Event - Hyson Green Exhibition (Nottingham)

“It felt like one great big communal house with loads of different people living in it.”

“I was washing up and I kind of had this feeling somebody was watching me and I turned around and this ghostly nun stood at the kitchen door. I was terrified, absolutely petrified.”

“As kids, we were known as Greenies because we live in Hyson Green and we were proud to be Greenies. And, as an adult, I was proud to be a Greeny as well.”

Those are just some of the things that people remember from living at Hyson Green Flats - one of Nottingham’s best-known urban landmarks during the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

Now, people can find out for themselves what life was like at the Flats, by visiting an exhibition about the building and the people who lived there, which opens on Saturday 19th November at the Museum of Nottingham Life at Brewhouse Yard.

The Flats were built in 1965 and were demolished just over three decades later in 1988. They stood where the Asda supermarket does now, in Hyson Green. The Flats were made up of 593 individual flats and maisonettes.

The exhibition will include a new film about the Flats, which includes ex-residents talking about their memories of living and growing up at the Flats plus the chance to see objects from the Flats such as a piece of concrete that was salvaged when the Flats were demolished in 1988 and personal items including an old street sign, rent book and record player.

The exhibition opens on Saturday and runs until 15th January 2012.

Save Roman Southwell - Heritage park plan proposed

A rival planning application has been submitted for a site in Southwell that contains Roman remains believed to be of national importance.

Mr Trevor Wight, of Southwell Heritage Trust (centre) and Mr John Lock, of Southwell Community Archaeology Group (right) presents the petition to district councillor, Mr Peter Harris. (011111JT1-10)

Southwell Heritage Trust has submitted an application to create a heritage park on the former Church Street site of the Minster School to Newark and Sherwood District Council.

The district council’s planning committee is due to discuss an application for 29 homes on the site, submitted by the landowner Caunton Properties Limited, on Tuesday. It is recommended for approval.

Mr Roger Dobson, chairman of Southwell Town Council and a member of the heritage trust, said the group strongly felt that the heritage park plans were the best way forward for the site.

The plans would see the area left as an open space with interpretation boards giving the history of the site and what it would have looked like.

Mr Dobson said: “It would mean that the site would be open with no housing on it, so there would be an opportunity in the future for further investigation and further excavation.

“Through successive excavations, the story of the origins of Southwell has slowly come to be revealed.

“With only about 10% of the site having being excavated it is reasonable to believe that further excavations could be expected to fill in some of the gaps in Southwell’s early history.

“Clearly there would also be some tourism potential because the site would be open for people to visit and it could also be used as an educational resource.

“We want to show that it is a nationally important site.”

Although the heritage trust does not own the Church Street site, they are legally able to submit a planning application for the land.

The trust has been actively opposing the application for homes.

On Tuesday a petition against the housing development, containing 3,000 signatures, was presented to the district council.

Mr Dobson said: “We feel very strongly that there is no need for housing on that site because we have got sites in the town that could be developed so there is absolutely no need for houses there.

“Also, there should not be any housing at all in that location because it is an outstanding area of heritage.

“It should be retained as a heritage park for the best interests of the town.”

An exhibition featuring the history and some of the archaeological finds unearthed on Church Street began in Southwell Minster yesterday.

The exhibition will include Roman plaster recently rediscovered in the minster.

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/news/Heritage-park-plan-proposed

Event - New exhibits at Bassetlaw Museum (retford)

HISTORY enthusiasts are encouraged to check out the brand-new Cabinet of Curiosities exhibition at Bassetlaw Museum.

The exhibition recreates the style of a Victorian cabinet of curiosities, which was a room filled with a variety of unusual objects collected from natural and social history, archaeology and geological sources.

The museum’s cabinet displays a wide range of artefacts such as Chinese shoes for bound feet, devil’s toenails, charms from Bassetlaw against witches, a cricket ball presented to Harold Larwood, a bank note issued by The Bank of Retford and many others.

Included in the display is a puzzling collection of souvenirs brought from the South Seas by ‘’the late Captain G. Williams the last time he came over before his murder’’.

They belonged to Mr Robert Leonard Towne, grocer of 48 Bridge Street, Worksop who died in 1907 and were donated by his son.

The museum staff would welcome any information about the mysterious Captain Williams and his possible adventures.

Katarzyna Wosiak of Bassetlaw Museum said they would love to know more about Captain Williams and the stories behind his South Seas adventures.

“Part of the collection was in the museum in the 1930s when it was based in Worksop,” she said.

“We are appealing to any local historians or history buffs who may know about Captain Williams’ connection to the town to let us know more about him.”

The exhibition runs Monday to Saturday 10am-4.45pm until Saturday 10th September.

For more information Call Bassetlaw Museum on 01777 713749.

Event - Food glorious food at museum (Mansfield)

This year Mansfield Museum’s summer exhibition will be called Our Local Larder: Mansfield Food Past And Present, which will be taking a look at food, marvellous food, in all its guises.

The exhibition will be running from Saturday, August 6, to Saturday, November 26, and displays will be looking at the history of British food and the influence of foreign cuisine on our diet, with plenty of space given to such local specialities as the Gooseberry Pork Pie.

There will be lots of activities on offer throughout the summer including making and decorating your own chef’s hat, food tasting and a full-blown Food Fair.

Jodie Henshaw, museum development officer, said: “As always we would like to involve as many of our visitors in helping put our displays together as possible. We would like people to tell us all about their own family-favourite dishes and if we receive enough we plan to make them up into a modest recipe booklet to sell in the museum to celebrate Nottinghamshire nosh!”

The museum is also on the look-out for the loan of retro and vintage kitchen utensils and recipe books. If you feel you can help with this or any other aspect of what promises to be an intriguing project, ring Jodie Henshaw for an informal chat on 01623 463088.

From: http://www.eastwoodadvertiser.co.uk/lifestyle/theatre/food_glorious_food_at_museum_1_3579709

Exhibition - Our city’s twin towers (Sheffield)

IT is the oldest building in Sheffield, one of the city’s most instantly recognisable landmarks and a place where thousands gather each year to worship, to pray and to attend the odd concert.

But here is Sheffield Cathedral as you have probably never seen it before.

Because this is how the nearly 600-year-old Grade I listed building was set to look if hugely ambitious plans drawn up in the 1910s had come to fruition.

A second spire, a massive new south-facing nave stretching across the courtyard to where the trams now run and a complete redevelopment of the north side with a modern chancel and sanctuary would have made the cathedral one of the largest in the UK.

These pictures – and more than 100 others from the building’s long past – are to go on display at a special exhibition celebrating its history this month.

“It’s difficult to imagine just how impressive the Cathedral would have looked if the plans had been made reality,” says Paul Sewell, cathedral verger and the man behind the exhibition.

“But these pictures certainly give a flavour of just how huge it would have been if those plans had gone ahead.”

Those plans, then, were drawn up in 1913 when the then parish church had just been granted Cathedral status.

Sheffield was a confident and newly rich city – with the growth of the steel industry – and the Cathedral was to reflect its growing importance.

Celebrated ecclesiastical architect Charles Nicholson drew up the plans which would have been funded by the church and the city.

But, while huge swathes of the development were completed, including the Chapel of the Holy Spirit, the Crypt Chapel of All Saints, the Chapel of St George and the Chapter House – all on the north side and worked on in the 1930s – perhaps the more impressive elements never happened.

Why?

“It took so long to complete the development on the north side,” says Paul, “by the time they were ready to work on other areas World War Two had started and the plans were abandoned.

“There just wasn’t the material or funding to carry on, so it never happened.”

Indeed, when the conflict ended in 1945, and with Britain suffering a period of austerity, new scaled back plans were drawn up.

Another architect, Arthur Bailey, was appointed and it was his vision which we today see on the south side – a narthex entrance leading to an extended west end with a lantern tower, completed in the 1960s.

Although the new Cathedral – officially called the Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Paul – was considerably smaller than it would have been, it still dwarfed the old church footprint.

“In a way it was perhaps a blessing because one of the things people really love about the Cathedral now is its open courtyard,” says Paul.

The exhibition of photos, including several newly discovered pictures from the 1920s - 1940s, is being held to celebrate the Cathedral’s Gateway Project, a scheme to make the building more visitor-friendly.

It runs there July 11 – August 19.

A brief history of Sheffield cathedral

900s: The Sheffield Cross, a Saxon religious monument now housed in the British Museum, is believed to have been sited where today’s Cathedral is.

1100s: William de Lovetot builds the first church here. Stones from this first building can still be seen in the east wall of the Cathedral’s sanctuary.

1266: The church is burned down during the Second Barons’ War but is rebuilt some 14 years later.

1430: A new church is built – it is this which forms the basis of the Cathedral we see today.

1520: The Shrewsbury Chapel is built – the first of several expansions over the next 500 years.

1805: A diarist records the church is ‘one of the most gloomy places of worship in the kingdom’ and the nave is later pulled down and rebuilt.

1913-14: The church is granted Cathedral status. There follows four decades of expansion and improvements.

2011: The £1.25 million Gateway Project is launched to make the Cathedral more visitor-friendly.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/the-diary/our_city_s_twin_towers_1_3547129

Event - Decoding Dining at Welbeck 1695-1914 (Welbeck)

Dinner with a Duke: Decoding Dining at Welbeck 1695-1914, exhibition focuses on 400 years of entertaining at the home of the Duke of Portland, looking at the lavish and fashionable tableware, entertaining as social duty, and the specialist departments that included hothouses, bakehouse, poultry house, dairy, fruit and vegetable gardens along with stories of servants eating and drinking to much while the family was away, Treasury Gallery, Harley Gallery, Welbeck, near Worksop, until February 2012.

From: http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/arts/listings_exhibitions_events_may_19_may_26_2011_1_3407865

Exhibition - The Dinosaur Footprints Found In Mansfield (Mansfield Museum)

During the last 100 years there have been several discoveries of what were thought to be dinosaur footprints, in the Mansfield area.

Some of the discoveries have a proved to be footprints but, as is the case with most impressions of this kind, no one has been able to identify, beyond doubt, what type of animal actually made the prints.  We can only draw conclusions about what it was like from the footprint itself.  The task of identifying the footprints has been made even more difficult by the fact that no dinosaur remains have been found in the Midlands, except from in Kenilworth Sandstone.  This rock has been found to contain pelycosuar remains, which are about 20 million years older than the footprints found in Mansfield.

The first discovery was made in October 1897 by Mr Francis Holmes in Rock Valley Quarry in Mansfield.  He found a series of footprints forming two double rows, parallel to each other. One row could be followed for about two feet, but the other one could be traced for nearly seven feet.

The first description of these footprints was published in 1906 by George Hickling who suggested that the tracks were made by two animals of the same type, walking side by side.  One was slightly larger than the other – because the lengths of the strides were different. The prints themselves showed that the animal’s weight was taken on the palm (being the deepest imprint) and the hind feet were bigger than the fore feet, each having five toes. The feet were possibly webbed and almost definitely clawed and Hickling also suggested that the animal had an awkward, clumsy gait (because of the irregular spacing of the prints) the animal was named ‘Chelichnus Hicklingi’ an exact match could not be made with other records.

A later examination of these prints by W.A.S Sarjent in 1966 revealed evidence of ‘tail drag’ showing that the tail was not continually touching the ground and was probably relatively short.

It is thought that the animal was not particularly large – its body was probably about 2½ - 3 feet (nearly one metre) long. It wasn’t very active and was quite slow moving. However there is not enough evidence to tell what the animal was; it could have been a predatory amphibian or an herbivorous reptile. These prints are now in the Natural History Museum at WollatonPark in Nottingham.

A second set of footprints was discovered in 1986 at Gregory’s Quarry in Mansfield. These are much larger than those of the Chelichnus Hicklingi but are about the same age, around 250 millions years old.

These prints are not in clearly defined track ways like the pervious set, but groups of three or four closely spaced prints were found probably made by one individual. Most are about 15-16 cm long and wide. The larger ones consist of four forward pointing toes and one big toe which points sideways. The animal trod heavily on the sole of its foot but also using the toes to some extent.

The smaller prints are less well preserved and the number of toes has not been identified yet. They may have been made by a hand or a smaller animal. It is more likely to be a hand because the small prints are over-trodden in parts by the larger ones where they are in the same line as each other.

It is thought that the animal which made the prints was a plant eating reptile, perhaps 2-3 metres in length, similar to plant eating reptiles now. (If it was carnivorous it would have had claws)

We must remember that neither of the animals which made any of the footprints were anything like the better known dinosaurs like the T-Rex. They were smaller and more reptile like and would have looked much less dinosaur like than many people imagine.

We have very little evidence to go by yet towards identifying the animals or being able to discover exactly what it looked like.

The Author Of This Article Is Unknown

The dinosaur footprints can been seen on display at Mansfield Museum until Saturday 19 March 2011.

From: http://www.ourmansfieldandarea.org.uk/page_id__353_path__.aspx

Nottingham to host the Warren Cup in a major exhibition of Roman artefacts

A famous Roman artefact once considered too shocking to be exhibited is coming to The University of Nottingham as part of a major new exhibition.

The Warren Cup, a silver cup decorated with scenes of male homosexual love, was recently featured in the BBC series A History of the World in 100 Objects and has its permanent home in the British Museum. It is only the second time the cup has left the Museum to be displayed outside London.

The cup will form the centrepiece of a three-month exhibition Roman Sexuality: Images, Myths and Meanings running at the University’s Weston Gallery at the Lakeside Arts Centre, which brings together a wide variety of artefacts and images from Roman art and archaeology and investigates what they meant to those who made and used them.

The exhibition marks the first collaboration between The University of Nottingham Museum and the British Museum and will offer people in the city and region the chance to see rare and celebrated Roman artefacts without having to travel to the capital.

The exhibition is co-curated by Clare Pickersgill of the University of Nottingham Museum, Dr Paul Roberts of the Department of Greece and Rome, British Museum in collaboration with Manuscripts and Special Collections, University of Nottingham

Dr Roberts said: “When we think about the Romans we think of gladiators, emperors and soldiers, but this exhibition focuses on ordinary people — and a fundamental part of their lives.

“Roman writers had set views on sex but objects like the Warren Cup or even humble oil lamps tell a different, more diverse, story. These objects — and people’s reactions to them — also make us think about issues of sexuality in our society.”

The Warren cup was made in around 15BC–AD15 and believed to have been found at Bittir near Jerusalem. It is named after the American Edward Warren who purchased it in 1911. Warren was one of the most well-known collectors of his day — other famous pieces in his collection included Rodin’s The Kiss, now on display in the Tate Modern Gallery in London, and the painting of Adam and Eve by Lucus Cranach, now at London’s Courtauld Institute.

Following Warren’s death, the cup was offered to several institutions, including the British Museum, but was considered too sexually explicit to display and none would take it. In 1953, the cup was turned away from the United States after its images offended the sensibilities of a customs official.

Only in 1999, following major changes in the law and public attitudes towards homosexuality, was the Cup finally given a permanent home in the British Museum, where it is now one of its most celebrated and discussed pieces.

The new exhibition begins by looking at how Victorian attitudes have affected the way we have collected, displayed and studied objects like the Warren Cup and looks at all aspects of love and sex in the Roman world including the gods, goddesses and myths associated with sexuality.

The Roman world was more comfortable with sexual imagery than many other cultures. Roman art, from luxury items such as the Warren Cup, to wall paintings, sculpture and everyday tableware and lamps, was filled with depictions of the body and human intimacy. The Romans, like the Greeks, believed that sex and sexuality were governed by several deities, including Venus, goddess of love, and Bacchus, god of wine and fertility, and their images fill Roman art and mythology.

In addition, the exhibition features objects which to modern eyes may appear to be sexual but to the Romans conveyed other meanings connected to fertility, superstition or humour.

Terracotta body parts such as wombs or breasts, and figurines showing birth or nursing mothers were common offerings at temples and shrines and also graves. Superstition provided the largest body of sexual imagery. Images of the phallus were made from materials including gold and bronze, pottery, bone and coral. Statuettes, plaques, mosaics, shop signs, tintinabula (wind chimes) and jewellery were used to protect businesses, households, children and even animals.

Clare Pickersgill said: “The University Museum currently displays a wide variety of Roman artefacts from regional excavations, especially Margidunum at Bingham, that show many aspects of everyday life. This exhibition enables another Roman topic, not commonly discussed and often misunderstood, to be explored.”

The exhibition also contains objects from The University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections Department alongside pieces from Nottingham City Museums and Galleries and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge.

Roman Sexuality: Images, Myths and Meanings runs at the Weston Gallery, Lakeside Arts Centre, University Park campus from January 14 2011 to April 11 2011 and is open Monday to Friday 11am to 4pm and Saturday and Sunday from 12pm to 4pm.

A series of lectures and gallery talks are planned to accompany the exhibition and more information can be found at lakesidearts.org.uk/Exhibitions.html

Entry to the exhibition is free but please note that the explicit imagery on some exhibits may be unsuitable for children and it is advised that adults accompany children under the age of 16.

From: http://presszoom.com/story_163746.html

Exhibition: Nine Men’s Morris - a Creswell Crags Medieval Mystery, Creswell Crags 11 December 2010 - 27 March 2011

When archaeologists working through the Victorian spoil heaps at Creswell Crags in 2006 uncovered a stone with a familiar carved geometric pattern, it opened yet another aspect of the ever-developing story of the important prehistoric caves.

What the experts from Sheffield University had unearthed was in fact a medieval incarnation of the strategy board game Nine Men’s Morris, which had been popular since Roman times.

Its discovery provided a glimpse into medieval activity at the Crags, which is the most important cluster of caves inhabited during the last Ice Age and the scene of paleolithic finds ranging from stone tools to cave paintings. But it also opened up a medieval mystery; how did the game get there and who had made it?

Now a new exhibition in the Special Exhibitions Gallery at the Ice Age site explores who might have owned and played this long forgotten strategy game.

Other medieval finds, including coins and bottles, were discovered alongside the stone carved game suggesting the site may have been used as an illegal drinking and gambling den by the monks linked to nearby Welbeck Abbey.

As well as pondering the behaviour of their medieval forebearers, visitors have the chance to have a go on an interactive version of Nine Men’s Morris and, of course, see the real medieval board itself. 

From: http://www.culture24.org.uk/history+%26+heritage/archaeology/art314454  

http://www.creswell-crags.org.uk/