​All talks take place at:

Upper Rissington Village Hall

Wellington Road, Upper Rissington, GL54 2QW

[What3Words: sheep.plank.dwarf]

 

Event Times:

• Lectures: 7.30 p.m. (October, March, May)

• Lectures: 2.30 p.m. (November, December, January, February)

• Visits: April, June, September

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Talks are free for RLHS members (see Become a Member). Visitors are welcome for a fee of £3.50 per person.

 

Visits are charged separately, with details circulated to members in advance.

 

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Programme 2025–26

 

Friday 26 September 2025

Visit to Sezincote House and Gardens, including a private tour of the house.

A 200-year-old Mogul Indian palace, set in a romantic landscape of temples, grottoes, waterfalls and canals, reminiscent of the Taj Mahal.

 

Friday 17 October 2025

Short AGM followed by a lecture by Professor Gillian White: “The Life of Katherine of Aragon”

From her childhood in Spain through to her second marriage to King Henry VIII and ultimate divorce in favour of Anne Boleyn.

 

Friday 21 November 2025

Lecture by Paul Barnett: “The Cotswold Navy – What’s in a Name?”

Although Gloucestershire is landlocked, many communities have long-standing connections with the sea, and the county played a part in Warship Week of 1942.

 

Friday 5 December 2025

Lecture by Kirsty Hartsiotis: “Christmas Ghosts – The Tradition of Winter Tales in Gloucestershire”

From the Middle Ages and Shakespeare’s time, through the 17th and 18th centuries, to the 19th-century revival of Christmas ghost stories.

 

Friday 16 January 2026

Lecture by Blockley Heritage Society: “Blockley Water Mills and Their Gardens”

The water mills of Blockley, mentioned in the Domesday Book, played an important role in the 18th and 19th centuries when the village became renowned for silk production.

 

Friday 20 February 2026

Lecture by Tim Healey: “Pagans and Puritans – The Story of a May Morning in Oxfordshire”

Banned by the Puritans in the 17th century, May Morning frolics later revived, with maypoles, garlands, Morris dancing, and singing from Magdalen College Tower.

 

Friday 20 March 2026

Lecture by John McCormick: “Bletchley Park and the Enigma Machine”

The work at Bletchley gave the Allies one of the most significant advantages of the Second World War. A large number of unsung heroes contributed to this breakthrough, which also laid the foundations of the modern computer industry.

 

Friday 17 April 2026

Visit to Bletchley Park, home of Britain’s wartime codebreakers.

A chance to learn about Turing’s Bombe, the Enigma machine, Colossus, and more. The Society is likely to charter a coach for this visit.

 

Friday 15 May 2026

Lecture by Alan Pilbeam: “William Tyndale’s Gloucestershire”

A Gloucestershire man who translated most of the Bible into English from Greek and Latin. A leading figure of the Protestant Reformation, he was executed in 1536.

 

Friday 19 June 2026

Visit to Chavenage House.

A beautiful Elizabethan house, owned by only two families over almost 500 years. Chavenage is a popular film and television location, featured in Poldark and Rivals, based on the novels of Jilly Cooper. It remains the home of the Lowsley-Williams family.

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