the recent past and some of those working today, the exhibition will affirm the special qualities of Cranborne Chase and its hinterland and demonstrate that it retains the power to inspire artistic creativity and new progressive art.

The exhibition is to be accompanied by a richly-illustrated publication Circles and Tangents : Art in the shadow of Cranborne Chase, _written by curator, author and artist Vivienne Light FRSA.

Exhibition on Thomas Hardy's Wessex opens in January in Salisbury Museum

2011-12-07T09:00:00.000Z

Landscapes of Thomas Hardy’s Wessex: Works by Dave Gunning, David Inshaw and Rob Pountney
Venue: Small Exhibition Gallery / Salisbury & South Wiltshire MuseumDate: 14 Jan 2012 - 14 Apr 2012
Time: 10:00 - 11:30
A collaboration between three artists who have depicted the dramatic landscapes and ancient archaeological sites of Hardy’s Wessex landscape. Key works were specifically selected by the artists to show their varied and eclectic response to the places in Wiltshire that Hardy wrote about. Ranging from compressed charcoal drawings, prints, steel etchings and oil paintings, the work of Dave Gunning, David Inshaw and Rob Pountney is displayed in the Museum’s upstairs gallery.

See the AONB exhibition on the Medieval Chase this Saturday in Tisbury

2011-12-06T13:45:00.001Z

This Saturday, 3rd December, the AONB team will be taking part in Tis The Season 3pm to 7pm on Tisbury High Street. The event will feature the normal festive cheer such as carol singers and santas grotto. The AONB team will also be attendance with our trailer featuring an exhibition on the Medieval Chase and a photographic exhibition in the Hinton Hall celebrating our 30th Anniversary.

Hope to see you there

x

Dororthy Treasure of the Wiltshire Buildings Record describes a little historic cottage in Ansty on the WSHC Blog

2011-12-06T13:40:00.001Z

This month the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre blog describes historial research into a charming cottage in the Village of Ansty, Wiltshire.

http://www.wshc.eu/blog/a-little-cottage-in-ansty.html

Shaftesbury Historical Society Lecture 030112 The Early History of Norrington Manor

2011-12-06T13:09:00.000Z

The Early History of Norrington Manor by Betty Trehair

Tuesday 3rd January 2012

Lecture organised by the Shaftesbury & District Historical Society
Venue: Anna McDowell Garden Room, Gold Hill Museum, Shaftesbury
Time: 2.30pm
Tickets: £2.50. Shaftesbury & District Historical Society members free.
Further Information: Tel: 01747 852157 or email Gold Hill Museum

Shaftesbury Historical Society Lecture 061211 North Dorset Mills

2011-11-29T10:00:00.000Z

Lecture on North Dorset Mills by Peter Stanier

Tuesday 6th December 2011Gold Hill Museum

Lecture organised by the Shaftesbury & District Historical Society
Venue: Anna McDowell Garden Room, Gold Hill Museum, Shaftesbury
Time: 2.30pm
Tickets: £2.50. Shaftesbury & District Historical Society members free.
Further Information: Tel: 01747 852157 or email

The historic garden at Stourhead is famous for its autumn colour but there is plenty going on at Christmas too - so why not check it out

2011-11-22T10:36:00.001Z

Stourhead is a magical at Stourhead, an eminent example of a landscape created by amateurs, its success due in part to the masterly siting of buildings round the lake, visible singularly or in combination from different points along the circuit walks. The grounds of Stourhead are second only to Stowe in completeness and extent of picturesque layout and furnishings. The garden was created from 1741 onwards, principally by Henry Hoare II and his grandson Sir Richard Colt Hoare

Christmas events include Beauty and the Beast presented by Joe Gladwin's Paperplays Puppet Theatre with settings inspired by Stourhead Gardens this promises to be a magical experience ... in miniature! 4th December 2011. More Information: Stourhead Estate Office, 01747 841152, stourhead@nationaltrust.org.uk

Find out more about the latest news from the gardens by visiting the Stourhead Blog or the National Trust webpage

Find out more about historic parks and gardens in the AONB by visiting the Historic Landscape Blog

Art Exhibition at Devizes Museum - The Past is Another Country

2011-11-21T15:14:00.000Z

Winter Exhibition at the Devizes Museum

The Past is Another Country: an Exhibition by the Elementals Art Group

Artwork inspired by the pre-history of Wiltshire.

The Elementals art group brings together the ideas and inspirations of six different artists under a central theme - Jenny Ford, Jan Knight, Julia Leyden, Christine Shorney, Josephine Sumner, plus guest artist Charlotte Sainsbury. Julia Leyden particularly has been inspired by the collections at the Wiltshire Heritage Museum. The project has been as much about the process of an idea, as the finished works of art.

The group studied archival maps and diagrams, artefacts in museums and photographic aerial views of the landscape - and walked and looked, and looked and walked! Rather than recreating the past they have distilled their own personal and emotional responses to the creations of the Neolithic and Bronze Age peoples of Wessex. Inevitably this involved straying outside Wiltshire to look at and compare sites and artefacts from other places.

Each artist has an individual ‘take’ on the project and this is reflected in the finished works themselves; which includes paintings, printmaking and mixed media, plus a twelve verse illustrated poem in book form and as a wall hanging. Exhibition will be on show in the Museum's Art Gallery from 5 November 2011 to 2 January 2012 at 41 Long Street, Devizes, Wiltshire. SN10 1NS

Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre Event Discover Wiltshires 20th Century Writers 01.12.11

2011-11-19T08:30:00.000Z

Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre

Thursday 1^st December 2011 - 20^th Century Wiltshire Writers

Take a look at the county through the eyes of well known writers of poetry and prose and discover their associations with Wiltshire. Part 2 of Wiltshire Writers and Literary Figures. Limited to 30 people.

All talks begin at 2.15 pm. Admission £3.50 (concessions £2.50). Spaces are limited so please buy your ticket in advance. Telephone 01249 705500 or visit our Help Desk at the History Centre.

BBC Countryfile features the Cranborne Chase and West WIltshie Downs this Sunday 20th at 6.25

2011-11-18T11:27:00.001Z

BBC Countryfile has undertaken some filming in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB for their next programme this Sunday, 20th November, at 6.25pm.

Lecture in Blandford on the 7th Dec on the Durotriges

2011-11-17T15:12:00.000Z

Dr Martin Papworth the archaeologist with the National Trust will be speaking on the Durotriges and their place in Dorset at 7.00pm at the United Reformed Church Hall, Blandford

Tisbury Hoard goes on display at Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum

2011-11-16T11:09:00.001Z

Adrian Green, Curator of the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum describes the exciting new hoard on the museum website:

"An exciting new Bronze Age hoard discovered in west Wiltshire has just gone on display at Salisbury Museum. It was found a month ago in a field near Tisbury by a metal detectorist. He reported the first object, a spearhead, to the Wiltshire Finds Liaison Officer. A team of archaeologists then excavated the remaining objects and recorded how they lay in the ground.

The hoard of over 100 copper alloy objects is over 2,700 years old and dates to the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age. It consists of tools - axe heads, chisels, sickles, gouges, and weapons - spearheads, daggers, knives, swords and scabbard fittings. It is the most important hoard to have been found in Wiltshire since the discovery of the Salisbury Hoard in the 1980s.

It is very unusual for a hoard of this significance to be on display in a regional museum before it has been assessed by the experts at the British Museum. The hoard will only be on display until Saturday 26 November – it will then go to the British Museum for assessment and the local coroner will need to hold an inquest to determine whether it is Treasure Trove.

Following on from the blue plaque - explore Lancelot Capability Brown and the Cranborne Chase AONB

2011-11-15T09:00:00.000Z

Lancelot Capability Brown has been honored with a Blue Plaque - find out about his contribution to the landscape of the AONB

Lancelot Capability Brown is to be commemorated with an English Heritage blue plaque at Wilderness House, Hampton Court Palace, his home from 1764 – when he was appointed Chief Gardener at the palace – until his death in 1783. The plaque will be unveiled on Wednesday 9 November at 11am.Capability Brown was the leading landscape gardener of his age and his legacy can be seen today in many parks and gardens across the country.

He is credited with designing over 120 landscapes and demonstrated a flair for creating idyllic, pastoral scenes that complemented some of England’s grandest country houses.

In the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB he was the original designer of the mid 18th century extensive parkland surrounding Longleat and advised on plans to alter the park at Wardour in 1754.

See http://www.historiclandscape.co.uk/exploring_parksandgardens.html for more information

Explore Vernditch Chase for autumn colour and spectacular archaeology

2011-11-14T10:22:00.001Z

I had a wonderful walk yesterday across the open access land on Vernditch Chase

It is a great place to see archaeology including two Long Barrows, Grim's Ditch, panoramic views of the Bokerly Dyke and the earthwork aga of the Ackling Dyke Roman Road.

You can explore all of these sites easily from the main Martin Down Nature Reserve car park or alternatively park by the Ox Drove to the north for a longer 4 mile circuit.

Ackling Dyke Roman Road, Vernditch Chase (Jim Champion) / CC BY-SA 2.0

English Heritage guides offer info on heritage assets that are important to AONB landscape

2011-11-13T09:00:00.000Z

English Heritage has produced a suite of 40 Introductions to Heritage Assets which offer more detailed overviews of different categories of archaeological asset. This includes Assets particularly relevant to the AONB such as Banjo Enclosures.

Delve into the history of Clarendon Park with lecture at Salisbury & South Wiltshire museum

2011-11-12T21:00:00.000Z

If you go down to the woods today......Clarendon Park and Forest 1200-1650

Venue: Lecture Hall / Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum
Category: Lectures
Date: 16 Nov 2011
Time: 18:30
Description: Wednesday 16 November 2011. A talk by Dr Amanda Richardson.

The talk is the second in our series on this very important Royal Palace and Hunting Ground which is right on our doorstep. Dr Richardson is a Senior Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern History at Southampton University and this promises to be a fascinating insight into part of our local countryside.

Drinks at 6.30 pm, lecture at 7.00 pm.

Find out about the art of traditonal Swill Basket Making in this new short clip

2011-11-11T11:09:00.001Z

The Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB is undertaking oral histories of coppice wood workers.

As an accompaniment to this project we asked Barbara Gibson of Spoken Histories to interview traditionally wood workers at the Cranborne Chase Woodfair 2011.

In this first video learn about the historic craft of Swill Basket Making from Owen Jones.

Visit www.historiclandscape.co.uk for more information

Shaftesbury Abbey Annual Lecture 16112011 Stonehenge by Julian Richards

2011-11-11T10:00:00.000Z

Shaftesbury Abbey Annual LectureStonehenge: Investigation and Inspiration by Julian Richards

Wednesday 16th November 20115000 years ago, which, despite centuries of excavation and speculation, has kept some of its secrets. But recent excavations have provided the clues that may enable us, for the first time, to answer questions like when was it built, how and perhaps the greatest puzzle - why?
But Stonehenge is also an internationally recognised icon, its enduring stones providing inspiration to artists like Turner and Constable, to potters, musicians and writers. So this lecture will also celebrate the role that Stonehenge has played in the arts over the centuries, examining the sometimes weird and wonderful ways in which its image has been celebrated.’ Julian Richards
This year’s speaker will be the nationally renowned archaeologist Julian Richards. He will give an illustrated talk on ‘Stonehenge: Investigation & Inspiration’, with some fascinating new information about the mysterious site and also insight into the art and literature that Stonehenge has inspired over the centuries.

'Stonehenge is our greatest prehistoric temple, a stupendous structure, built between 4000 and

Venue: Shaftesbury Arts Centre, Bell Street, Shaftesbury
Time: 7.30pm. Pre-lecture drinks in the Phoenix Room from 6.30pm
Tickets: SAC Box Office 01747 854321 £8.00 (£7.00 for FoSA and S&DHS)
Further Information: Shaftesbury Abbey 01747 852910 or email Shaftesbury Abbey

Find out if an asset in the AONB is worthy of protection

2011-11-11T09:00:00.002Z

Is there a builiding or feature in the AONB which you feel is worthy of protection?

English Heritage has produced a series of selection guides which help you determine if a building is of national importance

The wide range of buildings and structures is divided into 20 categories ranging from Agricultural Buildings to Utilities and Communications. In each guide, an historical introduction is followed by a consideration of designation issues, together with sources of further information

Explore heritage that is off the beaten path using the new SW adventure cycle map

2011-11-10T09:00:00.000Z

The 1 South West project is about ensuring you have great off-road cycling adventures in some of Britain’s most beautiful countryside .

We want you to feel good and share great times across the south west. Whether you explore alone or with family and friends, an off-road cycling adventure is yours to create. 1 South West provides the information to help you plan and enjoy great adventures time and again.

Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum Course: Humans and Environmental Change

2011-11-09T16:20:00.000Z

Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum Course: Humans and Environmental Change

When:
12 Apr 2012 - 28 Jun 2012 10:30 - 12:30
Where:
Lecture Hall - Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum

Every Thursday 12 April – 28 June 2012, 10.30 am – 12.30 pm (including two field trips). A course by Hadrian Cook and Adrian Green. This course will address changes in human technology and investigate their impact on the environment. Local and global examples will be used by way of illustration.

New video extract of oral history of a underwood coppice wood worker

2011-11-09T16:02:00.000Z

The Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB is undertaking oral histories of coppice wood workers. Watch this video to find out about Ernie Steel and his life as an Underwood Coppice Worker.

Visit www.historiclandscape.co.uk for more information

Sneak view of Out of the Earth exhibition at Salisbury Museum

2011-11-09T13:13:00.000Z

Out of the Earth

Sneak view of the exhibition of art and archaeology exploring the secrets hidden beneath the prehistoric landscape of Cranborne Chase. Renowed Potter Chris Carter and archaeologist Martin Green share their fascination with the prehistoric past of the Cranborne Chase. The AONB team were fortunate to be offered a tour by Martin, and i can throughly recommened this thought provoking and beautiful exhibition.

Salisbury Museum - 19th October 2011 until 14th January 2011

Next Dorset History Forum lecture Saturday 19th November 2011

2011-11-09T09:00:00.000Z

Dorset History Forum & Dorset Records Society People, property & places: Sources for local historians
– 1703by Dr Judith Ford and the Dorset History Forum AGM.
Saturday 19th November 2011 - at Woodmead Halls, Lyme Regis

This will be a day school held in partnership with the Dorset Records Society on taxation records for local and family historians. The day will include the launch of the latest Record Society volume: Birth, Marriage, Death and Taxes: Lyme Regis Censuses 1695

Wiltshire's Place in England's Agrarian History Lecture 12th November 2011

2011-11-08T16:15:00.000Z

Wiltshire's Place in England's Agrarian History, Illustrated Lecture by Professor John Chartres, Lecture Hall, Devizes Museum, 2.30pm Saturday 12 November 2011. Cost £5.00, WANHS Members £3.00.

Agriculture in Wiltshire was vastly more important in the past, socially and economically, than it now is, but we still have a lot of countryside in the county. Professor Kerridge and Dr Thirsk have identified different distinctive ‘farming countries’ in England, based on geology and climatology and distance from the London market, besides other considerations. We all know about ‘chalk and cheese’. Professor Chartres, recently retired as Professor of Economic History at the University of Leeds, will set the agricultural history of Wiltshire in a national context over time.

Advanced booking is essential for this lecture. Either book online at Wiltshire’s Agrarian History or contact the Bookings Secretary on 01380 727 369 or email her at d.barnett@wiltshireheritage.org.uk.

Lecture on the Damerham Archaeology Project tonight

2011-11-08T14:32:00.000Z

Don't forget to attend the lecture by Helen Wickstead and Martyn Barber on the Damerham Archaeology Project in the Lecture Hall at Salisbury Museum on Tuesday, 8th November, at 7.30pm. They will be able to report on this year`s work, so you can find out all about the new discoveries on this amazing site. The charge to non-members is £3.50.

View images from the Cranborne Chase Woodfair inc. Regia Angolorum in action

2011-11-08T14:23:00.000Z

The AONB team thought you might be interested in viewing our encapsulated image library of photos taken at the Woodfair this October. This includes shots of the amazing reenactment group Regia Anglorum. I've uploaded them to our Flickr account which you can view by clicking on the image below: See if there's anyone you recognise, you could be in for a surprise.

Still chance to see the Fovant Badges on BBC Countryfile

2011-11-08T13:44:00.000Z

Hope you caught the special remembrance edition of countryfile featuring the Fovant Camps and Badges.

The badges were carved into the hillside by solidiers stationed at Fovant during the first world war.

These are official war memorials made out of packed chalk dug from the hillside. It took about 50 tonnes of chalk per badge.

They are a visible reminder of the sacrifices of the first world war.

Liz Harden from the Fovant Historical

Interest Group was able to provide poignant information on the lives of the soldiers who lived at the camp.

To find out more visit the Fovant Badge Association Website, the Fovant Historical Interest Group and view the programme through the BBC iplayer

Forthcoming Lecture on Damerham Archaeology Project at Salisbury Museum

2011-10-15T11:08:00.000+01:00

A talk by Dr Helen Wickstead, Kingston University and Martyn Barber, English Heritage on the Damerham Archaeology Project. 08th Nov 2011 19:30

A lecture in the Salisbury Museum Archaeology Lectures (SMAL) series. SMAL lectures are held on the second Tuesday of each month from September to April in the Lecture Hall at the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum

Oral history of Coppice Worker to be shown at the Cranborne Chase Woodfair

2011-10-03T11:39:00.000+01:00

Today we are editing a short video featuring Ernie Steele a traditional coppice worker from the Cranborne Chase. We will be showing the video at this weekends Cranborne Chase Woodfair on the 8th and 9th October. See www.woodfair.org.uk

West Country Carriers. Lecture at Devizes Museum 29th October 2011

2011-10-01T09:00:00.000+01:00

West Country Carriers and Stage Coaches Before and After Turnpiking 1640-1780, an Illustrated Lecture by Dorian Gerhold, Lecture Hall, Devizes Museum
Saturday 29 October 2011. Cost £5 (Members £3)

Dorian Gerhold FSA is a Principal Clerk at the House of Commons who is also a very professional writer on historical topics. This lecture will throw new light on the economic and social development of life in the West of England and is sure to appeal to anyone interested in how goods were transported before HGV's and motorways. For more information and to book on line visit West Country Carriers and Stage Coaches or telephone the Bookings Secretary on 01380 727 369 or email her at d.barnett@wiltshireheritage.org.uk.

Flint and Pottery Courses at the Ancient Technology Centre, Cranborne

2011-09-30T16:30:00.000+01:00

Ancient Technology Centre Courses
15 & 16^th October 2011

Flint Knapping

Stone tool production reaches back over 2.5 million years and is the first visible archaeology. This course will introduce the fundamental methods of shaping and working flint to produce tools and look at turning worked flint into composite tools such as arrows, axes, or sickles.

Three methods will be explored, hard hammer percussion, soft hammer percussion, and pressure flaking and their will be ample opportunity to knap flint under direct guidance from an experienced knapper. Day two will provide an opportunity to work on a knapping project and explore the production of birch tar glues and sinew work for creating composite tools.

The course is run by Luke Winter, manager of the ATC and experimental archaeologist whose past research has centred on the replication of stone tools, their use in butchery tasks and what this tells us about human evolution and cultural development.

This course is designed for beginners and aims to develop a set of skills that can be improved with further practice. The type of tool produced in this course depends entirely on individual skill. £99.00 including longhouse stay.

Neolithic / Bronze age Pottery

Experience experimental archaeology first hand as make and fire Neolithic / Bronze age pottery Using locally sourced clays with added traditional tempers we will make pots and decorate them using neolithic techniques.

On the first day we will start by preparing our own clay, grog / tempers then build our own simple pots and the learn delicate art of fire management. The fire will burn on into the evening and will be a great social event so bring an instrument, a story or experience as we tend the fire into the night.

On day two we will look at the success of our firing and then concentrate on making beakers and urns using traditional techniques. As pots need a significant drying period participants can take their pots home to fire themselves or we can do it for you in a conventional Kiln.

Anna Hudson is an experienced potter, crafts person and artist who has worked with the centre for several years. Her experiences are many and varied and attention to detail second to none.

£99.00 including longhouse stay.

To book your place call Pascale on 01725 517618 …… atc@dorsetcc.gov.uk

www.ancienttechnologycentre.co.uk

Forthcoming Talk on the Knowlton Prehistoric Landscape at Salisbury Museum

2011-09-25T09:00:00.001+01:00

Lecture at Slaisbury and South Wiltshire Museum 11 Oct 2011 19:30

“Round Barrows – That’s where Bronze Age people buried their dead init! Nuff said”. Factually correct, if a tad simplistic, but of course the potential for learning more about society from studying these monuments it could be argued is still in its infancy. The landscape of Cranborne Chase has been at the forefront of British prehistory and archaeology since the middle of the 19th century, it having one of the densest concentrations of prehistoric monuments in north-west Europe.

In 2003 John Gale embarked upon a seasonal campaign of excavations at the little known and apparently flattened barrow group at High Lea Farm near Hinton Martell north of Wimborne. The fieldwork was completed in 2009 and the analysis currently under way is discovering information which suggests that we still have a lot to learn about these ‘familiar’ monuments of the Wessex landscape.

John will also be incorporating some early results of his recent survey work at the Clandon Barrow in west Dorset which has a bearing on the lecture title.

A lecture in the Salisbury Museum Archaeology Lectures (SMAL) series. SMAL lectures are held on the second Tuesday of each month from September to April.

Coming Soon.. Exhibition by the Archaeologist Martin Green 'Out of the Earth' at Salisbury Museum 19th Oct onwards

2011-09-24T09:00:00.001+01:00

Renowned potter Chris Carter and archaeologist Martin Green share their fascination with the prehistoric past of Cranborne Chase. Through art and artefact, they reveal a story of the humans that occupied the landscape before history was written. The exhibition runs from the 22nd October to 14th January 2012 at Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum

Out of the Earth explores a dialogue between artist and archaeologist as they respond to the objects excavated from flint-rich soils of Cranborne Chase. Artefacts from Martin’s own museum, which displays the finds he has discovered over the years, will be on display alongside Chris’s artwork and objects from Salisbury Museum and Wiltshire Heritage Museum. Together, the objects describe and uncover the imprints left by farming, community and ritual activities in the past.

Chris and Martin describe themselves as ‘sons of the soil’, both having been raised on farms in the countrysides of Warwickshire and Dorset. They met following a BBC4 radio show ‘Open Country’ which featured Down Farm on Cranborne Chase. Martin had been excavating there since he inherited it in 1979 and Chris’s interest in the Chase landscape soon developed into a passion for exploring it through his art.

The exhibition shows new developments in Chris’s work and is itself a testimony to the continuing influence of prehistoric people on us today as their artistry, communities and ritual activities are re-discovered through archaeology. Chris describes the way he searches for his pots in the clay as akin to the archaeologist’s search for an object in the earth. Cranborne Chase has encouraged his art to take new routes which have seen him sculpting from flint and creating 2D collage works. A deep-seated influence of the landscape and farming is apparent in his work; his pots suggest the sinuous twist of the plough and the symmetry of the stone axe, whilst the surface textures reflect the processes of people and nature on the landscape.

Both pot and artefact have a power and contemplative quality that makes Out of the Earth an exhibition not to be missed. Here, the passion for the Cranborne landscape and for the people who lived on and moulded it, is deep-seated, inherent and heartfelt. The stories revealed are told by two people who know the landscape intimately, both inside and out, and can tell those stories with an authority and understanding that cannot be disputed.

Man Made Water Bodies are an important feature of the AONB as new guidance explains

2011-09-23T09:00:00.002+01:00

There is evidence for relic water meadows stretching along the bottom of all the chalk river valleys in the AONB including bedworks, sluices and bridges. These provide evidence for the former crucial role of the sheep-corn system of agriculture in the AONB from AD 1600 to AD 1900.

The former use of water meadows and mills, and the creation of ponds and lakes have all had an impact on the landscape of the AONB seen today.

Systems of fish ponds and small man-made lakes are associated with chalk rivers and river valley bottoms, many of these have Medieval origins, but some also forming modern heavily designed commercial fish farms. Man-made lakes are associated with the creation of 'formal' designed landscapes of the 18th and 19th century's, including Fonthill and the pleasure lake at Shearwater - these are much more common in the northern half of the AONB.

Former mill buildings,are scattered through the river valleys including remnants of water wheels, mill races and mill ponds in chalk river valleys. These all mark evidence of former exploitation of water power in the valleys.

There are several operational watercress beds in the AONB marking the remnants of a once much more thriving industry in the chalk river valleys.

There is some evidence for the manipulation of the chalk rivers' especially where they flow through settlements - here the chalk rivers are contained in stone sided channels and the houses are often located on the opposing bank to the historic routeways, each with an individual stone bridge. The villages are associated with historic 'river' crossing points, including fords and clapper bridges.

More information on the historic use of water of the AONB can be accessed by clicking here: Theme 12: Water in the Landscape.

If you are responsible for managing a historic man made water bodies English Heritage have published some useful guidance entitled Moats, Ponds and Ornamental Lakes in the Historic Environment

Views, historic character and the AONB

2011-09-22T09:00:00.000+01:00

View points and views are how many people appreciate the AONB in the past and today. English Heritage have published a useful guide entitle 'Seeing the History in the View' which helps to assess the historic significance of views. This provides one way of valuing views within this AONB and further afield.

Grassland Trust has published Natures Tapestry, which highlights historic as well as natural importance of grasslands

2011-09-21T09:00:00.001+01:00

This new document highlights the importance of grasslands for wildlife rich but as providing an irreplaceable link to understanding our long relationship with the land. This chimes with the AONB Historic Landscape Characterisation which has highlighted the historic importance of unimproved downland in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs.

Cranborne Chase Art on Show at Dorset County Museum in October

2011-09-20T09:00:00.002+01:00

The paintings, drawings, sculpture and other artwork in the exhibition have come from a variety of sources, and range from early neo-romantic work of the 1920s to contemporary work specially made for this exhibition. The list of artists is extensive and includes painters: John Craxton, members of the Nicholson family (Winifred, Ben, E.Q., Tim), Lucian Freud, Derek Hill, Augustus John, Henry Lamb, Katharine Church (Kitty West), Frances Hodgkins, Nora, Amy and Gabriel Summers, James Allardyce, Peggy Rankin, Christopher Row, Mavis Freer, Ursula Leach, Brian Graham, John Hubbard, Paul Jones, Howard Pearce and John Hitchens. There is also sculpture by Elisabeth Frink, Peter Thursby, Ian Middleton and Ann Catherine Row; pottery by Richard Batterham, Chris Carter, Lucy Yarwood and Leonie Summers; glass by Joseph A. Nuttgens and textile rugs by Louisa Creed and Rod Hill.

In spite of all the changes which have occurred in the last hundred years with increasing urbanisation of the countryside, the Chase has remained topographically intact. It is still a breath taking landscape, an area of outstanding beauty, sparsely populated with large estates small hamlets and villages. It remains an ‘island’, a place apart, and it is this isolation, along with its unique landscape which continues to attract artists today. Like threads of a mycelium there continues to be connections between places, painters and their art. Pulling together the work of artists from the recent past and some of those working today, the exhibition will affirm the special qualities of Cranborne Chase and its hinterland and demonstrate that it retains the power to inspire artistic creativity and new progressive art.

The exhibition is to be accompanied by a richly-illustrated publication Circles _and Tangents : Art in the shadow of Cranborne Chase, _written by curator, author and artist Vivienne Light FRSA.

Black Country produces animated Historic Landscape Characterisation

2011-09-19T09:00:00.000+01:00

Following the publication of a review of HLC results online. Black Country Archaeology Service have experimeneted with producing an animation of the development of land-use in the Black Country based on their HLC. If you are interested their efforts are available from the 'Distinictly Black Country Website'.

English Heritage produces a review of Historic Landscape Characterisation on the web

2011-09-18T19:00:00.000+01:00

Earlier this year, Wolverhampton City Council carried out a rapid review for English Heritage of the current availability of Historic Landscape Characterisation material on the web. The report is now available on line at www.english-heritage.org.uk/characterisation,

The report provides a state of the moment description of how many of the 40 HLCs that are complete have results available on line and in what form; it also includes a list of web links. The review also tapped into a rich layer of enthusiasm within local authorities and AONBs for making HLC results more widely available to a broader public. This enables the report to look ahead to ways in which the present level of access can be improved.

The Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB Historic Landscape Website is held up as an example of best practice in this document

Day School on Vernacular Architecture Saturday 29th October 2011

2011-09-17T09:00:00.002+01:00

The Wiltshire Buildings Record has organised a day school entitled 'The Kitchen: The Heart of the Home From Medieval to Victorian - the development of kitchens and service rooms through the ages'

Market Lavington Community Hall, St Mary’s Rd, Market Lavington, Devizes, SN10 4DG (modern facilities and ample parking)

This will be held on Saturday 29th October 2011, 10.30-1630 (10.00 coffee) at

Speakers:

John Broad (University of Cambridge)

– Detached kitchens

Pam Slocombe (Author of “Wiltshire Farmhouses and Cottages”)

– Malting, brewing & dairying in Wiltshire houses

David Clark (President of the Vernacular Architecture Group,

Secretary Oxfordshire Buildings Record)

– Service rooms of Oxfordshire

Kathryn Ferry (Author of “The Victorian Home”)

– Below stairs - the Victorian Kitchen

Tickets are £12.50, WBR Members, Students and Senior Citizens £10.00

Available from Wiltshire Buildings Record (Day Course),

Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, Cocklebury Road,

Chippenham, Wilts, SN15 3QN.

Telephone 01249 705508

e-mail: dorothy.treasure@wiltshire.gov.uk web: http://www.wiltshirebuildingsrecord.org.uk/index.html

Dorset Manorial Register to be launched 29th September 2011 Dorset History Centre

2011-09-16T09:00:00.001+01:00

The Dorset History Centre is launching the Dorset Manorial Documents Register on the 29th September 2011 at the Dorset History Centre.

This is the official register of manorial documents for England and Wales and enables researches to locale manorial documents acorss the county. The manorial record for Dorset has been revised and is available through the National Archives website.

The history centre has also produced a Manorial Documents Guide and an online Educational Resource Pack for schools.

Wiltshire Buildings Record guided tour of Salisbury 17th September 2011

2011-09-15T14:44:00.000+01:00

Wiltshire Buildings Record is holding a guided tour of selected buildings in the area of the market place Salisbury. Our guide is Gerald Steer, WBR member and local architect who has been actively involved in the restoration a number of medieval buildings in Salisbury. This is an excellent opportunity to get behind the façade and understand how these buildings and the area in the vicinity of the market place, has evolved. Contact Dorothy Treasure at the Wiltshire Buildings Record for more information.

AONB Project mentioned in English Heritage Review

2011-09-15T14:27:00.000+01:00

The Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB Historic Environment Action Plan project forms part of a review by English Heritage called 'IMPACT, the English Heritage Historic Environment Commissions Report for 2007-10. ' For the first time this report covers projects funded under the Historic Environment Enabling Programme (HEEP) and the Aggregate Levy Sustainability fund (ALSF).

The projects that English Heritage enabled through grants from these programmes delivered understanding of the past, and encourage dpeople to value, care for, and enjoy their historic environment. In financial years 2007-10 they distributed c£19 m on projects commissioned against national priorities in support of SHAPE English Heritage’s Strategic framework for Historic environment Activities and Programmes.

Visit a 'living' Medieval Village at the Cranborne Chase Woodfair 8th/9th October

2011-09-15T13:56:00.001+01:00

The Cranborne Chase Woodfair is celebration of the historic woodlands of the area and the associated crafts and industries that it represents. From timeless crafts to contemporary designs; from modern day forestry techniques to the demonstration of a range of practical rural skills, there is something for everyone. It is being held on the 8th and 9th October 2011 at the Cranborne Chase Woodfair.

In order to celebrate 30 years of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), and also the culmination of our Historic Landscape project, Regia Anglorum will be re-enacting what life would have been like living and working on the Cranborne Chase. It will also be a demonstration of why the Cranborne Chase is famous worldwide for being a medieval hunting forest.

'We are not purely a combat society and have come a long way from the old hack and bash image associated with many re-enactment societies. There is always a certain glory to be found in recreating and reliving famous and the not-so-famous battles of times past - but they are not the sum total of history. They are specific points in time which were interspersed by long periods where the people living then, got on with their normal existence which is equally fascinating. In this way, we are not in fact just a 're-enactment' group, but a 'living history society'.

Come back with us to 1086 and see us demonstrate the changing fashions of the times, and see how people living then, got on with their normal lives.

Explore our medieval village where you can find out more about the life and times of Medieval Britain. Regia hopes to inject some reality into these once everyday activities. Whilst this can include getting cold, wet and reeking of wood smoke, just sitting around the campfire with your friends is an atmospheric experience in itself, which we hope brings the 11th century back to life for you.

A look back the Festival of Archaeology & the Cranborne Chase AONB

2011-08-04T12:20:00.002+01:00

The AONBs first year taking part in the Festival of Archaeology was a resounding success. We kicked off with a day seminar on the history and archaeology of the AONB landscape on the 23^rd July. This was attended by 87 people from across the counties of Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Somerset.

James Stanford, AONB Chair welcomed everyone to the day, and I provided a brief overview of the area. We were treated to fascinating talks on the new perspectives and discoveries in the Wylye and Allen Valley, from Mike Allen and Julie Gardiner. INtroduied to new discoveries from the Damerham Archaeology Project (Helen Wickstead & Martyn Barber), and the Teffont Archaeology Project (David Roberts). Martin Papworth provided an overview of Durotrigian identity in the Iron Age. We also learnt about new aerial archaeological discoveries (Martyn Barber) and new discoveries from reanalysing the Wor Barrow (Mike Allen)

The AONB team felt the day went extremely well and this was backed up by emails we have received subsequently, including comments like the following:

“I want to congratulate you, and thank you for organising such a wonderfully inspiring and informative seminar on Saturday. The speakers were brilliant and I certainly want to keep in touch with what they are all doing”.

The following Saturday 30^th, 26 people joined us at Martin Green’s Farm to visit his museum and explore the archaeology on his farm. In the afternoon we had a guided walk around Gussage and Wyke Down. The rain held of and we had glorious views across the chase. This event was so popular we were oversubscribed three times.

Just took part in the Day of Archaeology #dayofarch - so you can see a snapshot of my day and 399 other archaeologists

2011-07-29T16:36:00.000+01:00

My name is Emma and I am the Historic Environment Action Plan Project Officer for the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. What a mouthful! Basically what this is about is a gorgeous piece of protected landscape on the Wiltshire Dorset border which incorporates the amazing prehistoric archaeology of the Cranborne Chase, a host of Medieval hunting landscapes, the Vale of Wardour and the chalk landscape of the West Wiltshire Downs. Since 2009 we have been prodocuing a landscape scale vision for the conservation and enhancement of the historic environment of this landscape, and have developed a series of 20 actions to achieve this. We were lucky to secure English Heritage funding for this project as a best practice exemplar for other protected areas.

We are now at the stage of implementing these actions, which leads to a snapshot of my day which has been as is typical very varied...

... first thing i had a meeting with a AONB volunteer who is leading on an action to help our parishes and communities to analyse record the historic landscape character of their villages and the surrounding landscape to inform Village Design Statements and the like. We had a trial workshop at Pimperne on Monday evening and we went through the results and looked at what worked and what didnt

... i drafted a proposal for South Wiltshire CPRE outlining how they might potentially help with the implementation of the Historic Environment Action plans

...i sat down with my manager Linda and discussed the arrangements for a guided walk we have organised in conjunction with Martin Green on Down Farm on the Cranborne Chase. This is the second event which we have organised as part of the festival of archaeology. The first was an archaeology seminar last Saturday on the history and archaeology of the area which 85 people came to and which was a fantastic day

...i then coordinated with Laura the eductaion officer at Salisbury Museum over a meeting she is hosting next week focusing on interprepation, education and access to the historic environment of the AONB, and how the various museums, organisations etc can work together better

...next up i responded to a proposal for a Higher Level Stewardship scheme from Natural England on one of the designed landscapes in the AONB and gave some feedback

... i sent some details on a historic farmstead i visited yesterday to one of our local councillors

... finally I got some GIS files and maps ready for next week. I have scanned some slides for Martin Green and amgiving him the .jpegs tomorow. On Tuesday am visiting the Wiltshire Archaeology Service to hand over the AONB Historic Landscape Characterisation and some other GIS files, popping into the Wiltshire Building Record and then going to see our collegues at North Wessex Downs to chat through some Historic Landscape Characterisation data with them.

...the last thing i am doing today is completing this for the Day of Archaeology and will probably post it to my own blog too. See http://historiclandscape.blogspot.com/

Thats all for me if you want to know more about our project visit www.historiclandscape.co.uk

Cheers

Emma

The Annual Sting in the Tale storytelling festival is coming to East Dorset in August

2011-07-23T09:00:00.002+01:00

The 8th Sting in the Tale festival will be full of wondrous stories from the enchanting and adventurous, to salty sea tales and legends of love and laughter.
The festival offers stories in some of East Dorset’s most resplendent and atmospheric settings; including the Iron age Earthouse at the Ancient Technology Centre and the Neolithic site of Knowlton. Click here for the programme.

Future Meetings of the Cranborne Chase AONB HEAP Implementation Group

2011-07-22T09:00:00.000+01:00

The Implementation Group will initially split into 2 subgroups focusing on different types of actions. These groups will meet for the first time by the end of August and determine format and regularity of meetings.

Sub Group One (Chaired by Laura Bullivant & Claire Ryley) will focus on: -
Actions that deal with a Lack of Information or Knowledge AND a Lack of Appreciation or Understanding

Sub Group Two (Chair to be decided) will focus on: -
Actions that deal with Heritage Under Threat AND a Lack of Appropriate Management

If you would like to be involved please email EmmaRouse@cranbornechase.org.uk

Heritage Updates from around the Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs AONB

2011-07-21T09:00:00.002+01:00

At the HEAP implementation group several partners provided relevant updates of work they are currently engaged in. Please email EmmaRouse@cranbornechase.org.uk if you would like more information.

The Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB is waiting to hear about their bid to the HLF for a Landscape Partnership Bid for the Cranborne Chase area. They are also gearing up for the biannual woodfair at the Larmer Tree on the 8th and 9th October.
Gold Hill Museum will be reopening this month
Claire Ryley, Julian Richards and the CBA are working on a HLF bid entitled ‘What’s under your School?’ This will feed information back into the HERs, and will be a model of best practice.
The Wiltshire Historic Environment Record has been upgraded to improved GIS systems and a funding application has been submitted to English Heritage to create a Wiltshire wide Historic Landscape Characterisation
Work is ongoing with the Dorset County Monument Management Scheme, with examples being completed in the AONB at for example Cranborne Castle. This particular piece of work was a nominee for the Dorset Archaeological Awards
South Wiltshire & Salisbury Museum are submitting a HLF bid to create a new Archaeology of Wessex gallery, and have several relevant forthcoming exhbitions including exploring the Archaeology of the Cranborne Chase.
The Dig It Project at the Priest's House Wimborne was a deserving winner of the 2011 Dorset Archaeology Awards
Wiltshire museums are exploring a joint project on Wiltshire and WW1 ready for 2014.
The Wiltshire Building Records 'Historic Farmstead Project' is well underway.

Eight Cranborne CHase AONB HEAP actions now underway

2011-07-20T09:00:00.001+01:00

Eight actions out of twenty in the Historic Environment Action Plan are now underway:-

ACTION 1: Provide an AONB wide synthesis of the distinctive character of historic settlements
ACTION 2: Record and maintain historic orchards
ACTION 3: Identify and record components of historic highways
ACTION 7: Record information on hazel underwood trade
ACTION 10: Gain greater understanding of historic farm buildings and farmsteads
ACTION 11: Enhance appreciation of the Prehistoric archaeology of the area
ACTION 12: Widen knowledge of ways and means of maintaining historic farm buildings
ACTION 13: Enhance appreciation of the military history and archaeology

For more information on the delivery of these actions and partners currently involved see the Action Plan page on the AONB Historic Landscape website. Or download the updated action plan as a pdf.

National CBA Festival of Archaeology has kicked off with events happening across the Cranborne Chase AONB

2011-07-19T09:00:00.001+01:00

The annual extravaganza of heritage events is coordinated by the Council for British Archaeology. Each year the Festival showcases the very best of British archaeology, and this year the landscape of the AONB is really flying its flag. Events include:

A guided walk lead by the Wiltshire Archaeology service at Mere Castle and Whitesheet Hill (Sun 17th July)
Finds identification day at Rockbourne Roman Villa (17th July) & Legio II Augusta (24th July)
In the footsteps of Pitt River, guided walk in the northern Cranborne Chase (22nd July)
The Dorset Historic Environment Team on the road at Kingston Lacy (23rd & 24th July)
AONB Archaeology Seminar at Tisbury (Sat 23rd July)
Open day at Teffont Excavations (Sun 24th July)
A guided walk of Cranborne Chase (Sat 30th July)

There are also numerous events at the Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum in Salisbury and the Priest's House Museum & Garden, Wimborne Minster. For more information on these events visit the Festival Website.

First Cranborne Chase Historic Environment Action Plan E-Bulletin now available

2011-07-18T12:16:00.000+01:00

This new bi-monthly newsletter provides an update on progress with the implementation of the HEAP actions. It also provides an opportunity to share archaeology and history news and initatives occuring across the AONB.

The July 2011 newsletter contains the following articles:

Eight HEAP actions now underway
National Festival of Archaeology kicks off this weekend
HEAP Implementation Group Meets for the first time
Updates from around the AONB
Future Meetings of the HEAP Implementation Group

Last chance to get tickets for Archaeology Seminar on Saturday 23rd at Tisbury

2011-07-18T12:09:00.001+01:00

"New Discoveries and Perspectives on the archaeology and history of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”

Saturday 23rd July 2011 at the Nadder Hall, Tisbury, Wiltshire
9.30am to 4.30pm

Celebrate 30 years of the Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with a one day seminar aimed at local people and interested persons from farther afield. You can find out about the special qualities of the history and archaeology of the area. The event will also introduce the latest methods and techniques which are being used to investigate this landscape.

Location:

This event will be held in the heart of the AONB at the Nadder Hall Tisbury, Wiltshire, which is on the main Exeter-London Waterloo train line.

Contributors:

Contributors include Dr Mike Allen, Martin Papworth (National Trust), Martyn Barber (English Heritage), David Roberts & Patrick Morton (Sheffield University), Emma Rouse (CCWWD AONB), and Dr Helen Wickstead (Kingston University).

Who can attend?

The day is open to everyone, tickets are £10 per person including a light lunch and £5 per person without lunch.

To book your place, please download and fill in the booking form (PDF). Please send, with your payment, to:
AONB Office, Castle Street, Cranborne, Dorset BH21 5PZ. Telephone 01725 517417, fax 01725 517916.
Cheques should be made payable to Wiltshire Council.

Enquiries to Emma Rouse, Historic Environment Action Plan Officer, 01725 517417 or email EmmaRouse@cranbornechase.org.uk

We look forward to seeing you on the day!

Really enjoyed visiting the WW1 exhibition in Devizes on Friday

2011-07-18T11:30:00.001+01:00

I thoroughly recommened the exhibition currently running at the Wiltshire Heritage Museum.

Local author Richard Broadhead, has been researching the lives of soldiers commemorated on Wiltshire war memorials and to date has published four books, and his fifth Devizes District Great War will be published to co-incide with the exhibition. His work is helping to uncover more about the men who fell, ensuring that future generations will continue to remember them.

Off to see the WW1 exhibition at Devizes Museum

2011-07-15T07:04:00.001+01:00

The Wiltshire Heritage Museum at Devizes is hosting an exhibition by the historian Richard Broadhead of soldiers of the great war who dies in Devizes and the surrounding area. Richard's research extends across the whole of Wiltshire and he will be researching Dorset next. I hope to meet him to find out more about his database.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wardour Castle the perfect venue to see Shakespeare

2011-07-15T07:00:00.001+01:00

Last night I sat and enjoyed a wonderful production of Much Ado About Nothing in the grounds of ruined Wardour Castle. If you haven't been to the castle which is a English Heritage property I thoroughly recommend it. The castle was mined in the English Civil War and was then incorporated as a romantic ruin into the designed scheme for the parkland surrounding New Wardour Park.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Travelled down to Tamar Valley and had a brief explore round their mining heritage

2011-07-12T21:08:00.001+01:00

I journeyed down to the Tamar Valley today as I had meeting with one of the AONB officers on Historic Environment Action Plans. I also took the opportunity to explore the valley which is on the Dorset Cornwall border. I learnt a little about Turners work in the area including his seminal painting "Crossing the Brook". This work has been documented by the Tamar AONB. Visit the BBC webpage for a review of the book.

Of course my thoughts also turned to home because Turner is also associated with the Nadder Valley and undertook several sketches of Fonthill splendeens.

A major feature of the valley a lot less familiar however is the mining heritage present, part of which is in the wider Mining World Heritage Site. Everywhere you look there are ruined wheel houses, chimneys and spoil heaps, and there are excellent trails to help you explore this industrial heritage.

I am now back home looking forward to tomorrow as the team from North Wessex Downs AONB are visiting us in Cranborne.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Congratulations to the Priest's House Wimborne winners of the 2011 Dorset Archaeology Awards

2011-07-10T18:44:00.001+01:00

I thoroughly enjoyed attending the Dorset Archaeology Awards on Friday night and the Dig It Project being run by the Priest's House, in Wimborne where extremely deserving winners. The venue was the Tithe Barn at Hinton St Mary and the gardens of the manor where we had a picnic before hand were beautiful.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Looking forward to the Dorset Archaeology Awards this evening

2011-07-08T16:00:00.000+01:00

The AONB Historic Environment Action Plans are nominated this evening in the Dorset Archaeology Awards. However even if we don't win it will be nice to have a picnic in the surroundings of the Tithe Barn at Hinton St Mary - i will let you know how i get on tomorrow.

Off out today to Baverstock to see a Farmstead survey in action

2011-07-08T09:00:00.001+01:00

Really loking forward to taking part in a Wiltshire Farmstead Project survey today at Baverstock.

AONB working with Wiltshire Farmsteads Project

2011-07-07T13:20:00.000+01:00

I had a very successful meeting with Nigel Walker from the Wiltshire Farmstead Project yesterday. This is a great initative which the AONB is very please to help support.

The Wiltshire Buildings Record is undertaking a major project to do this. We are recording Wiltshire’s farm buildings for future generations. The work is held in our archives. The project is led by experts in historic buildings and the work is carried out by trained volunteers.

Wiltshire has a rich farming tradition and its farm buildings are a familiar part of our landscape. Each one is unique and gives us a fascinating insight into how we used to live and farm the land. Wiltshire, like all counties, is losing farmsteads at an alarming rate. The changes in agriculture in recent history have caused older buildings and yards to become redundant. Expensive to maintain, they are lost to demolition or conversion or are simply falling down.

There is an urgent need to study and record farmsteads before it is too late. For more information visit the project website

Cranborne AONB featured in new EH Guide to 'Knowing Your Place"

2011-07-04T12:07:00.000+01:00

The new English Heritage guide 'Knowing Your Place' deals with the incorporation of local heritage within plans that rural communities are producing, reviewing or updating and focuses particularly on parish plans and village design statements.

It features theAONB Historic Landscape Website and an image from one of our successful planning events.

Helping villages to understand their heritage and fed it into community plans is something this AONB is committed to. We are currently working with North Dorset District Council and the village of Pimperne to see how this process can work in our own landscape. This forms one of the actions in the AONBs Historic Environment Action Plans.

Congratulations to the Ancient Technology Centre for winning the LABC Building Excellence Award for the South West Region in the Community Category

2011-06-27T11:31:00.000+01:00

The Viking Longhouse at the Ancient Technology Centre in Cranborne is an amazing building and a worthy winner of the LABC Building Excellence Award for the South West Region in the Community Category.

As with the other buildings on the ATC site, the majority of work was undertaken by visiting school children, older students from Learning Centres and their incredible team of volunteers.

The AONB can vouch for the atmosphere created by this space as we have held both the launch of the Historic Environment Action Plans and the AONB Annual Forum there this year.

Prehistoric Rock art on the Cranborne Chase

2011-06-27T09:00:00.003+01:00

You feel very priveledged when you get to see one piece of prehsitoric rock art in a week, let alone two.

My first encounter was at Newgrange in Ireland. This excvated Neolithic tomb has stunning examples of Prehistoric Rock Art both within and outside (see top image) the burial chamber.

It made me realise how lucky we are on the Cranborne Chase to have a rare example of Southern British rock art recovered by local archaeologist Martin Green and probably belonging to the top slab of a Bronze Age cist burial (see bottom image).

For more information on the prehistory of the Cranborne Chase visit the AONB Historic Landscape Website

Looking forward to working with Pimperne on part of their village design statement

2011-06-23T20:23:00.001+01:00

Attended a very positive meeting at Pimperne village hall Tuesday night. They are developing a new Village Design Statement. At the meeting they agreed to work with the AONB on a workshop which will feed historic landscape characterisation approaches into the process. This will provide them with an opportunity to understand the historic landscape context of their village and the AONB with an opportunity to trial the use of the HLC in this type of context. This also helps with the delivery of Action1 of the AONB Historic Environment Action Plans. A win win situation. Thanks go to North Dorset District Council for making the initial introduction.

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AONB hosts european cordiale meeting and shares historic treasures

2011-06-23T09:00:00.004+01:00

|On Monday at Horton Village Hall the AONB hosted the first Cordiale Training Event between the South West and French Protected Landscapes.

Working with Landscape partners across SW England and NW France CORDIALE sets out a major investment in our collective knowledge base about forces for change and their impacts on the multiple benefits society derives from designated landscapes. CORDIALE will be a significant boost to the evidence base for landscape change and cast light on future directions and practices through focusing on landscape products such as agriculture, food, fruit, wood fuel and natural building materials.

At this training event we shared our knowledge of creating Historic Environment Action Plans and we learnt about a new monuments at Risk Survey in the North Devon AONB, new web based methods of presenting data being developed by the Tamar Valley, and the Parishscapes and Ordlando Projects in the East Devon AONB.

We then took some of the people on a fascinating tour of Martin Green's farm - which will be featured more in the next blog.

Presentation on Historic Environment Action Plans in Ireland

2011-06-22T16:52:00.000+01:00

This blog has been a little bit quite of late - this is partly due to the fact that i have been away in Ireland giving a presentation on Historic Environment Action Plans to the Irish Heritage Officers at the invitation of the Irish Heritage Council. The other presentations were very interesting including one on the historic landscape of early christain landscapes in Irelands which is using the concept of Historic Landscape Characterisations in a research context lead by University College Cork. There was also a presentation on new LiDAR studies of the Boyne valley and TARA. In fact it was proper busmans holiday because i also visited Newgrange

Stumbled across fasinating 15th century tower at the weekend

2011-06-13T13:39:00.000+01:00

Out walking at the weekend over Melbury Hill and stumbled across this beautiful 15th Century tower of the ruined Church of St Mary in East Compton.
Only the late 15th century west tower and the west wall of the former nave remain.

A stone cross stands in the churchard some 10 paces south east of the tower.

Compton Abbas provides a good example of the population shift in this case caused by the construction of the Blandford and Shaftsbury Turnpike circa 1820 which reorientated communities on a North-South
axis. The new Church of St Mary's (1866) was built near to the new road while the old church fell into decay.

Information on Knowlton Henge available via new EH website

2011-05-26T09:00:00.000+01:00

English Heritage have launched a new database called Portico which explores the histories of the sites in their care. Using this database you can find out about the history of the English Heritage sites in the AONB looked after by English Heritage, such as Knowlton Henge, what we know about them and why they are worth conserving.

West Wiltshire Downs to be visited by Countryfile

2011-05-25T09:30:00.001+01:00

Following on from my last blog discussing the BBC4 programme featuring historic sites in the AONB. This is not the only time this year that BBC cameras will be trained on the West Wiltshire Downs. My collegue Tracy Adams is preparing to help a presenter from the BBC's Countryfile explore the Downland in search of farmland birds.

Tracy is the AONB officer for the South Wiltshire Farmland Bird Project. This is part of an exciting initative working closely with farmers to stablise and increase the numbers of farmland birds and rare arable plants

The South Wiltshire Farmland Bird Project is part of the Wessex Water Partners Programme which provides funding to projects which will conserve and enhance biodiversity.

The bird species

The project concentrates on six bird species, the ‘Arable 6’, and hotspots for arable plants. The ‘Arable 6’ are:

Grey partridge
Lapwing
Turtle dove
Yellow wagtail
Tree sparrow
Corn bunting

They are specialists which depend on arable farmland.

Why not follow Tracy on Twitter to keep up to date with her progress.

BBC4 show A303 Highway to the Sun features AONB locations

2011-05-25T09:00:00.001+01:00

Tom Fort has presented a sometimes whimsical but interesting journey along the A303 in a new one off BBC4 programme entitled A303 Highway to the Sun, which is still available on iplayer . The A303 of course traverses east west across the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB transecting the open expanse and woodland caps of the West Wiltshire Downs. Tom Fort choose to visit the majestic King Alfred's Tower on the Stourhead estate. He could however have devoted a whole programme to the archaeology of the West Wiltshire Downs which includes amongst other sites extensive Iron Age and Romano-British archaeology, for example Stockton earthworks. The woodlands on the Downs are equally fascinating including Grovely Forest a former Medieval Hunting forest. You can find more information on these topics by looking at the descriptions i have written of the archaeology of the AONB by area which include a section dedicated to the West Wiltshire Downs. These can be accessed from the AONB Historic Landscape Website.

Salisbury Museum running guided walk celebrating the history of Pitt Rivers

2011-05-24T09:00:00.000+01:00

Friday 22 July 2011. A guided walk around Cranborne Chase visiting the sites of Pitt Rivers led by Adrian Green, Director of Salisbury Museum.

An enjoyable circular walk on uneven ground including some steep climbs. The walk lasts approximately 4-5 hours stopping at Rotherley and Tollard Royal along the way with fantastic views of Cranborne Chase and the Ashcombe Estate.

Please bring clothing suitable for the weather and stout footwear, sun protection, drink and snacks as required. Picnic or pub lunch at Tollard Royal.

Location: Meet at the Win Green Hill car park, grid reference ST 922 204. Turn off the
A30 at Ludwell, a few miles east of Shaftesbury and continue south for about a mile and a half. Take the gravel lane on the left (signposted ‘By-Way to Win Green’) at the top of the hill, to the National Trust car park on Win Green.

This event is part of the Festival of British Archaeology 2011. For further information see the FoBA website.

Booking: Booking required. Please contact the Museum to book.

Cost: Museum members £4.00; non-Members £5.00

AONB pilot provides window on Historic Routeways of the Cranborne Chase

2011-05-23T11:41:00.000+01:00

Historic Routeway Characterisation provide a method to allow the AONB partnership to characterise the distinctive, historic dimension of the routeways of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB.

Historic Routeway Characterisation is a relatively new concept and the AONB has undertaken this pilot study of the wooded chalk downland of the Cranborne Chase to investigate the potential of this technique for revealing information about the routeways of the AONB. This pilot complements work which has been undertaken in the Chilterns (Green and Kid 2009) and forthcoming worked planned for the Hoo Peninsula in Kent (Herring 2010). This pilot study can be downloaded as a pdf

Discover the protected heritage places within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB

2011-05-23T11:28:00.000+01:00

English Heritage have launched a searchable database of all nationally designated heritage assets including Listed Buildings, Scheduled Monuments, Registered Parks and Gardens, Registered Battlefields and Protected Wreck Sites. This provides a window on the nationally important archaeological and heritage features in the AONB.

Guided Walk on the Archaeology of Mere Castle & Whitesheet Hill

2011-05-21T09:00:00.001+01:00

The Wiltshire Archaeology Service is taking part in this years Festival of British Archaeology

The first event is an exciting guided walk from Mere Castle, which is located just north of Castle Street in the village of Mere. Mere lies at the extreme south western tip of Salisbury Plain, close to the borders of Somerset and Dorset. The walk takes in the medieval castle and it’s adjacent Bronze Age round barrows as well as the prehistoric monuments of the down edge. Surrounded by an incredibly beautiful landscape, the walk will continue across to the spectacular Neolithic Causewayed Camp of White Sheet Hill.

To book your place or to find out more information please contact:
Nancy Jane Danks, Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, Cocklebury Road, Chippenham, SN15 3QN, telephone: 01249 705504, e-mail: archaeology@wiltshire.gov.uk

For more information about other Festival of British Archaeology events in Wiltshire and beyond visit the official website at http://festival.britarch.ac.uk/

AONB Archaeology Walk as part of Festival of Archaeology - Fully Booked Twice Over

2011-05-20T09:00:00.001+01:00

The AONB has had an excellent response to the opportunity to visit Down Farm, near Sixpenny Handley and go on a guided walk with local archaeologist Martin Green - this event which is part of the Festival of Archaeology has now been booked up twice over!

Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB celebrates 30 birthday

2011-05-19T09:00:00.001+01:00

Celebrate 30 years of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty by visiting the AONBs Photostream on Flicker

AONB holds Seminar 23rd July as part of Festival of British Archaeology

2011-05-18T09:00:00.001+01:00

“New Discoveries and Perspectives on the archaeology and history of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”

Saturday 23^rd July 2011 at the Nadder Hall, Tisbury, Wiltshire 9.30 am to 4.30 pm

Tickets £5 or £10 including lunch - available by emailing info@cranbornechase.org.uk

Celebrate 30 years of the Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with a one day seminar aimed at local people and interested persons from farther afield. You can find out about the special qualities of the history and archaeology of the area. The event will also introduce the latest methods and techniques which are being used to investigate this landscape.

This event will be held in the heart of the AONB at the Nadder Hall Tisbury, Wiltshire, which is on the main Exeter-London Waterloo train line.

Contributors include Dr Mike Allen, Dr Martin Papworth, Martyn Barber (English Heritage), David Roberts & Patrick Morton (Sheffield University), Emma Rouse (CCWWD AONB), and Dr Helen Wickstead (Kingston University).

Topics to be covered include:

New discoveries from English Heritage aerial survey work in the AONB

New research on Roman Archaeology centred on Teffont, Wiltshire

New discoveries of prehistoric archaeology at Damerham, Hampshire

The archaeology and palaeo-environment of the Wylye Valley, Wiltshire

There will be a follow up an optional field visit to a site of interest on the Sunday.

Historic Routeways Characterisation discussed at Annual AONB Planning Seminar

2011-05-17T14:28:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday 11th May thirty-eight people, not including AONB staff, attended the annual AONB planning and transportation seminar. This included a good mixture of people from other AONB teams, development control staff, planning policy, and heritage conservation staff, and highway planners and engineers.

The photos from the event are available on Flicker

The day aimed to cover:

Local Distinctiveness and character and their relationship to localism
New trends in applications and the landscape issues surrounding them
New approaches to rural highways including historic routeways characterisation
The increasing importance of ‘setting’
Green infrastructure

As with previous years seminars the day was comprised of a mixture of short presentations and group exercises. The groups seemed to be very engaged while undertaking these exercises and there were some lively comments during the feedback.

The presentations from the event are available by emailing info@cranbornechase.org.uk

CCWWD AONB events as part of Festival of British Archaeology now online

2011-04-06T15:28:00.000+01:00

The Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB is taking part for the first time in the Festival of British Archaeology. Our events are now live on the Festival Website

English Heritage publishes guidance on metal theft relevant to this AONB

2011-04-06T15:23:00.000+01:00

English Heritage has issued specific guidance on metal theft in view of the intensification of the problem in recent months, particularly on lead roofs on churches. This has been a problem within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB.

The guidance highlights the importance of prevention and the need to use a combination of security measures to deter thieves. Many of the options suggested are low cost but effective measures like locking gates to prevent vehicles getting close, preventing easy access to roofs such as removing water butts, waste bins, applying anti-climb paint to drain pipes and roof guttering, and erecting prominent warning signs.

If the roof or parts of it has been stolen, the guidance emphasises that like-for-like replacement is English Heritage’s starting position but it also makes clear the conditions under which alternative materials can be considered and used by local authorities and owners on a case by case basis.

AONB produces A to Z of historic features of importance to local people

2011-03-31T12:58:00.000+01:00

In 2010 the AONB created an A to Z of locally distinctive historic features in the AONB. This was based onthe results of a brief survey which was conducted via the AONB Annual Forum, and a written request to local Woman's Institutes and Parish Councils. The survey asked people in the AONB to identify their favourite local historic feature and say why it was special to them. This list is, of course, in no way comprehensive either in content or in geographical coverage. It is idiosyncratic, personal and local, but it starts to capture heritage that is important locally. Click here for full list.


B for BRIDGES	Bridges over the Nadder and disused water meadow structures Nadder valley. It is special to me because of the evidence of works and systems which are historically important and give us a glimpse of the past.
D for DROVEWAYS	The Droves in the Chalke Valley. They are special to me because it provides real evidence of the history of life in south Wiltshire and relationship to Salisbury.
M for MILITARY CAP BADGES	Anzac Badge, cut into the chalk on Lamb Down, just outside Codford. It is special to me because It is synonymous with Codford's recent military history, and is also a reminder of our fellowship with others across the world
P for PONDS	Ashmore Village Pond. It is special to me because it is in the centre of the village
S for SUNKEN LANES	Sunken Lanes in the Melbury Abbas Area.It is special to me because it creates an air of mystery as gateways open up fantastic views of the chalk downland.

The A to Z forms part of the wider AONB Historic Environment Action Plans

Industrial Archaeology in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB

2011-03-28T09:49:00.001+01:00

Industry in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB has tended to be small scale and local as befits a predominantly rural area, utilising local geology and materials. This paints a picture of small scale local industry serving local villages and farms and the surrounding market towns.The industrial archaeology of the AONB is an understudied component of the areas history. There are few post Medieval industrial sites recorded in the county based sites and monuments record. Nearly all former industrial activity has now ceased with the exception of limited stone quarrying in the AONB.

The industrial development of the AONB in the 20th Century has followed a slightly different course, with the expansion of small scale commercial endeavors situated away from villages and farm complexes. This includes a wide range of activities including modern telecommunications, game farms, granaries and commercial chicken farming.

Archaeological evidence relating to former industrial activity in the AONB can be grouped into three categories: -

1. The generation of power through the harnessing of water and wind, and the exploitation of that power to grind corn, to make cloth, and to pump water.
2. The exploitation of raw materials through quarrying for building material and for the creation of secondary products.
3. The manufacturing of brick, tile and lime.
Many of these processes have a long history, quarrying for example can be dated back to the Iron and Romano-British periods. However until the 19th century and the coming of the Railways these industrial activities tended to be small scale in operation and to serve primarily local needs. During the industrial revolution larger scale industrial sites were developed including brick and tile works and cloth factories, which could exploit the new markets provided by the railways. For more information visit http://www.historiclandscape.co.uk/exploring_industry.html

The Wandering Archaeologist

Blandford Museum Victorian Garden Club is hosting a Potato Day in association with Pennard Plants at Pimperne Village Hall

West Kennet Long Barrow and the Surrounding Sites Tuesday 6th March 2012

Look out for Stone Age Walkers on 30th to 31st March 2012

Course on the art of landscape at Salisbury Museum

Ancient Springtime Day at the Ancient Technology Centre

Congratulations to Salisbury Museum for securing Grant from DSCMS Wolfson Fund

Bags of Creativity coming soon to Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum

Saturday 21 April - Saturday 1 September 2012.

See behind the scenes at Stourhead House

Conference in Bristol on Localism and Heritage Wednesday 7th March

Check out the winter news from Stourhead house...

Check out Will Self pondering the meaning of cemetries, AONBs and the meaning of 'english heritage' in his latest blog

New energy guide for owners of historic homes

DCMS opens up debate on Cultural Value

Survive the Stone Age this Spring at Salisbury Museum

Landscapes of Thomas Hardy's Wessex opens tomorrow

Lecture on the Saxons of Wessex in Shaftesbury

Last chance to see 'Art in the Shadow of the Chase' at the Dorchester Museum...but the exhibition is moving to Salisbury in May if you miss it

Exhibition on Thomas Hardy's Wessex opens in January in Salisbury Museum

See the AONB exhibition on the Medieval Chase this Saturday in Tisbury

Dororthy Treasure of the Wiltshire Buildings Record describes a little historic cottage in Ansty on the WSHC Blog

Shaftesbury Historical Society Lecture 030112 The Early History of Norrington Manor

Shaftesbury Historical Society Lecture 061211 North Dorset Mills

The historic garden at Stourhead is famous for its autumn colour but there is plenty going on at Christmas too - so why not check it out

Art Exhibition at Devizes Museum - The Past is Another Country

Winter Exhibition at the Devizes Museum

Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre Event Discover Wiltshires 20th Century Writers 01.12.11

BBC Countryfile features the Cranborne Chase and West WIltshie Downs this Sunday 20th at 6.25

BBC Countryfile has undertaken some filming in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB for their next programme this Sunday, 20th November, at 6.25pm.

Lecture in Blandford on the 7th Dec on the Durotriges

Tisbury Hoard goes on display at Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum

Following on from the blue plaque - explore Lancelot Capability Brown and the Cranborne Chase AONB

Explore Vernditch Chase for autumn colour and spectacular archaeology

English Heritage guides offer info on heritage assets that are important to AONB landscape

Delve into the history of Clarendon Park with lecture at Salisbury & South Wiltshire museum

Find out about the art of traditonal Swill Basket Making in this new short clip

Shaftesbury Abbey Annual Lecture 16112011 Stonehenge by Julian Richards

Find out if an asset in the AONB is worthy of protection

Explore heritage that is off the beaten path using the new SW adventure cycle map

Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum Course: Humans and Environmental Change

Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum Course: Humans and Environmental Change

When:12 Apr 2012 - 28 Jun 2012 10:30 - 12:30Where:Lecture Hall - Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum

New video extract of oral history of a underwood coppice wood worker

Sneak view of Out of the Earth exhibition at Salisbury Museum

Next Dorset History Forum lecture Saturday 19th November 2011

Wiltshire's Place in England's Agrarian History Lecture 12th November 2011

Lecture on the Damerham Archaeology Project tonight

View images from the Cranborne Chase Woodfair inc. Regia Angolorum in action

Still chance to see the Fovant Badges on BBC Countryfile

Forthcoming Lecture on Damerham Archaeology Project at Salisbury Museum

Oral history of Coppice Worker to be shown at the Cranborne Chase Woodfair

West Country Carriers. Lecture at Devizes Museum 29th October 2011

Flint and Pottery Courses at the Ancient Technology Centre, Cranborne

Forthcoming Talk on the Knowlton Prehistoric Landscape at Salisbury Museum

Coming Soon.. Exhibition by the Archaeologist Martin Green 'Out of the Earth' at Salisbury Museum 19th Oct onwards

Man Made Water Bodies are an important feature of the AONB as new guidance explains

Views, historic character and the AONB

Grassland Trust has published Natures Tapestry, which highlights historic as well as natural importance of grasslands

Cranborne Chase Art on Show at Dorset County Museum in October

Black Country produces animated Historic Landscape Characterisation

English Heritage produces a review of Historic Landscape Characterisation on the web

Day School on Vernacular Architecture Saturday 29th October 2011

Dorset Manorial Register to be launched 29th September 2011 Dorset History Centre

Wiltshire Buildings Record guided tour of Salisbury 17th September 2011

AONB Project mentioned in English Heritage Review

Visit a 'living' Medieval Village at the Cranborne Chase Woodfair 8th/9th October

A look back the Festival of Archaeology & the Cranborne Chase AONB

Just took part in the Day of Archaeology #dayofarch - so you can see a snapshot of my day and 399 other archaeologists

The Annual Sting in the Tale storytelling festival is coming to East Dorset in August

Future Meetings of the Cranborne Chase AONB HEAP Implementation Group

Heritage Updates from around the Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs AONB

Eight Cranborne CHase AONB HEAP actions now underway

National CBA Festival of Archaeology has kicked off with events happening across the Cranborne Chase AONB

First Cranborne Chase Historic Environment Action Plan E-Bulletin now available

Last chance to get tickets for Archaeology Seminar on Saturday 23rd at Tisbury

"New Discoveries and Perspectives on the archaeology and history of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”

Saturday 23rd July 2011 at the Nadder Hall, Tisbury, Wiltshire9.30am to 4.30pm

Location:

Contributors:

When:
12 Apr 2012 - 28 Jun 2012 10:30 - 12:30
Where:
Lecture Hall - Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum

Saturday 23rd July 2011 at the Nadder Hall, Tisbury, Wiltshire
9.30am to 4.30pm