Armchair Archaeology

Speaker: Graham Guilbert

The aim will be to explore something of what we know of hillforts in this region, covering considerable variety in their form and density of distribution, and extending west from Derbyshire into the Welsh Marches.  Only a few instances have been investigated sufficiently thoroughly and extensively to allow any confidence in interpretation, and those few can lead us into consideration of certain themes and issues having great influence upon general understanding of hillforts. Graeme’s first engagement with hillforts came in the late 60s, through excavating at Cadbury Castle in Somerset, thereafter focusing upon forts in Wales and its Marches, and more recently extending to those in Derbyshire.  He is never more content than when trying to get to grips with the earthworks of a fort located on some remote hilltop.

Speaker: John Arguile

Derby was never a major force in brewing, its claim to fame was rather as a centre of malting and latterly the last stronghold of publican brewers in the UK. The book on which the talk is based grew out of a study of the Big Six brewers that once dominated UK brewing, currently being serialised by the Brewery History Society.  The talk will deal with the rise and decline of the first common (wholesale) brewers namely Alton & Co; Stretton Brothers and Offiler’s Ltd; the smaller brewers they absorbed; the many publican (home brew pubs) brewers and lastly with their modern counterparts, spawned largely by Gordon Brown’s progressive beer tax regime. John Arguile was a founder member of what became the National Brewery Heritage Trust and has been a contributor to the Brewery History Society since 1986.

Organised by the Industrial Archaeology Section

Speaker: Amy Bracey

In February 2024 an extensive archive came up for auction. Within its pages the daily workings and the lives of the workers are documented. Drawings, photographs and letters bring to life the people who worked for Holmes of Derby - a company who expanded to other towns and to the great coach making city of London. Spanning 150 years of a 500 year coach making history, the archive is of international importance. The talk will give an insight to the company history and explore the items within the archive. Amy Bracey has a degree in Art History and Heritage Management and has worked with museum collections relating to canals, archaeology and decorative arts, but her love of carriages became a career when working for the National Trust, cataloguing their carriage collection. She now works as Project Curator for The Carriage Foundation, an educational charity, and advises museums and individuals across the globe on the care, conservation, history and research of horse-drawn carriages.

Speaker: David Mercer