Want to know more about your family? Your house? Already carried out some research and would like an expert to check it over? Do you need advice on how to go further? How can you discover all those amazing additional resources that you don’t even know about yet? It doesn’t even matter if your family […]
The opening taster meeting for History Portal Club. Together we'll explore myths and truths about various tunnels believed to exist under the town. Where are they? Who built them? Where do they go? Why do we love the idea of a secret tunnel? This fun opening session will look at the subject from all angles, […]
I'm happy to announce the next two static sessions of History Portal Club, planned for September. History Portal Club is friendly regular meet-up for curious locals who love stories from the past, hidden landmarks, and great company. It’s a great way to explore the local area’s past together – no lectures, no stuffy rooms, just […]
I'm happy to announce the next two static sessions of History Portal Club, planned for September. History Portal Club is friendly regular meet-up for curious locals who love stories from the past, hidden landmarks, and great company. It’s a great way to explore the local area’s past together – no lectures, no stuffy rooms, just […]
A meeting of History Portal Club, with Lucy Whitfield, Historian Together we'll look at commonly-held rumours about incidents in Chippenham's past that pepper local history discussion, and whether there's any truth in them - so we're talking aliens, murders, escaped wild animals, arson plots, palaces, accidents and so on. This interactive club session will explore […]
A town walk meeting of History Portal Club, with Lucy Whitfield, Historian. The guy that built the house that is now the Brunel Pub, by the arches, was John Provis. He, and his identically named dad, built a lot more of Chippenham than that - the Bear Hotel for example, and loads more. And Lucy's […]
A meeting of History Portal Club, with Lucy Whitfield, Historian. We'll take a deep dive into the life of the Sanitary Laundry, which was just by Ivy Lane School (the chimney's still there, albeit a bit shorter than it was). This workplace employed generations of townsfolk, but piecing its history together is a job and […]
A History Portal Club meeting. Together we'll look at whether the town took up the fight for everyone’s equal voting rights. Were post boxes bombed? Did anyone evade the census? Was there any opposition? What did townspeople think? This interactive club session will explore the politics of suffrage & suffragettes and equal rights, and how […]
A History Portal Club walk'n'talk - pick from a weekend (Sat 15) or weekday (Wed 19) session. As a group we'll explore the many missing pubs that used to punctuate Chippenham’s streets. This walk and talk will take a look at long gone hostelries and inns, from the earliest records to those that disappeared just […]
A History Portal Club walk'n'talk - pick from a weekend (Sat 15) or weekday (Wed 19) session. As a group we'll explore the many missing pubs that used to punctuate Chippenham’s streets. This walk and talk will take a look at long gone hostelries and inns, from the earliest records to those that disappeared just […]
A History Portal Club meeting. Together, we’ll look at the old school on Cocklebury Road. Earmarked for demolition, it’s one of the places known as the Grammar School. Where were the others? Who worked there? What did pupils learn? This interactive club session will explore the life and times of secondary schooling in Chippenham through […]
