BACAS Lectures at BRLSI : 2023/24

Thursday 12th October 2023

‘Medieval Bath’
Steve Pratt, Bath Mayor’s Guide

Following on from his talk to BACAS last year on the Saxon period, this takes the story of Bath forward from the Norman invasion as the city continued to develop and grow .

Thursday 9th November 2023

‘The Archaeology of the Combe Down Stone Mines’
Mary Stacey, Project Manager and Neville Redvers-Higgins, Curator of the Museum of Bath Stone

A five year project costing £150m infilled the 18th century stone mines under Combe Down to avoid collapse. The resources used and the archaeological heritage recovered and recorded will be discussed.

Thursday 14th December 2023

‘Bath Abbey : The Stories behind the Stones’
Jeremy Key-Pugh, Member of the Parochial Church Council

Bath Abbey has more memorials than any other church in Britain with over 800 ledgerstones on the floor and 600 wall tablets. The talk will explore the reasons for this unique collection and share some of the histories that have been uncovered.

Thursday 11th January 2024

‘A Career in Ruins’
Andrew Ziminski, Heritage Stonemason

Andrew has worked on churches, listed bridges and archaeological sites for the past thirty years in Bath and the Southwest. He has studied the work of his predecessors and discovered their use of tools and techniques for quarrying and dressing a variety of stones.

Thursday 8th February 2024

AGM and Members’ projects

Royal Victoria Park – Janet Pryke
Prior Park ‘Bason’ – Tim Lunt
Roundup of BACAS activities – Shaun Wilson

Thursday 14th March 2024

‘Exhuming Oldfield’
Dr. Robert Heath

Robert Heath will take us through the detailed story of this fascinating property, originally thought to be 17th century but now found to be very much older with Saxon and earlier remains in the vicinity, and update us on the latest finds from the BACAS dig which has been going on for the last year.

All talks start at 7:30pm.

All talks are at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, 16 Queen Square, Bath, BA1 2HN. The start time is 7:30pm. Admission charge of £4 for members (on display of a current BACAS membership card), and £5 for the general public. Pay on the door.

Photo by Ad Meskens – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12567818