A one-day conference highlighting the industrial heritage of Wiltshire
Programme:
9.30am – REGISTRATION
10.00 – WELCOME
10.05 – Building Georgian Chippenham – architects, builders and materials, by Mike Stone (previously scheduled for 2022)
10.50 – COFFEE
11.10 – Iron stone and Steam: Brunel’s Railway Kingdom, by Tim Bryan, Director of the Brunel Institute
The completion of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s original Great Western Railway line from London to Bristol in 1841 confirmed his reputation as one the Victorian era’s preeminent engineers and opened up opportunities to extend his broad-gauge railway empire across much of the West Country, Wales and the Midlands. Tim Bryan, Director of the Brunel Institute at the SS Great Britain Trust will tell the story of Brunel’s railway projects drawing on research done for his new book ‘Iron Stone & Steam: Brunel’s Railway Kingdom’ due to be published by Amberley in November 2023.
12.00 – Bath in the 1970s: Industrial Heritage, Environmental Conservation and Festivals, by Stuart Burroughs, Director of the Bath at Work Museum
12.50 – LUNCH. Not provided. Bring your sandwiches, or there are numerous bars and cafes in the Market Place, just a short walk from the Town Hall.
14.15 – Restoring the Wilts and Berks Canal, by John Farrow
15.00 – TEA
15.25 – Taking to the road in Georgian Wiltshire, by John Chandler
The eighteenth century witnessed a transport revolution only a little less profound than the railways in the nineteenth, based on the efforts of turnpike trusts to improve the road system, and stagecoach proprietors to seize the opportunities that better roads presented, for faster, safer, and more efficient travel. Wiltshire, lying between the metropolis and the west country, was a key component of the developing inland transport network, and this talk will explore how the county and its travellers fared.
4.30 – CONFERENCE ENDS
This page will be updated if there are any changes to the programme.
Date: 21 October 2023
Times: 10am to 4.30pm (registration from 9.30am)
Venue: Devizes Town Hall, SN10 1BZ
Tickets: £15 (£13 WANHS members) – held at the 2022 rate.
Booking: Essential. Book online below.
Terms and Conditions
- Unless sold out, online bookings will close at 9 am on the day of the event.
- Booking for events
- Cancellations, Refunds and T&Cs
- No responsibility can be accepted by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society (the Society) for accidents or injury sustained during the course of any event arranged by the Society.
Image Caption – Swindon Engine House. © Courtesy SS Great Britain Trust
Bookings will open shortly. Page updated 5/8/23