Talks

All talks take place in Endecott House on the last Wednesday of the month starting at 7.30pm unless otherwise stated.

For more details of the next talk see Latest News

Members free, visitors £5

Our 2025 talks programme

29th January: Janet Few –  Witchcraft in 17th century Devon

26th February: Simon Dell – The Carved Boulders of Reverend Bray in the Cowsic Valley, Dartmoor

26th March: John Ellis –  “A cry from the workhouse steps”: the story of the creation, operation and  scandal at the Newton Abbot Union Workhouse

30th April: John Allen – Recent archaeological finds at Exeter Cathedral

28th May: Helen Wilson -The remarkable Pinwell sisters, Devon woodcarvers

29th October: Rosemary Yallop –  “To charm the eye and captivate the soul”:  John Nash, Humphery Repton and the Architecture of the Picturesque in 18th century Devon.   

All talks are on the last Wednesday of the month and held at Endecott House (next to the Three Crowns), starting at 7.30 pm.

Our 2024 talks programme

Wednesday 31st January:   Ian Mortimer – “The history of England through a Moretonhampstead window”

Wednesday 28th February:  Andy Crabb – “Recent developments in Dartmoor archaeology”

Wednesday 27th March:  Caradoc Doy –  “The Veitch nurseries in Devon”

Wednesday 24th April: Dr Laura Sangha – “The Exeter martyrs during the Reformation”

Wednesday 29th May: Helen Wilson – “The remarkable Pinwill sisters and their Devon church carvings”

Wednesday 30th October:  Prof. Michael Winter – “Agrarian change: a Devon parish over two centuries”

Programme for 2023
 

Wednesday 25th January
Josephine Collingwood: The Geology of Dartmoor.
Wednesday 22nd February
Simon Dell: The Georgian improvers on Dartmoor. Well-known Dartmoor guide tells the story of those who tried to tame Dartmoor into a productive agricultural success.
Wednesday 29th March
Paul Auchterlonie: An Exeter man in Algiers & Mecca: Joseph Pitts, 1662 – 1739. An exotic tale of travel, enslavement, escape and derring-do.
Wednesday 26th April
Mark Hailwood: The alehouse in Tudor & Stuart Devon. An expert on historic drinking shares his cup of knowledge.
Wednesday 24th May
Professor James Clarke: The dissolution of the monasteries in Devon. How Devon’s monks, nuns and friars met their end and the impact of their loss on the communities and landscapes that surrounded them.
Wednesday 25th October
Emma Laws: The Tale of Beatrix Potter in the West Country. Exeter Cathedral’s Librarian tells the story of the much-loved author’s connection to the South West.

Programme for 2021-2022
 

28th October 2021: Jon Lawrence, Memories of community in 20th century Chagford

   2022

27th January: John Mather: The whetstone mines in the Blackdown Hills

24th February: Emma Cunis: Ancient Tracks on Dartmoor

31st March: Mark Hailwood (Bristol University): The Alehouse in early modern  Devon 

28th April: Todd Gray: Devon’s Last Slave Owners, 1834

26th May: Janet Tall (South West Heritage Trust): The Acland family – agriculture in schools 

Previous years:

Programme for 2019-20

Thursday 30th January
Dr. Mike Haywood “The Voyage of the Mayflower” the myth and the reality of the 1620 voyage.

Thursday 27th February
An evening with Tich Scott” – always a good evening!

Thursday 26th March 
Dr. John Mather “The Whetstone Mines in the Blackdown Hills” ; whetstones were used for sharpening many tools.

Thursday 30th April
Dr. Janet Tall “ The Acland Family – Agriculture in Schools” Francis Acland is known to have visited Chagford school where griculture was taught.

Thursday 29th October
Our very own Dr. Jon Lawrence “Community and family in post-war Britain – the view from Chagford” based on his recently published book “Me. Me. Me? The Search for Community in Post-War England” .

Programme for 2018-19

Jan 25th Robert Hesketh will do an ‘historical’  Photoquiz

Feb. 28th Judy Moss will talk about Victorian Schools

March 28th Rebecca Ireland – Mediaeval Graffiti

April 25th  David Stone – Mediaeval Chagford

The following talk and film show will be held at the Jubilee Hall.  There will be a small charge for members; non-members £5 (tbc.)

October 31st Chris Chapman  – The last days at Truelove Farm