What’s On.
Photo of Salisbury Cathedral by Diane Vose
Upcoming Events.
We hope that you will wish to join us for some, or all, of these events and that you may wish to put the dates in your diary. Details for some events will follow nearer to its date.
MILLIONAIRE SHOPPING: THE COLLECTIONS OF ALFRED MORRISON OF FONTHILL 1821-1897
Wednesday 21 May 2025, 7.30pm
A talk by Caroline Dakers
Alfred Morrison was one of the most important and unusual collectors of the nineteenth century in Britain. He amassed not just one but a number of major collections: engraved portraits; Chinese porcelain; contemporary paintings and sculpture; Old Masters; coins and medals; exquisite and elaborate pieces of virtu made for him by European craftsmen; autograph letters. His London and country houses had interiors of unusual and striking design by Owen Jones and across forty years he collected and commissioned regardless of cost.
Cost: £10 per screen. All proceeds to the Wiltshire Victoria County History Trust. Booking: essential via ONLINE link below.
THOMAS HENRY WYATT, VICTORIAN ARCHITECT IN WILTSHIRE
Wednesday 11 June 2025, 7.30pm
A Talk by Julian Orbach
T.H. Wyatt (1807-80), eminent Victorian, was President and Gold Medallist of the RIBA. More than a quarter of his 400 known works are in Wiltshire, including the Assize Courts at Devizes and the Italian church at Wilton. His work should be better known.
Cost: £10 per screen. All proceeds to the Wiltshire Victoria County History Trust. Booking: essential via ONLINE link below.
THE SEARCH FOR MAUD HEATH
Wednesday 1 October 2025, 7.30pm
A Talk by John Chandler
Maud Heath's Causeway is a well-known feature of the North Wiltshire countryside, running for more than four miles from Bremhill Wick to Chippenham. On the way it crosses parishes covered in the forthcoming VCH volume, and so it seemed sensible for VCH researchers Louise Ryland-Epton and John Chandler to delve into the legend of the mysterious founder, to try to discover who she was and what was the purpose of her causeway. In doing so they have overturned traditions that had built up through the centuries, and in this lecture John will explain how they went about it and what they found out.
Cost: £10 per screen. All proceeds to the Wiltshire Victoria County History Trust. Booking: essential via ONLINE link below.
SHELBURNE AND SIDMOUTH - TWO WILTSHIRE PRIME MINISTERS
A Talk by Micheal Hodges:
The Whig Anglo-Irish 2nd Earl of Shelburne (1737-1805), later 1st Marquis of Lansdowne, owner of Bowood House outside Calne, was Prime Minister from 1782-3. The Tory Henry Addington (1757-1844), MP for Devizes 1784-1805, later 1st Viscount Sidmouth, was Prime Minister from 1801-1804. In spite of their various qualities, neither was an outstandingly successful Prime Minister. Why?
Cost: £10 per screen. All proceeds to the Wiltshire Victoria County History Trust. Booking: essential via ONLINE link below.