What’s On.

THE STORY OF CLOUDS HOUSE: FROM A PALACE OF ART TO A HOME FOR WAIFS AND STRAYS

by Caroline Dakers

Wednesday 24 April 2024 - 7:30pm

Clouds House near East Knoyle, designed by Philip Webb for the Hon. Percy and Madeline Wyndham and completed in 1886, was described as 'the house of the age'. Professor Dakers will outline the commission of Clouds and the relationship between Webb and his clients; the Wyndhams' taste for Morris & Co.,  and the work of D.G .Rossetti, G.F. Watts, Frederic Leighton and John Singer Sargent. She will follow the story of the house through the First World War in which the Wyndhams lost 5 grandsons; the sale of the house and estate in the 1930s; the reduction in size from 30 bedrooms to 10 and its subsequent use as a home for 'waifs and strays.'

Tickets are £10 per screen.

WILTSHIRE PASTIMES: AN HISTORICAL LOOK AT SPORT AND RECREATION IN WILTSHIRE

by Ally McConnell

Wednesday 25 September 2024 - 7:30pm

This talk will take us on a journey through recreational pursuits in Wiltshire through the centuries, as represented in the Wiltshire and Swindon Archives, from the sports clubs and societies to school sports and hunting and shooting. We hear also about when it can all go wrong, using examples from the depositions and coroners’ bills.

Tickets are £10 per screen

THE COUNTRY HOUSE GATE LODGE

by James Holden

Wednesday 27 November 2024 - 7:30pm

Country houses are often hidden from view at the centre of their estates and it is the gate lodge by the public road which announces their presence. So the gate lodge stands in for the house, and in its architecture provides an advertisement for the taste of the owner. The result is a set of small buildings with big architectural pretensions, from the serious to the entirely fanciful, giving a fascinating insight into the tastes of the last 200 years. James Holden's talk will trace this story, plentifully illustrated with examples from Wiltshire, a county which contains some of the finest gate lodges in the country.

Tickets are £10 per screen

RECENT RESEARCH ON CLARENDON PARK

by Rosalind Johnson

Wednesday 26 June 2024 - 7:30pm

Clarendon Park, in south-east Wiltshire, is a former royal estate, esteemed by medieval kings for deer-hunting. The magnificent Clarendon Palace, now a ruin, was the setting for feasting and entertainment, but also for conducting serious matters of state. In the 17th century, Clarendon Park passed out of royal hands and became a private country estate. This talk will discuss the latest research on Clarendon Park and the palace in the context of previous histories of the estate.

Tickets are £10 per screen

MURDER BY WITCHCRAFT

by Louise Ryland-Epton

Wednesday 23 October 2024 - 7:30pm

The year 1564 was a tumultuous one for the wealthy and connected Bayntun family of North Wiltshire. It started with the death of the head of the family, Sir Andrew Bayntun, owner of the manor of Stanley. Disaster then stuck just before Easter when the infant, William Bayntun, new heir to the family fortune, died in suspicious circumstances.  Soon after a Stanley widow, Agnes Mylles, was accused and confessed to killing the child by witchcraft. Implicated by a witchfinder and tried under new witchcraft legislation, she was hanged.

This talk looks at the events that surrounded the death of William and its aftermath.  We will uncover a tragic chain of events involving a family at war and the murky politics of the Tudor court. Surprisingly, despite circumstances leading to one of the earliest English witchcraft trials, the story has largely been overlooked by historians.

Tickets are £10 per screen.