The Farnsfield Heritage Trail was launched today – 4th November 2023
Some photos of the launch event are shown below. The event was attended by around 100 people and was a great success. Gill, the secretary gave a welcome to all visitors and they were invited to have a drink, some cake and to view the finished leaflet (and take away). The website page was also on view, alongside boards with a collection of archive photos of Farnsfield’s past. Look out for a wider circular trail to be developed in the future….
2020: Our first meeting of the new year was in January, when GEOFFREY BOND who lives in Burgage Manor, the home of Lord Byron from 1803 for five years, told us about his time there and how Elizabeth Piggot, who lived opposite him and his mother, encouraged Byron to write poetry. Byron’s first poems were printed by the publishers Ridge of Newark-on-Trent. Their offices were on the site where Mr. Porter’s butcher’s shop now stands on the Market Place. Only 50 copies were printed and received not very good reviews so all but four were destroyed. We also heard about his later life and writings
Byron acquired such a reputation for womanising that he was shunned by Society so in 1809 he went abroad and travelled. He helped the Greeks in their resistance against the Turkish occupation of their country. When he died in Greece at only 36 his body was embalmed and buried in Hucknall church. He did not have a plaque in Poets Corner of Westminster Abbey until the 1960s. A fascinating talk about a poet who is possibly more famous in Greece than in Britain.
At our February meeting Dr. Paul Cullen gave a very interesting talk on Place Names in Nottinghamshire. He is editor of the Vocabulary of English Place-names and also the Society’s Survey of Lincolnshire. He is an authority on Family Names, having worked as a research fellow on the Family Names of the United Kingdom project.
Our A.G.M. will be on 11th March at 7.30 in the Lower Hall of the village centre. Long-time resident and member, Patrick Stevens, will remind us of the preparations for the Millennium celebrations he and others worked on for the village. New members are welcome to attend.
On Wednesday, 8th April we welcome PAUL MANN Q.C. again, this time to tell us about “The Attempted Murder of Judge Bristowe” – a light-hearted glimpse into the late Victorian era of Law and Dentistry. (This event has been cancelled)
For more information about our future meetings please look at the calendar of events.
Our November 2019 meeting was “NURSING ON THE HOME FRONT IN NOTTS. IN WORLD WAR I”
It was a joint presentation by Marion Caunt, Rosie Collins and Pauline Woodhouse from Radcliffe-on-Trent. They have done a great deal of work there in researching the First World War as it affected the people of Radcliffe-on-Trent and preparing an exhibition of memorabilia in 2014. Since then they have continued with their research. At our meeting they concentrated on three women living in the village during the First World War and what they contributed to the war effort. One was Claire Birkin who had married into the Lace Manufacturing family and lived at Lamcote House, a grand dwelling that became the Lamcote Auxiliary Home for Officers in the war, sadly demolished in the 1980s.
Grace Durant became a nurse and was sent to Malta and stayed for quite a long time to nurse soldiers in the war. She continued to nurse after the war was over.
Lily Chadwick had a hard life with many children and poverty. She worked in a munitions factory but took on other jobs during her life to make ends meet.
There is much more to learn from the website Radcliff on trent in WW1
Books from the Society
We have books “A History of Farnsfield” (£5.00) and memories of Farnsfield (£3.00) as well as Philip Marsh’s book on Farnsfield’s own pioneer and explorer Augustus Gregory whose family emigrated to Australia in the 19th Century.
“Farnsfield to Rainworth – Journey of a Lifetime” (£7.50) is selling very well and can be obtained from Farnsfield and Southwell libraries, the Bookcase in Lowdham and Five Leaves bookshop off Long row, Nottingham. We also have copies of all these and also Philip Marsh’s book on Farnsfield Wesleyan Methodist Chapel.