| Speaker's Name | Stephen Coleman | |
|---|---|---|
| Are you an Individual or represent an Organisation / Company? | Individual | |
| Telephone / Mobile Number | 01234297539 or 07941974913 | |
| Would you be able to present In Person, via Zoom or either? | Both In Person and Zoom | |
| What equipment do you need to be provided by hosts? eg Screen, laptop, projector | Screen, data projector | |
| Any travel restrictions? Such as Time or Distance | No | |
| What are the charges? Such as Travel Expenses, Charge for talk. | £60.00, possibly travel depending on location | |
| Speaker's Biography | Stephen Coleman holds a B.A. Honours degree in Combined Geography and Archaeology from Exeter University and is a Member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists. After archaeological fieldwork in the Somerset Levels, Devon and the Vale of Belvoir he spent 42 years working for Bedfordshire County and Central Bedfordshire Councils. Initially involved in Beds. C.C.’s Parish Survey Programme (documentary research and historic landscape analysis) he then moved into associated areas of work including air photo interpretation and earthwork survey. In 1992 he was appointed Historic Environment Information Officer responsible for the Historic Environment Record holding information on the county’s archaeological sites, historic buildings and historic landscape features, a role continued for Central Bedfordshire from 2009. He has written several articles and other publications. Stephen has been closely involved as a committee member with the county’s historical or archaeological organisations: Bedford Archaeological, Architectural and Local History Society (also newsletter editor); Bedfordshire Archaeological Council (editor of 3 volumes of Bedfordshire Archaeology); Bedfordshire Local History Association (including Chairman 2002-2005); and the Bedfordshire Historical Record Society. He has been a committee member and Secretary for the South Midlands Group of the Council for British Archaeology and for 9 years was Secretary of the national Medieval Settlement Research Group. Besides talks to local societies Stephen has taught formally for North Luton Adult Education, the University of Cambridge Board of Continuing Education, the Workers Educational Association in Bedford, Dunstable and Luton, the Rothsay Education Centre in Bedford and has provided day schools for other bodies. |
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| General Bedfordshire Talks | Duration | Summary |
| A History of Bedfordshire Hedgerows | 75 minutes | This talk focusses on the creation of hedgerows in the county over the last 2000 years and shows that today’s field patterns are not entirely a product of the last 200 years but the result of medieval assarting, piecemeal enclosure of common fields by private agreement from the later 14th century and in some places parliamentary enclosure of the 18th and 19th centuries imposing a rectilinear field pattern on the landscape. Documentary records also provide a glimpse of hedgerow maintenance and allow us to recognise their economic and practical value, especially their trees, often the subject of detailed surveys. |
| The Festival of Britain (in Bedfordshire) | 1 hour | This talk explores Bedfordshire’s involvement with the nationwide Festival celebrating the best of Britain in 1951. Although focussing on the five significant projects pursued by the County Council, whose results have been of long standing value across the county and remain prominent today, the multifarious events held in the county’s major towns are also highlighted. The talk also includes a brief look at the main exhibitions on the South Bank in London, including the intriguing Skylon with its Bedford connection. |
| Woodland Archaeology in Bedfordshire | 75 minutes | Many woodlands surviving today contain features that are archaeologically significant. These form the main subject of this talk besides introducing documentary records which demonstrate the wide range of valuable products obtained from such woods. Besides the bordering woodbank other earthworks found include subdividing compartment banks and depressions which may be the remains of ponds, saw pits, marl pits or quarries. Occasionally woods contain earthworks which are not the result of woodland activities but are present because they have become overgrown following their abandonment, such as hillforts, moats and fishponds. Sometimes the remains of World War II activity are present. |
| Woodland Archaeology on the Bedfordshire Greensand | 1 hour | See details for the similar Bedfordshire wide talk described above. However, this talk focusses on the nature and identification of typical archaeological features to be found in several of the ancient woods on the Greensand Ridge. Also an introduction is provided to the historical documents which are available for some woods, including disbursements for materials and labour necessary for managing woods, wood sales accounts and woodwards papers |
| Before the Saxons: Early Archaeology on the Greensand Ridge | 90 minutes | A talk summarising what we know about archaeology across the whole of the Greensand Ridge in Bedfordshire before the Romans abandoned Britain. Highlights include some significant Mesolithic camp sites, many Bronze Age barrows, burials and finds, numerous Iron Age and Roman farmsteads (several only known from aerial photographs), higher status sites like the ‘Belgic’ burials at Stanfordbury and the settlement at Ruxox, some important Iron Age mirror finds and later Roman hoards. The strategic location of Sandy is also emphasised as evidenced by the Iron Age hillforts located there followed by the Roman town whose excavated remains are discussed. |
| Roman and Saxon Archaeology across Greensand Country | 75 minutes | A talk summarising some of what we know about archaeology across the whole of the Greensand Ridge during the Roman and Saxon periods. Beginning with the results of excavations at the strategically important site of Sandy Roman town, including extramural burials, and at other sites nearby, the talk then highlights many of the Roman farmsteads across the Ridge besides the higher status settlement at Ruxox and some important Roman hoards. Evidence from the Saxon period is rather more limited and apart from some chance finds is mainly confined to cemeteries, as at Sandy and the three north of Leighton Buzzard. |
| Half or Whole Day Sessions | Duration | Summary |
| Researching the History of a House | Half day | An introduction as to how to research the history of a house in Bedfordshire (its architecture, materials, past inhabitants and general history) in particular using material held by the Historic Environment Records and Bedfordshire Archives. The full range of historic maps is covered including historic O.S. maps, Tithe and Enclosure maps and their associated Award Books along with Estate, Town and Rating Valuation maps. Other documents shown and their use and problems discussed include title deeds, terriers, sale catalogues, rating valuations, estate records, manorial records (including court rolls), building plans, illustrations, Directories, Census Returns, tax records, wills and probate inventories. |
| Using Historic Maps for Local History and Archaeology | Half or whole day | A look at how the wide range of maps available online or in Record Offices can be used and interpreted for archaeological purposes and for studying local history. First a detailed examination of O.S. maps from the earliest 1” including the detailed 1:500 town maps of the 1880’s and an emphasis on the value of the 1st edition 1:2500, e.g. the accurate mapping of trees, and its use for the Rating Valuation of 1910. Also examined are town, estate, Tithe and Enclosure Maps - their purposes, value to local study, (including provision of fieldnames and field shapes), and pitfalls. |
| Localised Talks | Duration | Summary |
| A Century of Orchards: the Aylesbury Prune in Bedfordshire (and Buckinghamshire) | 45 minutes to 1 hour | This talk is the story of the once extensive plum orchards which became prominent in south west Bedfordshire between the 1850’s and 1950’s. Planted at the foot of the chalk scarp where its soils intermixed with those of the Gault clay vale to provide excellent conditions for growth, these orchards allowed a significant commercial industry to develop. In Bedfordshire Stanbridge, Billington, Totternhoe and Eaton Bray were all involved with orchards also present in neighbouring Buckinghamshire parishes and beyond through the Aylesbury Vale. Produce was sent to London and elsewhere, mainly through the station at Cheddington but also from Stanbridgeford Station. |
| Humps, Bumps and Names: Clues to Archaeology and Historic Landscapes in South West Bedfordshire | 45 minutes to 1 hour | Focussed on the landscape north west and west of Dunstable, an area once traversed by the ancient Theedway and including Wingfield, Hockliffe, Tilsworth, Eggington, Stanbridge, Eaton Bray, Totternhoe and Dunstable Downs, this talk examines the many and varied ancient earthwork remains which survive there today alongside indicative field- and place-names. The talk reveals what these physical and written clues tell us about the area’s prehistoric archaeology and fascinating medieval and later landscape history whilst emphasising the value of aerial photographs and historic maps. |
| Rushmere Park and Stockgrove Before the Trees: some landscape history | 75 minutes | Rushmere Park north of Leighton Buzzard is not a classic landscape park. Rather it is the result of the cobbling together of several pre-existing historic landscape components, initially over 200 years to create the impression of a grander parkscape than really existed adjoining Stockgrove House, but latterly for the creation and expansion of a Country Park for public enjoyment. This talk examines each of the historic landscape components brought together in Rushmere Park and touches upon heathland, warrens, sheep walks, parliamentary enclosure, ancient woodland, lakes and ponds, a brick kiln and its fuel supply and the establishment of coniferous plantations. |
| From King’s Wood to Knolls Wood: 4,000 years of heathland use, archaeology and history | 90 minutes | The high ground north of Leighton Buzzard is dominated by woodland including both ancient stands, such as King’s and Baker’s Woods, and 19th century plantations, such as Knolls Wood and the majority of trees at Rushmere. These woodlands, their products and the features they contain indicative of their management, are of considerable interest but the general landscape history of the area is also fascinating, including Bronze Age burials, Iron Age occupation, Saxon cemeteries, medieval mills and abandoned settlement. The formerly extensive open heathland, rabbit warrens (and related disputes), 19th century parkland creation and World War II activity are all discussed. |
| Caddington: Historic Landscape and Settlements | 1 hour | A talk describing the historic landscape development of this large south Bedfordshire parish once divided between Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire: in particular its several scattered farms and settlements and their most significant buildings, the history of its common fields and the various processes of their enclosure and the violence engendered by the enclosure of the extensive Caddington Common. Caddington’s several manors also had a significant impact historically and even more significant were relationships with Dunstable to the north and Markyate and its Priory within the parish to the south. |
| Willington, Tempsford, the Danes and some Bedfordshire Moats | 1 hour | A talk examining 10th and 11th century references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to a Danish fortification at Tempsford – where was it and does it survive. The medieval moat at Gannocks Castle in Tempsford has been suggested as has also the site in Willington known as the ‘Danish Docks’, another medieval moat. The latter is discussed in detail including the various excavations there and its restoration whilst Gannocks Castle is also reviewed along with other suggested Danish sites at Beeston Berries, Bolnhurst, Etonbury and Shillington, and comparisons made with other certain medieval moated sites. |
| Flitwick Manor Park and Grounds: A 19th Century Visitor Attraction and Botanic Treasure House | 75 minutes | A talk focussing on the surviving Manor Park but also including the pleasure gardens adjoining Flitwick Manor and areas no longer parkland. Grazed by deer in the 19th century Manor Park includes a lake and the remnants of an arboretum of national significance and a pinetum of European importance. Both were planted by John Thomas Brooks who laid out walks for visitors and instigated other developments and plantings between 1816 and 1857, including the creation of the Upper Park, now lost under housing (except for the Mount, originally a medieval motte, and nearby fishpond), and once incorporating Flitwick Wood. |
| Some History of Studham Common and Nearby | 1 hour | Studham parish was formerly divided between the counties of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, part of the boundary running through the middle of the original extent of Studham Common. This talk highlights some of the tricky issues this raised and examines the history of settlement around it, including squatter encroachments. Common rights would have been exercised over the Common, including grazing and digging for turf, stone or other materials. Areas of gravel extraction are marked by earthworks. Although the Hertfordshire part of the Common was enclosed and disappeared in the 19th century the Bedfordshire part was never enclosed and thus remains today. |
| Beeston: Some Archaeology and Landscape History | 1 hour | A talk describing landscape development and the rich archaeology of Beeston and its surrounding area in the Ivel valley of east Bedfordshire from the Palaeolithic onwards. The talk covers Neolithic and Bronze Age burials, Iron Age and Roman settlement, medieval moats and manors, Beeston planned medieval village and its buildings, including onion sheds. |
| Bradgers Hill Lynchets, Luton – An Ancient Survival | 45 minutes | A detailed look at the medieval cultivation terraces which survive as earthworks on the steep chalk slope at Stopsley north east of Luton: their form, history, use and recent conservation activity. Also comparison with other similar lynchets in south Bedfordshire and an introduction to nearby significant archaeological and landscape features. |
| Swineshead and Spanoak Woods: Some History | 45 minutes | A talk examining the history of two, once one, ancient bluebell woodlands in the far north of the county on the north Bedfordshire Wolds. A story mainly told through a study of several historic maps and surveys within the woods which recorded the earthworks of medieval woodbanks, quarrying activity, and fragments of ridge and furrow. Historically managed as coppice with standards, like many similar ancient woodlands located along parish boundaries these can be shown to have originally been at the centre of an area of medieval assarting with moats in the vicinity. |
