Lewes History Group

Gideon Mantell Birthday Memorial Lecture

Gideon Mantell first met Mary Anning when he visited her shop in Lyme Regis in Dorset on 27 June 1832, but he had known of the famed fossil dealer and her remarkable fossil discoveries for at least 12 years.

This talk will examine what we know of the life of this extraordinary woman, her famous – and less well-known – discoveries, and her part within the wider network of the developing science of palaeontology in the early nineteenth century.

Tom Sharpe was formerly Curator of Palaeontology and Archives at the National Museum of Wales and taught geology in the lifelong learning departments of both Cardiff and Bristol universities. He is the author of The Fossil Woman. A Life of Mary Anning, published by The Dovecote Press in November 2020.

More details: Gideon Mantell Birthday Anniversary Talks Series

Venue: Lewes Town Hall Council Chamber, High Street, Lewes BN7 2QS

Admission: Tickets in person or over the phone £4 from Lewes Tourist Information Centre, 01273 483448

You will be asked to leave an email address. If the Covid guidance changes the talk will be delivered over zoom.

This talk has been organised by Debby Matthews. Contact: debby.matthews@yahoo.co.uk

National Archives online talk by Melanie Backe-Hansen

After the First World War, there was a revolution of housing across Britain. The population demanded better housing for all, more investment into council housing, and changes to mortgages – all of which brought into play a much bigger rethinking of housing provision that would dominate the 1920s and extend into the 1930s.

In this fascinating talk, Melanie Backe-Hansen, house historian and author of House Histories: The Secrets Behind your Front Door, will take us into the world of houses in the 1920s.

Eventbrite Booking link

A Zoom Webinar

Dr Marc Morris: The Anglo-Saxons – A History of the Beginnings of England

In addition to our monthly talks, we are trialing occasional talks on broader topics suggested by members which could inform their research interests, or throw some light on how Lewes was affected by major historical events and periods.

This first talk looks at Saxon England – a period key to the foundation of Lewes.

In the early fifth century Britain was a former Roman province, descending rapidly into ruin. But by the early eleventh century it was dominated by a newly forged kingdom called ‘England’ – a country of shires, sheriffs, bishops, and boroughs, with boundaries much the same as they are today. The Anglo-Saxons caused that transformation.

The story of their tumultuous journey, from warlords to kings, from paganism to Christianity, and from a galaxy of competing peoples to a single, unified nation, is the subject of this talk.

Dr Marc Morris is the author of The Anglo Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England. His other books include a best-selling history of the Norman Conquest and highly acclaimed biographies of King John and Edward Ist. He presented the TV series Castle and wrote its accompanying book.

To join this talk, you need to
1) register your intention in advance
2) receive our confirmation email with a link to the talk
3) click on that link to attend the talk 10 minutes before it starts

LHG Members can attend our talks for free. We will send members emails with a link to Zoom registration. Then please follow steps 1, 2, and 3 as above. 

Non-members can buy a ticket (£4) from TicketSource. The ticket will provide a link to Zoom registration. Then please follow steps 1, 2, and 3 as above.

Please join the webinar at 7:25pm.

We would recommend a computer screen or an iPad as a minimum screen-size for viewing our webinars.

Our presenters will be speaking live, and you can ask questions by typing in the Q&A box in Zoom.

See the Talks page for a list of  forthcoming monthly events organised by the Lewes History Group.