The major project currently under way at Norwich Castle aims to restore and renew the original fabric of the interior of the Great Keep.

This talk will discuss the approaches and progress of the reconstruction of the Norman interiors, and the development of the museum gallery showcasing over a thousand medieval objects.

In 1709, a grave containing Roman pottery and bronze artefacts was discovered on the outskirts of Cambridge. This talk discusses the find and the network of antiquaries who reported it, setting both in the wider context of the developing eighteenth-century interest in local history and archaeology.

During the 17^th and 18^th centuries many young upper class men travelled across Europe in order to complete their education and immerse themselves in the culture.

In this talk Victoria Draper, from the Norfolk Record Office, will take you on a journey through the archives to uncover the experiences of these grand tourists.

Using letters and diaries held by the Record Office, Victoria will explain what the tourists thought about crossing the Channel, how they found their transport on the continent and their encounters with the local people.

In 1820, twenty-one prints called Views in the Himala Mountains introduced audiences in cities such as London, Edinburgh, Calcutta and Madras, up close and personal to the Himalayan mountains for the first time. These prints were based on the watercolours of James Baillie Fraser, and are full of weather, incredible landscapes, treacherous mountain passes, local people, and the ravages of a fading war. In 2019, Dr. Ben Cartwright (Collection Curator, The South Asia Collection, Norwich) set out to retrace this route. Here, he will talk about his experiences.

Nelson is Britain’s, and indeed the world’s, most famous naval hero. He was born in Norfolk in 1758, died at Trafalgar in 1805 and is buried in St Paul’s Cathedral.

Nelson spent his childhood in Norfolk and returned for a period of semi-retirement early in his career. Though later he was almost continually at sea, his thoughts were always with his family and friends and his native county, remarking on a final visit in 1800, “I am a Norfolk man and glory in being so”.

This talk looks at Nelson’s life and career against the background of his Norfolk associations.

Charles was a Curator with the Norfolk Museums Service for 25 years, at Great Yarmouth, specializing in Maritime History. Advisor to the Ben Burgess Nelson Memorabilia Trust and involved in the establishment and opening of the Norfolk Nelson Museum at Gt Yarmouth in 2002. Published “Nelson: I am Myself a Norfolk Man” in 2005.

Tutor with the WEA for 20+ years offering courses and day schools on subjects including Norwich, Norfolk and Naval History.

Blickling Hall remained in the same family from the 1620s until it was taken over by the National Trust in 1940.  Only the surname changed – when there was no male heir to control the estate.  This talk tells the story of several daughters of Blickling Hall – some who caused scandals in society and one who married for love.  It will also address the difficulties of being a woman in the 1700s.

We are all too familiar with the natural hazards facing the merchant fleet in the days of sail when storms and stranding claimed their lives. Records in the National Archives provide a detailed picture of further pressures facing not only the seamen but the customs officers based in the Norfolk ports. Capture by enemy privateers or by the press gang at home posed a constant threat.

The Sea Fencibles, who guarded the creeks and estuaries, have gone almost unnoticed by historians. Yet Blakeney, Cley and other Norfolk coastal villages had thousands of men in this new ‘Home Guard’ force in the French wars 1793-1815. Trained weekly by serving officers in the Royal Navy, many of great distinction, these volunteers deserve to be better known.

Margaret Bird FRHistS was an honorary research fellow in the History department of Royal Holloway, University of London 2006-21. Editor of the four-volume Diary of Mary Hardy 1773-1809, she brought out further volumes of commentary in 2020 entitled Mary Hardy and her World. She is a long-standing member of the BAHS.