Chester Society for Landscape History
Upper storeys of Chester’s iconic Rows (Photograph: Vanessa Greatorex)
Field trip to Aldersey Green (Photograph: Carol Sparkes)
Forthcoming Events
Saturday 22 February 2025, 1.30pm
AGM & Lecture: The River Dee from Source to Mouth
Speaker: Jim Holmes, Royal Geographic Society
Admission: Members free, Visitors £4, Student Visitors £2
Venue: St Columba’s Church Hall, Plas Newton Lane, Chester, CH2 1SA (free car park; for directions see https://sscolumbaandtheresa.co.uk/about/st-columbas-church/directions-and-location/).
Saturday 22 March 2025, 2pm
Lecture: Saving Parks and Gardens
Speaker: Glynis Shaw, Welsh Historic Gardens Trust
Admission: Members free, Visitors £4, Student Visitors £2
Venue: St Columba’s Church Hall, Plas Newton Lane, Chester, CH2 1SA (free car park; for directions see https://sscolumbaandtheresa.co.uk/about/st-columbas-church/directions-and-location/).
Saturday 26 April 2025
Field Trip: Bidston area of Wirral
Leader: Emeritus Professor Jim Marshall, Liverpool Geological Society
Members only. Booking essential. Details of how to book will be emailed to CSLH members in due course.
Saturday 31 May 2025: Eastham Victorian Pleasure Gardens
Leader: David Mottram
From the 1840s to the 1920s, Eastham Pleasure Gardens provided extensive attractions and entertainments for day trippers on the Liverpool to Eastham Ferry. Attractions included floral and zoological gardens, music, dancing and theatre productions, circus acts, a boating lake, water chute and a loop-the-loop railway ride. On this walk we will try to re-live these exciting days.
What is Landscape History?
Landscape History is the study of how people have altered the landscape through time.
It seeks to explain the historical significance of the buildings, earthworks, flora and other physical features which are our common heritage. It embraces aspects of history, archaeology, architecture, geography, geology, botany and other disciplines.
“The English landscape itself, to those who know how to read it aright, is the richest historical record we possess.” – W.G. Hoskins, The Making of the English Landscape (1955).
Picks of the Week
Here are some links to online landscape history resources recently recommended by our Information Officer and other members:
Sutton Hoo helmet may indicate that Anglo-Saxons fought as mercenaries for the Byzantine Empire
A military campaign against Sasanian Persians – rather than trade – may have been the source of some of the artefacts found in the Sutton Hoo burial.
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/famous-sutton-hoo-helmet-may-be-clue-that-early-anglo-saxons-fought-as-mercenaries-for-byzantine-empire-study-suggests?utm_term=45CAB862-7568-43AB-A667-BD7298D261D3&lrh=84ce638986bc73b191ec0774c05a547009942838093c58c9450b62a0b824de21&utm_campaign=368B3745-DDE0-4A69-A2E8-62503D85375D&utm_medium=email&utm_content=D88EA8BD-89B3-4E1C-8D1D-3F5C10FDFA02&utm_source=SmartBrief
11th-century silver coin hoard
The remains of a cloth and lead pouch containing 321 silver coins in mint condition has been found in Suffolk. The coins, were produced between 1036 and 1044 during the reign of Edward the Confessor.
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/i-was-shaking-when-i-first-unearthed-it-11th-century-silver-coin-hoard-unearthed-in-england?utm_term=45CAB862-7568-43AB-A667-BD7298D261D3&lrh=84ce638986bc73b191ec0774c05a547009942838093c58c9450b62a0b824de21&utm_campaign=368B3745-DDE0-4A69-A2E8-62503D85375D&utm_medium=email&utm_content=275C55DD-B107-450A-80CC-5BD5C9ABA45A&utm_source=SmartBrief
Click on the blue text at the end of this sentence for links to previously recommended online resources