Blagdon Local History Society
Events in 2024
A selection of events organised by the Blagdon Local History Society which include talks at the Lodge, Blagdon Club and trips to sites. Many of the reports originally appeared in or are an extended version of reports in the Blagdon Parish Magazine. Sometimes we might actually reproduce a facsimile of the original pages in the Magazine.
THURSDAY 14th NOVEMBER
2.30pm in the afternoon in Court Lodge
BEDMINSTER COAL. BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS
with Garry Atterton
This was the brilliantly told story of five generations of coal miners set in the context of the growth and decline of a lost industry in Bristol and Somerset. The story culminates in the Dean Lane colliery disaster of 1886.
ZOOM
This talk could not be held on Zoom, however it will be recorded and an online link will be circulated.
Also future meetings are unlikely to be held on Zoom because of problems associated with Court Lodge, which have irritated not only those online but the live audience in Court Lodge, who have experienced interruptions and delays.
This meeting was recorded and was made available on our website or on YouTube at : https://youtu.be/BNilA3gz4_8.
Non-members will still be able to give a donation to support our society if they wish.
Unlocking the mysteries of the stones
with Eamonn McGivern
On 8th May 2024, Blagdon Local History Society members and many visitors were treated to a wide ranging and fascinating talk about stone circles, including the local lesser known ones at Stanton Drew. Eamonn set out what is known, and more importantly not known, about these huge ancient monuments, Stonehenge and Avebury being the most excavated and visited. The talk went down so well that quite a few members relished the chance to have a conducted site visit on July 15th(see below).
Because we have no recorded history from four or five thousand years BC we have to rely on conjecture to come up with answers: why were they constructed, what were they used for and what significance did they have for our ancestors. Clearly a huge amount of effort went into moving monolithic stones into particular alignments. Were they linked to sun worship, seasonal celebrations, meeting places, religious festivals, fertility rites or something else? We do know that there use probably changed over the thousands of years of their existence, that they were altered and plundered, that original earth henges, ditches and banks have disappeared.
Unlike Stonehenge and Avebury which have been extensively excavated with the latest technology, Stanton Drew circles remain much less well documented, in a farmer's field: The Grand Circle, two smaller ones and the three huge stones known as The Cove. It is now thought these three may have formed an entrance to a burial barrow. And in latter years, technology has revealed that there were henges around the circles and nine concentric rings of timber posts within the largest circle.