History talks go hi-tech

A NEW series of online local history lectures has been announced by Ashbourne Heritage Society as it moves to online broadcasts during the pandemic.

The use of the video conferencing platform Zoom is allowing the society to reach a broader audience, say members, who will be inviting non-members to watch the lectures for free.

The first meeting of the season, based on Friar Gate Bridge in Derby, was wellattended and the next will be on Tuesday, November 10 from 7.30pm, when Sue Woore will be talking about the monastic granges of Derbyshire, based on a book she wrote with Mary Wiltshire which aims to give a snapshot of the medieval granges established by religious houses.

Sue, who lives in Ashbourne and is a member of the Heritage Society, has always had an interest in landscape history and has often worked in collaboration with Mary and others to research and produce several publications including Medieval Parks of Derbyshire, and A Catalogue of Local Maps of Derbyshire c.1528-1800.

Other talks this season are:

● December 8 – The visible heritage of the Dove and Manifold Valleys - Geof Cole

● January 12, 2021 – Derby Museums: the new Museum of Making – Laura Phillips

● February 9 – The medieval Okeover family – Peter Watson

● March 9 – The Isolation Chronicles – Sue Prince

● April 13 – The old roads of Derbyshire: travel and travellers from the Bronze Age to the 19th century – Stephen Bayley

● May 11 – Reverend Pettit’s Tales of

Old Staffordshire – Philip Modiano

For details, visit ashbourneheritagesociety.org.uk or email ashheritagesoc@ gmail.com