Lecture Program 2024 - 2025
All Lectures to take place at the Friends Meeting House, Hill Street, Coventry, CV1 4AN at 7.30pm
10th September 2024 - Margaret Rylatt Memorial Lecture, Roman Overstone: Bronze Age Barrow and Roman settlement remains by Simon Markus
The Overstone excavation revealed more than 40 structures built over a long period of time. Finds from the Roman period include an unusual stone building decorated with elaborately painted plasterwork, possibly a painted ceiling and containing an underground room. It is believed it could have been a shrine. Water tanks containing the remains of willow tree blossoms, pinecones, walnut shell and a leather shoe have also been discovered.
Simon Markus is a project officer with Museum of London Archaeological Services based in Northampton. He has worked on sites across England, including the excavation and recording of Hayle Harbour, and the Huntingdon to Cambridge Improvement works, with its incredible finds about which he spoke to the Society in 2019. More recently, he has worked at Overstone Leys - a site whose Bronze Age and Anglo- Saxon periods were the topic of a lecture he gave to CADAS in 2023.
https://www.mola.org.uk/search?for=overstone https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce9z0pj7vd1o
8th October 2024 - Cancelled
12th November 2024 - Ministry of Defence Archaeology by Alex Sotheran
The Ministry of Defence is not a body normally associated with archaeology, yet it owns about 1% of the UK mainland and is responsible for 779 Scheduled Monuments, including sections of Hadrian’s Wall and parts of the Stonehenge area. Among a wealth of archaeology in its care are hillforts, cup and ring stones, mediaeval ridge and furrow and deserted villages, ranging from the prehistoric to the present, not to mention the potential for new archaeological discoveries.
https://insidedio.blog.gov.uk/category/archaeology/
Alex Sotheran is the Archaeological Advisor for the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, covering the North of England and Scotland and has been a professional field archaeologist for over twenty years, working on sites in various parts of the world. He has a special interest in First World War battlefield archaeology and has worked on several television documentary series about World War One sites, as well as lecturing on the topic. He is very much involved with Operation Nightingale.
10th December 2024 - John Shelton Memorial Lecture, Hannah Snell: The Female Warrior by Chris Kirby
In the 1740s, Hannah Snell, disguised as a man, signed up with the Warwickshire Regiment in Coventry. More than two hundred years before the British Army officially accepted women in combat roles, she fought in battles. Her highly eventful career was described in a book she wrote which made her an eighteenth-century celebrity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2BGppJQyK0&t=1s
http://www.hannahsnell.com/
Chris Kirby is General Manager of the Fusilier Museum in Warwick. He is also a qualified teacher and an Egyptologist. He has worked at Amarna, managed collections at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry and Tewkesbury Museum and worked at the Ashmolean and British Museums. He has also been a Leverhulme Research Fellow.
https://fusiliermuseumwarwick.com/
14th January 2025 - Filling in the Blanks : Community test-pitting and revealing rural settlement in Leicestershire by Mathew Morris
Community test pitting is really useful for archaeologists. These “mini digs” in gardens and parks bring up a wealth of material revealing so much of an area’s past and changes over time. Mathew Morris has been running several projects in Leicestershire, particularly around Market Bosworth and has brought together all the data to show what it tells us about the beginnings of settlements in the Saxon/Medieval period.
Mathew Morris is a Project Officer with University of Leicester Archaeological Services and has worked on a wide range of sites including Roman Leicester. He has given excellent lectures to CADAS on a number of excavations including one on the major site at Leicester Cathedral and in 2012 directed the famous search for the lost grave of Richard III. He is the co-author of several books about archaeology in Leicester. He also leads the Castle Hill Community Archaeology Dig and the Bosworth Links Community Dig.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwNyH5ybEiI
11th February 2025 - Discoveries at the Swimming Baths site on Kenilworth Abbey Fields by Bryn Gethin
When archaeological investigations were made ahead of the replacement of the old swimming baths on Kenilworth’s Abbey Fields, there was no expectation of any great finds. However, remarkable discoveries were made of mediaeval walls and foundations of ancient buildings, which meant plans for the new baths had to be altered to preserve these ancient remains.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx0wpj4pw5wo
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/history/medieval-remains-found-under-old-27325636
Bryn Gethin is an Archaeological Officer with Archaeology Warwickshire and has a particular interest in medieval religious houses. He is a qualified commercial UAV pilot and was part of the team that revisited the Staffordshire Hoard on behalf of Historic England. He has used LIDAR to discover Roman roads in Wales and elsewhere and was responsible for the discovery of a rare Bronze Age burial urn in 2014.
www.archaeologywarwickshire.co.uk
11th March 2025 - Butrint: Excavations at an Ancient Mediterranean Port by Will Bowden
Butrint is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the coast of southern Albania. For much of its long history, it controlled both sea and land routes. It covers an area of around 16 ha, but geophysical survey has shown that at times it was almost twice this size. It has an immense wealth of archaeological remains and finds dating from ancient Greek through the Roman and Byzantine periods up to the present day.
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/humanities/departments/classics-and-archaeology/research/research- projects/current-projects/butrint-project.aspx
https://rothschildfoundation.org.uk/butrint-foundation/
William Bowden is Professor of Roman Archaeology at the University of Nottingham. He worked for the British School at Rome for several years on various sites, and since 1994 has been a member of a team of archaeologists working at Butrint in southern Albania. He taught at the University of Reading before moving to the University of Nottingham in 2006. He was largely responsible for developing the museum at Butrint. He has published widely including books about the site and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He has appeared on Time Team and The Flying Archaeologist.
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/humanities/departments/classics-and-archaeology/People/will.bowden
8th April 2025 – The Archaeology of Compton Verney: From Prehistory to the Modern Day by Hilary Calow, PCIfA
Although today the name Compton Verney immediately brings to mind the art gallery housed in the magnificent Georgian mansion, the area has been settled for centuries. CADAS did a geophysical survey in the grounds in 2023 liaising with Hilary Calow in the search for World War II activity. In the later Middle Ages, the village was called Compton Murdak after the then owners, and archaeological finds have shown evidence of earlier times from prehistoric and Roman onwards. The history of Compton Verney is many- layered and very much part of Warwickshire’s past.
Hilary Calow is a community archaeologist and volunteer with Compton Verney Art Gallery. She also volunteers with Archaeology Warwickshire and was a trustee with Rugby Archaeological Society. She has run talks on the history of the Compton Verney site.
https://www.comptonverney.org.uk/
13th May 2025 – Annual General Meeting
All Lectures to take place at the Friends Meeting House, Hill Street, Coventry, CV1 4AN at 7.30pm
10th September 2024 - Margaret Rylatt Memorial Lecture, Roman Overstone: Bronze Age Barrow and Roman settlement remains by Simon Markus
The Overstone excavation revealed more than 40 structures built over a long period of time. Finds from the Roman period include an unusual stone building decorated with elaborately painted plasterwork, possibly a painted ceiling and containing an underground room. It is believed it could have been a shrine. Water tanks containing the remains of willow tree blossoms, pinecones, walnut shell and a leather shoe have also been discovered.
Simon Markus is a project officer with Museum of London Archaeological Services based in Northampton. He has worked on sites across England, including the excavation and recording of Hayle Harbour, and the Huntingdon to Cambridge Improvement works, with its incredible finds about which he spoke to the Society in 2019. More recently, he has worked at Overstone Leys - a site whose Bronze Age and Anglo- Saxon periods were the topic of a lecture he gave to CADAS in 2023.
https://www.mola.org.uk/search?for=overstone https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce9z0pj7vd1o
8th October 2024 - Cancelled
12th November 2024 - Ministry of Defence Archaeology by Alex Sotheran
The Ministry of Defence is not a body normally associated with archaeology, yet it owns about 1% of the UK mainland and is responsible for 779 Scheduled Monuments, including sections of Hadrian’s Wall and parts of the Stonehenge area. Among a wealth of archaeology in its care are hillforts, cup and ring stones, mediaeval ridge and furrow and deserted villages, ranging from the prehistoric to the present, not to mention the potential for new archaeological discoveries.
https://insidedio.blog.gov.uk/category/archaeology/
Alex Sotheran is the Archaeological Advisor for the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, covering the North of England and Scotland and has been a professional field archaeologist for over twenty years, working on sites in various parts of the world. He has a special interest in First World War battlefield archaeology and has worked on several television documentary series about World War One sites, as well as lecturing on the topic. He is very much involved with Operation Nightingale.
10th December 2024 - John Shelton Memorial Lecture, Hannah Snell: The Female Warrior by Chris Kirby
In the 1740s, Hannah Snell, disguised as a man, signed up with the Warwickshire Regiment in Coventry. More than two hundred years before the British Army officially accepted women in combat roles, she fought in battles. Her highly eventful career was described in a book she wrote which made her an eighteenth-century celebrity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2BGppJQyK0&t=1s
http://www.hannahsnell.com/
Chris Kirby is General Manager of the Fusilier Museum in Warwick. He is also a qualified teacher and an Egyptologist. He has worked at Amarna, managed collections at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry and Tewkesbury Museum and worked at the Ashmolean and British Museums. He has also been a Leverhulme Research Fellow.
https://fusiliermuseumwarwick.com/
14th January 2025 - Filling in the Blanks : Community test-pitting and revealing rural settlement in Leicestershire by Mathew Morris
Community test pitting is really useful for archaeologists. These “mini digs” in gardens and parks bring up a wealth of material revealing so much of an area’s past and changes over time. Mathew Morris has been running several projects in Leicestershire, particularly around Market Bosworth and has brought together all the data to show what it tells us about the beginnings of settlements in the Saxon/Medieval period.
Mathew Morris is a Project Officer with University of Leicester Archaeological Services and has worked on a wide range of sites including Roman Leicester. He has given excellent lectures to CADAS on a number of excavations including one on the major site at Leicester Cathedral and in 2012 directed the famous search for the lost grave of Richard III. He is the co-author of several books about archaeology in Leicester. He also leads the Castle Hill Community Archaeology Dig and the Bosworth Links Community Dig.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwNyH5ybEiI
11th February 2025 - Discoveries at the Swimming Baths site on Kenilworth Abbey Fields by Bryn Gethin
When archaeological investigations were made ahead of the replacement of the old swimming baths on Kenilworth’s Abbey Fields, there was no expectation of any great finds. However, remarkable discoveries were made of mediaeval walls and foundations of ancient buildings, which meant plans for the new baths had to be altered to preserve these ancient remains.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx0wpj4pw5wo
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/history/medieval-remains-found-under-old-27325636
Bryn Gethin is an Archaeological Officer with Archaeology Warwickshire and has a particular interest in medieval religious houses. He is a qualified commercial UAV pilot and was part of the team that revisited the Staffordshire Hoard on behalf of Historic England. He has used LIDAR to discover Roman roads in Wales and elsewhere and was responsible for the discovery of a rare Bronze Age burial urn in 2014.
www.archaeologywarwickshire.co.uk
11th March 2025 - Butrint: Excavations at an Ancient Mediterranean Port by Will Bowden
Butrint is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the coast of southern Albania. For much of its long history, it controlled both sea and land routes. It covers an area of around 16 ha, but geophysical survey has shown that at times it was almost twice this size. It has an immense wealth of archaeological remains and finds dating from ancient Greek through the Roman and Byzantine periods up to the present day.
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/humanities/departments/classics-and-archaeology/research/research- projects/current-projects/butrint-project.aspx
https://rothschildfoundation.org.uk/butrint-foundation/
William Bowden is Professor of Roman Archaeology at the University of Nottingham. He worked for the British School at Rome for several years on various sites, and since 1994 has been a member of a team of archaeologists working at Butrint in southern Albania. He taught at the University of Reading before moving to the University of Nottingham in 2006. He was largely responsible for developing the museum at Butrint. He has published widely including books about the site and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He has appeared on Time Team and The Flying Archaeologist.
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/humanities/departments/classics-and-archaeology/People/will.bowden
8th April 2025 – The Archaeology of Compton Verney: From Prehistory to the Modern Day by Hilary Calow, PCIfA
Although today the name Compton Verney immediately brings to mind the art gallery housed in the magnificent Georgian mansion, the area has been settled for centuries. CADAS did a geophysical survey in the grounds in 2023 liaising with Hilary Calow in the search for World War II activity. In the later Middle Ages, the village was called Compton Murdak after the then owners, and archaeological finds have shown evidence of earlier times from prehistoric and Roman onwards. The history of Compton Verney is many- layered and very much part of Warwickshire’s past.
Hilary Calow is a community archaeologist and volunteer with Compton Verney Art Gallery. She also volunteers with Archaeology Warwickshire and was a trustee with Rugby Archaeological Society. She has run talks on the history of the Compton Verney site.
https://www.comptonverney.org.uk/
13th May 2025 – Annual General Meeting
