LATEST NEWS
Wallingford Medieval Fair - 21 August
The next event in the Framing the Future calendar will be an exciting Medieval Fair to be held on the Kinecroft on Saturday 21 August from 10.00am to 5.00pm. That's the date when we had originally hoped to raise the frames of the new timber-built annexe but as that has had to be postponed to September next year (see below), we thought we'd put on a different kind of big holiday-time event to encourage a wider public into the town.
There’s been tremendous support for this idea and we are lining up an ever-growing list of traditional crafts-people to display their wares for sale, demonstrate their skills and also provide a range of opportunities for all ages to ‘have-a-go’ for themselves. So far these include spinning, basket-making, lace-making, pottery, painting, jewellery-making, and scrivening, but the list is still open for extension.
Central to the day will be a ‘Living History’ display with medieval knights in armour, ladies-in-waiting, a cook, a barber-surgeon, a smith, an archer, a ‘dodgy’ relic seller and much more. Lots of live displays and a taste of action!
Just for the children there will be ponies to ride (in medieval costume) and a (bouncy) castle to enjoy. Suitable traditional food - centred on a pig roast - will be on hand to sustain you through the day and you’ll be able to enjoy watching the sponsored ‘criminals’ in the stocks pelted with (less traditional) wet sponges. I’m assured that our very own Knight Crusader (the Wallingford High Steward) will be present on the day to ensure fair play! We are investigating more ‘criminals’ to present themselves for the stocks, hoping that they will find many sponsors to encourage them to face the ordeal and raise lots of money for Framing the Future. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are already on the list but we have our eye on others… and you can even volunteer for this notoriety – just contact us!
A prize town treasure hunt will encourage people to search out the modern shops in the town and link them to the trades of the past, discovering more of Wallingford’s rich medieval history. One port of call will certainly be the Museum where some of the town’s ancient market-related documents will be on show (courtesy of the Berkshire Record Office). We’ll also be offering a ‘2 for 1’ entry for the day.
We are still seeking new contacts for crafts such as
stone masonry, leather-working and wood carving – some of our known
contacts are sadly away on August 21st! We also welcome ideas and
helpers for medieval-style ‘sideshows’ to help make money, and any other
bright ideas. And, of course, we shall need lots of helpers on the day
and lots of people to spread the word and to come along with friends and
relatives. So reserve the date for a very special day out! If you’d like
to be more involved, if you have any ideas, or if you can help on the
day, please contact
Judy Dewey (651127) or
Peggy Holland (834652) or Katharine Keats-Rohan (835663).
Wallingford Castle features in 2010 Conference
The Museum is once again teaming up with the Burh to Borough Project to present a third conference. This year the subject is Wallingford Castle in Context and it will be held on Saturday 9 October in the Methodist Church Centre, Wallingford. The provisional list of talks is as follows:
Judy Dewey (TWHAS) - Wallingford Castle: from medieval castle to modern
amenity: an historian’s perspective; David Roffe - Wallingford and
Nottingham: a comparison of two Royal castles; Andy Norton (Oxford
Archaeology) - Recent work on Oxford castle: new finds and new
interpretations; Oliver Creighton & Michael Fradley (University of Exeter) - Castle
landscapes in the Middle Ages: Wallingford in context; Gareth Williams
(British Museum) - Power and money: interpreting Wallingford’s mint;
Michael Fradley (University of Exeter) - Wallingford: castle and the
urban space; Jeremy Taylor (University of Leicester) & Oliver Creighton
(University of Exeter) - Surveying and interpreting Wallingford Castle's
buried archaeology; Matt Edgeworth (University of Leicester) -
Spectacular evidence: digging Wallingford Castle in the 1960s and 1970s
and again in 2010; Andy Hyam (ULAS) - The Castle Trenches 2009 and 2010:
Inner Bailey and Queen’s Arbour.
To download a booking form (PDF) click here. Alternatively, if you'd like to have a booking form sent to you, please send a request to Judy Dewey at judy@piepowder.co.uk
Framing the Future Delayed but Project Goes Ahead!
Because of difficulties with the timing of grant decisions, the Board of Directors has regretfully decided that the build event to construct the timber-framed Annexe must be postponed until next year - but the project will still go ahead. For details of latest developments, please click here.
Now You Can Donate On-Line through JustGiving
If you wish to make a donation to the Museum, your payment can now be made on-line by using this link:
www.justgiving.com/wallingfordmuseum
JustGiving also has other facilities, such as the ability for you to set up your own JustGiving account on behalf of the Museum or create a page in memory of someone. Browse the site for options and instructions.
Museum's 2010 Season
The main Special Exhibition exhibition is Wallingford Before the Town. This is our first major exploration of the area in prehistoric times, before the Saxon town was created, looking at earlier discoveries and some of the latest results from recent research and investigations. With objects ranging from the Neolithic to Bronze Age and Roman, the emphasis is on the lifestyles of the people, brought to life through a number of specially prepared reconstruction illustrations.
Upstairs in our 20th Century Gallery, we are Celebrating Wallingford Schools looking at Education in and around Wallingford in the last century, with the emphasis on local schools in the 20th century. Some of the displays are by the schoolchildren themselves.
Also new is an Agatha Christie shop
window, with the emphasis, appropriately enough, on the author's
involvement with archaeology. The other window features
Time, including models of the
medieval inventor Richard of Wallingford's medieval clocks.
New Book Now Available: "Origins of the Borough of Wallingford"
Available now from the Museum bookshop is the new British Archaeological
Report called "Origins of the Borough of
Wallingford - Archaeological & Historical Perspectives"
edited by KSB Keats-Rohan & DR Roffe.
It is largely based on papers presented at last year’s conference,
Origins of Wallingford - A Reassessment, but with additional
material, and covers a wide range of topics, including a comprehensive
Wallingford bibliography.
The recommended retail price is £28 but the Museum shop is selling them at a special discount price of £24.
The Wallingford 'Burh to Borough' Project
The Museum and TWHAS (see below) are involved in this major research programme led by archaeologists from the Universities of Exeter, Leicester and Oxford. It includes archival research, geophysics surveys and practical archaeology, all based in and around Wallingford. For details go to this page. For three weeks in July 2008, there were three major excavations taking place: on the Kinecroft, Bullcroft and the Castle site. As the results emerged, they were presented in the Museum. In 2009 there were three further weeks of major archaeology with trenches on the Castle Site (inner bailey), Kinecroft and Wallingford School site.
2010 Dig Dates: There are TWO excavation seasons for 2010 - April 10-24 and July 10-24. In April there were some geophysics and an excavation on the 1960s Nicholas Brooks's site on the Castle, plus test pits in the Paddock as part of the St John's School Centenary celebrations - all the children helped with digging and sieving!In July there will be a bigger excavation in Queen's Arbour plus more garden archaeology.
Museum Receives Full Accreditation
Status
We are delighted that Wallingford Museum has now been awarded FULL ACCREDITATION status with the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council scheme. We were one of the first museums in Oxfordshire to receive Full Registration some years ago - this new stage in the process is an even more rigorous examination of the systems, governance and management of the collections and the visitor experience as whole. Only if all the standards are fully met is Accreditation granted. Like Registration before it, it is an essential requirement for successful applications for grants.
Joint Publicity Venture
Wallingford Museum works
with four other local attr
actions to create a new publicity partnership
- Days Out around Wallingford & the
Wittenhams. The other organisations are:
Pendon Museum, Project Timescape, Dorchester Abbey Museum
and the Cholsey & Wallingford
Railway. Each
organisation helps promote the others so tourists - both local and
from afar - are encouraged to "make a day of it" by visiting two or
three of the attractions on the same day. Each attraction has a
link to the special "Days Out" website which includes a map -
click here - and we
have produced a joint leaflet.
TWHAS Information
This website also hosts pages about our sister organisation, The Wallingford Historical and Archaeological Society. The meetings programme for 2010 can be found here.
Now available for local historians and those researching their family history is the TWHAS Documents Group WALLINGFORD NAMES INDEX. For details click here.