“Meet the Researchers”

Our recent Zoom session, called “Meet the Researchers”, held on 25th February 2021, was a great success, with over 50 attendees.

We heard from three of our researchers: Dr Rosalind Johnson, Dr Louise Ryland-Epton and Dr Mark Forrest, and our Consultant Editor, Dr John Chandler. They described some of their most recent findings which will be contributing to Volumes 19, 20 and 21.

Louise Ryland-Epton talked to us about a fascinating case of supposed witchcraft in Bremhill in Tudor times. On a similar theme, Rosalind Johnson described some of the many crimes and alleged crimes which have occurred in Whiteparish and Landford, in the far south east of the county, over the centuries.

Mark Forrest talked about the importance of manorial records and how they can show us much about ordinary people’s lives, not just those of the rich. He used his current research in Mere to illustrate his talk.

And finally, John Chandler traced the development of the town of Chippenham for us, from Anglo-Saxon times to the coming of the railway, with a visual tour of the town to illustrate his points. He demonstrated how so much of Chippenham’s development is similar to that of other Wiltshire towns.

Chairman David Moss said: ‘This is the first online seminar we have held and I was very pleased at both the attendance and the quality of the presentations. We will get back to live talks as soon as we can but I think online talks might well be a continuing part of our programme from now on.’

It was a great couple of hours with real insight into different parts of our county, all of which will be documented in forthcoming VCH volumes. If you would like to know more about any aspect of our work, why not contact us via this website.