News & Reports
October 31, 2024|Reports
“The Manor of Wickham – Part 2”
Fittingly for a talk on the Manor of Wickham our first meeting of the autumn season of Wickham History Society talks took place at Rookesbury House by kind permission of the Rookesbury estate. Just under a hundred Wickham History Society members and Carpenter Garnier family descendants attended on September 24th to hear Geoff Phillpotts complete…
Find Out More »May 31, 2024|News | Reports
Wickham History Society: Annual Report 2023 – 2024
Chair’s Introduction Firstly, I should like to express our sorrow at the death of Margaret Edgworth. Margaret had joined the Committee relatively recently but had already become very involved in our oral history work. We all miss her enthusiasm and dedication. It is very encouraging that our membership continues to grow – reflecting the care…
Find Out More »May 31, 2024|Reports
“Southampton: Water, Slaughter And Trade” – Andrew Negus
Having completed his four-part history of Portsmouth in the autumn of 2023, Andrew Negus joined us again for the first of a three-part talk on the history of Southampton. Did you know that Southampton has more surviving original stone city walls even than York or that the abbreviation Hants is because our county was originally…
Find Out More »April 30, 2024|Reports
“A Titanic Conspiracy” – Andy Skinner
Our April 23rd speaker, Andy Skinner, works at SeaCity Museum in Southampton and has always been fascinated by the number of conspiracy theories he hears about the ship’s sinking. You would think hitting an iceberg was unusual enough to satisfy the most active imagination but 13 visitors and over 60 members of Wickham History Society…
Find Out More »February 29, 2024|Reports
“The Garniers of Rookesbury: from Charitable Apothecary to Country Squire” – Dr Rosemary Baird Andreae
We were treated to the fascinating talk on the history of the fine Greek Revival house now known as Rookesbury Park in Wickham. As Huguenots, the first members of the Garnier family to come to England proved themselves as diligent professional apothecaries. In the eighteenth century they acquired through marriage a house and fields at…
Find Out More »January 31, 2024|Reports
“Powers behind the Throne: The Women of the First Millennium” – Dr Imogen Cooper
Wickham History Society’s first talk of 2024 was a virtual one. Imogen Corrigan, joining us from Kent, making a welcomed return on January 23rd to talk to 55 members and guests about what is known of powerful women of the first millennium in western Europe. Interestingly before the Norman conquest, Anglo Saxon women had much…
Find Out More »December 31, 2023|Reports
“Stories From The Tower Of London” – Anthony Strafford
Our traditional Christmas joint meeting with the Wickham Society on 12th December was great fun with Anthony Strafford in full Beefeater regalia. Anthony served and lived in the Tower of London and gave us some splendid stories of famous women who had had the misfortune, deserved or underserved, to end up there. He also had…
Find Out More »November 30, 2023|Reports
“The Story Of Sutton Hoo” – Lyndon Plamer
We had an unexpected change of programme at the last minute on 28th November, as our speaker was ill – a disappointment, but we do hope to have her back next year if possible. We were very grateful indeed to Lyndon Palmer, who stepped in at a day’s notice to talk on Sutton Hoo to…
Find Out More »October 31, 2023|Reports
“Harlots, Dung and Glory: History of Portsmouth Part 4” – Andrew Negus
Sixty-six members and guests of the Wickham History Society heard the concluding talk on Portsmouth’s history by Andrew Negus. Once again, it was an engaging and detailed talk done without notes: Andrew is a very accomplished speaker, and he knows his subject having been brought up in Paulsgrove. The title for this talk is misleading:…
Find Out More »September 30, 2023|Reports
“The Manor of Wickham” – Geoff Phillpotts
Ninety-three members and visitors – a record! – attended the first meeting of the Wickham History Society’s Autumn Programme. The subject was a local one: The Early History of the Manor of Wickham and Geoff Phillpotts, Chair of the Society, took members through the manor’s first 600 years from the eleventh century to the seventeenth…
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