Visit: Coach Trip to Shropshire
A coach visit to Shropshire, taking in St Mary's Church, Tenbury Wells; St John the Baptist at Stokesay Castle and Stokesay Court, near Craven Arms, described by Niklaus Pevsner as ‘the most grandiloquent Victorian mansion in the County'.
Members’ Afternoon
Members and their guests are invited to bring a maximum of 6 images on a memory stick to explain and share.
Visit: Great Malvern & Malvern College
A guided tour of Great Malvern Railway Station by Peter Clement from Malvern Civic Society; then a guided walk of Great Malvern by our Chairman, Stephen Hartland; lunch at the Mount Pleasant Hotel; then a tour of Malvern College by our Honorary Treasurer, James Fletcher, who works at the college. Malvern College was founded in 1865 and is regarded as one of England’s premier independent schools. The tour of the campus includes the main College (1865), Chapel (1899), Pavilion (1894), Music School (1862), St Edmund’s Hall (1905) and others. We will finish with refreshments in the Memorial Library (1924).
A guided tour of the graveyard of All Saints, Childwall, by Diana Goodier
The tour will highlight some of the most interesting burials from the Victorian period - the shipping magnates, local politicians, founding members of the university and a couple of architects.
50 Years of the Liverpool Group of the The Victorian Society
Roger Hull has been an active committee member of the Liverpool Group of the The Victorian Society for many years and will tell the fascinating story of the group since its foundation in 1974.
Ilkley, from village Spa to Victorian resort – a walk with Alex Cockshott
Ilkley started as a village with fresh air and pure cold water. It had an increasing number of visitors in the Victorian era. With the arrival of the railway station in 1865, and the Middleton family starting land sales against a planned grid, the village expanded. We shall look at how the town centre developed, including the Grove.
Exploring Oldham’s heritage as the “cotton-spinning capital of the world.
This magnificent Victorian town park was built by the people of Oldham during the cotton famine, sparked by the American Civil war. Now registered Grade II* it opened in 1865 and we will see its restored features, listed monuments and structures and well-maintained planting.
Exploring Oldham’s heritage as the “cotton-spinning capital” of the world.
This magnificent Victorian town park was built by the people of Oldham during the cotton famine, sparked by the American Civil war. Now registered Grade II* it opened in 1865 and we will see its restored features, listed monuments and structures and well-maintained planting.
Manchester’s theatre district – a walk with David Astbury
Back by popular demand! David Astbury (former Vic Soc Manchester Chair) will lead a repeat walk on the Theatres of Oxford Street and Peter Street, a walk of about two hours passing through what was once the heart of Manchester’s historic theatre district.
Victorian Short Story Reading Group: ‘The Pipe of Mystery’ by G.A. Henty
This story involves the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857 but is told at a jovial gathering from the perspective of an adventure, with no mention of the politics or problems which led to the troubles.
Victorian Short Story Reading Group: ‘The Rise of Ram Din’ by Alice Perrin.
This story provides an insight into the life of Indian servants, which is told through the voice of the Indian servant, rather than his Western master. There are many thematic contradictions such as loyalty/disloyalty; power struggle/duty; revenge and manipulation/honest labour.
From Palaces of Art to the Studios of Bohemia: Artists’ Houses in Victorian Kensington and Chelsea, by Jo Banham
Successful Victorian artists, like Leighton and Luke Fildes, earned incomes that meant they were able to commission magnificent, purpose-built studio houses in the leafy suburbs of Holland Park and Kensington. The less wealthy and more unconventional, like Rossetti and Whistler, gravitated towards Chelsea, occupying picturesque old buildings in the area. This lecture reviews the two most famous artists’ colonies - Melbury Road, Kensington and Cheyne Walk and Tite Street, Chelsea - and explores the lives and interiors of the painters who lived there.
Victorian Short Story Reading Group: ‘Kidnapped’ and ‘Thrown Away’ by Rudyard Kipling
We start with stories of India. As we explore these stories, we should gain a more personal perspective of the lives lived within the colonial system than that recorded in the history books.
Victorian Short Story Reading Group: ‘The Body Snatcher’, by Robert Louis Stevenson with June Lawrence
This Scottish short story of two grave robbers has characters based on criminals employed by the real-life surgeon Robert Knox (1791–1862).