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 26 April 2025
Field Trip (members only): Bidston
Leader: Emeritus Professor Jim Marshall, Wirral Geology and Landscape Project & Liverpool University
Details: The circular nature of St Oswald’s churchyard in Bidston indicates an early origin. The manor and hall date back to at least 1397, and the core buildings of the village date from the 16th to 18th centuries. The hill itself offers many fascinating geological and morphological features.
Saturday 31 May 2025
Field Trip (members only): Eastham Victorian Pleasure Gardens
Leader: David Mottram
Details: 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.
Booking essential. Details of how to book will be emailed to CSLH members in due course.
Thursday 3 July 2025: Chester Festival of Ideas
Venue: Chester Town Hall, Northgate Street,
Chester CH1 2HJ
Free public talks by members of Chester Society for Landscape History:
10am-11am: What’s in a Name? Understanding Place-Names and their Link with the Local Landscape
(Speaker: Dr Sharon Varey)
1pm-2pm: Magna Carta: Take Two
(Speaker: Emeritus Professor Graeme White)
3pm-4am: Unforgotten Children: The Moving Story of the Foundling Hospital at Chester
(Speaker: Dr Anthony Annakin-Smith)
More details: https://festivalofideas.chester.ac.uk/events/
Saturday 27 September 2025, 2pm
Visitors welcome
Lecture: Title tbc
Speaker: Dr Alan Crosby, British Association for Local History,
Editor of The Local Historian
Venue: All Saints Church Centre, Vicarage Road,
Hoole, Chester, CH2 3HZ
Admission: Members free, Visitors £4, Student Visitors £2
NB: For directions, please scroll to the bottom of the Centre’s own website and click on the text which says ‘Map and Directions’: https://allsaints.church/venue-hire/
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:
Ritual use of cheese at Durrington Walls
Archaeological analysis has revealed that pottery in ceremonial areas at Durrington Walls, a Neolithic henge in Wiltshire, contains the residue of dairy products, whereas pottery in nearby residential areas contains meat residue.
https://digventures.com/2015/10/cheese-was-food-of-the-gods-in-neolithic-britain/?mc_cid=c6fe5e42c1&mc_eid=fc106e6893
Chester’s ‘mysterious’ past makes it one of Britain’s most haunted cities – or does it??
Chester has snagged the number one spot as the UK’s most welcoming city in Booking.com’s annual Traveller Review Awards – but it’s also been voted one of Britain’s most haunted cities, albeit by only 15% of 2,000 survey respondents.
https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/chesters-mysterious-past-makes-one-31127037?utm_source=cheshire_live_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morning_daily_newsletter&utm_content=&utm_term=&ruid=fee879e0-f9b7-4c6f-8ca5-a9fa64e03ff9&hx=84ce638986bc73b191ec0774c05a547009942838093c58c9450b62a0b824de21
Click on the blue text at the end of this sentence for links to previously recommended online resources