Old Sleaford Heritage Group

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Our aim is to research the history and archaeology of Old Sleaford and the surrounding area, offering opportunities to the local community to experience a wide range of archaeological and historical investigations.

04/10/2026

This Thursday's (8th October) talk is by Gary Trimble.
Usual start at 7.30pm in the Wright Room at Sleaford Methodist Church (entrance through the rear car park off Church Lane).

The Carnyx: The Sound of the Iron Age

The carnyx was a long bronze wind instrument used in Iron Age Europe, particularly between about 300 BC and AD 200. Held vertically, it had a tall, narrow tube ending in an animal-shaped head—often resembling a wild boar—with an open mouth that projected above the player. Its striking appearance and powerful sound made it much more than a musical instrument. Sometimes described as a war horn, its loud and eerie sound it is thought to have been used to instil fear in an enemy.

The talk will focus on the recent discovery of a near complete carnyx in Norfolk buried along with five bronze shield bosses and part of a boar's head standard. The standard would have been mounted on a pole or pedestal and used as a military or ceremonial emblem. Together these exceptionally rare artefacts shed light on symbols of identity, spectacle and authority in the Iron Age.

Non members welcome £3

06/09/2026

The first of our autumn talks

Thursday 10th September
DERVENTIO, the Little City.
A small town in the Roman north by Dr Steve Malone

Excavations in recent years at Strutt’s Park, west of the River Derwent, and at Little Chester, on the east bank of the river, have shed new light on the early establishment and subsequent development of Roman Derby.

At Strutt’s Park, a single house plot provides a window into the arrival of the Roman military, while at Little Chester, extensive excavation in advance of flood defence works charts the development of the civil settlement and its late defended enclosure. New findings also point to post-Roman re-occupation and re-use in the context of Anglo-Saxon and later Viking settlement in the East Midlands

Usual venue, The Wright Room at Sleaford Methodist Church, off Church Lane (entrance through the rear car park) 7.30pm

Non members welcome, £3

08/06/2026

This month’s talk Thursday 11th June at 7.30 pm, usual venue -
The Wright Room, Sleaford Methodist Church ( entrance through the rear car park).

William Sargeant of the Lincolnshire Chair Museum will be giving the presentation on the history of Lincolnshire Chairmaking.

Non members welcome £3.

The AGM will follow the talk.

10/05/2026

Thursday’s talk on 14th May 7.30 pm

‘The Speckled Monster’ by Simon Pawley - Smallpox in C18th Sleaford

Throughout the eighteenth century, there were regular smallpox outbreaks, some local and some national. It was the most feared disease of the eighteenth century and highly infectious: 35% of those who contracted smallpox died of it and those that survived were often pock marked for life. Smallpox affected small as well as big cities and many of them, like Sleaford, built “pesthouses” so that those who had contracted it could be isolated as far as possible from the rest of the population. This talk looks at how Sleaford was affected by smallpox and at the history of its pesthouses.

At the Wright Room at Sleaford Methodist Church (entrance through the rear car park). Non members welcome, £3.

03/04/2026

Our next talk this coming Thursday, 9th April is by Chris Caswell-

Voices from the Void: Unlocking Lincolnshire’s Hidden History with Radar

This talk introduces the science of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and reveals how we use microwaves to map everything from Roman walls in Lincoln to forgotten structures beneath our feet - all without moving a spadeful of soil.

Start 7.30, usual venue, the Wright Room at the Methodist Church off Church Lane, Sleaford (entry through the rear car park). Non members welcome £3

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