The lower parts of Sixhills Priory possibly date from the medieval period.

Local volunteers from Sixhills and Hainton are working with SLHA to record and interpret the buildiing.

Professor David Stocker stands under the shade of a tree and directs operations.

The Building Recording Group at SLHA hosted the prestigious annual conference of the Vernacular Architecture Group in LIncoln in the spring.

One of several tours in the county took the members to the Old Vicarage at Coningsby. One wing of the building is renowned for its high quality medieval timber construction.

Members at the Vernacular Architecture Group conference in April visited Stamford and also spent time in the stone quarry at Clipsham from which the town's stone is still obtained.

Aligned steel wedges are hammered into the face of a large limestone boulder. Hitting the head of a wedge forcefully with a smallish sledge hammer is not as easy as it looks.

The SLHA Building Recording Group arranged a visit to Southwell in April where they were welcomed by members of the local group.

Visits were made to timber-framed, brick houses in West Thorpe on the edge of the town.

William Sergeant, an enthusiastic and expert collector of Lincolnshire-made chairs, described their features to SLHA members at a meeting in Lincoln.

He brought along several examples of chairs made in the Grantham, Sleaford and Caistor areas and explained how to determine where they had been made - and perhaps by whom.

Jean Howard was the leader of a well-supported walking tour in Louth following the areas affected by the flood of 1920. The walk took place on 29 May, the 96th anniversary of the disaster.

The weather was cool and grey but, unlike 1920, mercifully dry.

By special permission of the owner, members of the SLHA Industrial Archaeology team have recorded the waterworks supplying Scawby Hall.

The original installation, seen here to the right in ruinous state, comprised a water wheel (timber and iron) fed by water from the nearby lake and a 3-cylinder pump which drove water by pipe to the house, garden and yard.

In the left foreground are tanks associated with the revised water supply system introduced in the early 1900s.

The private water supply at Scawby Hall was later provided by a ram pump housed in a brick chamber below ground level.

Chris Lester is seen here making the difficult descent into the chamber (one of his specialities) to examine and measure the pump. Supervision and encouragement is being given by Stewart Squires (his speciality).

The Society is grateful to Tom Nelthorpe for allowing access to this private site.

The annual SLHA picnic was held in a group of villages in the southern Wolds.

Prof David Stocker described the unique features of the parish church of St Peter & St Paul in Langton by Spilsby. He is speaking from the top deck of a fine three-decker pulpit.

The SLHA picnickers visited Sutterby Church, rescued from near-dereliction and now an important focus for a local heritage study group, 'The Spirit of Sutterby'.

The churchyard's waist-high grass appears to have been specially mown for the occasion,

Examining the interior of Sutterby's Church of St John Baptist under the guidance of Dave Start (in Hi-Vis jacket to the left).

Prof David Stocker pointed out the vestigial signs of wall painting above the chancel screen.

The annual Brackenbury Lecture in the historic Raithby Methodist Chapel was delivered by Prof Valerie Purton of Anglia Ruskin University on the theme of 'Tennyson and the Sense of Place'.

There was a large and attentive audience almost filling the chapel pews.

The experience of walking in the (empty) vaulted, cathedral-like undergound reservoir at Papplewick was memorable.

Chris Page provides an element of scale as he takes his own shot of the impressive brick vaulting.

The 2016 SLHA Study Tour took more than 40 members and friends to the Isle of Man.

The cottages and farm buildings of Cregneash - plus a couple of Manx cats and several chickens - occupied a sunny afternoon near the southern tip of the island.

An early morning visit was made to Laxey's world famous water wheel. Its role in pumping water from distant, deep mine shafts was explained.

Braver, more agile members of the party climbed to the very top of the wheel.

Study tour members donned hard hats to visit the short adit of the lead and zinc mine in Laxey close to the famous wheel.

Tony Dent (nearest the camera) considers his lightweight trilby will give his head sufficient protection.

The Heritage Lottery funded project 'Past & Present' has enabled SLHA to reach the community through family craft activities.

'Funny Faces' was the theme of the event held on 25 July at St Mary's Guildhall, Lincoln.

Both children and their parents enjoyed making masks and through this activity learned something about church gargoyles and the Green Man.

Kathy Holland of SLHA led the event, part of the HLF funded 'Past & Present' programme run by SLHA.

Over 30 people visited Baumber brick kiln on Sunday 11 September. Ken Redmore and Chris Lester of the SLHA IA team explained how bricks were made and presented further information about 19th century brickmaking in Lincolnshire.

Two of the day's visitors are shown in the photograph.

The Society's annual archaeology conference on the theme of Rural Settlement was held in Lincoln on 17 September.

Dr Steve Willis was one of seven impressive speakers who addressed a large and appreciative audience at Bishop Grossteste University.

SLHA with the Institution of Civil Engineers initiated a special celebration of the Grand Sluice, completed in 1766. A new information board was ceremoniously 'revealed' at the side of the Witham at the sluice.

SLHA members Barry Barton (second left) - also an ICE member - and Neil Wright (second right) took part.

Several leading Lincolnshire folk singers and musicians performed in Washingborough on 14 October as a tribute to Brian Dawson (1939-2013).

Brian, a keen SLHA member, was a highly regarded performer and an assiduous collector of folk songs in the County.

At the 2016 AGM the Flora Murray Award for 2015 was presented to the Lincolnshire Film Archive. Navenby Archaeology Group received an Award of Excellence.

In the photograph, l to r:  Rod Ambler (President SLHA), Peter Ryde (Director LFA), Steve White (LFA), Ian Cox (NAG), Neil Wright (Chairman SLHA)

Final sessions of the Lottery funded Past & Present project were arranged by Kathy Holland over the October half-term holiday.

This morning at Kirton in Lindsey intoduced a group of children to Viking artefacts and their way of living through painting and model making.

The IA team organised an East Midlands Industrial Heritage day conference in Lincoln on 12 November entitled 'From Ploughshares to Swords'. This dealt with Lincoln engineering firms' manufacture of munitions, tanks, aeroplanes and other material for the First World War.

Over 100 people from the city, county and region attended.

At the conference in Lincoln on 12 November special tribute was paid to Stephen Betteridge, who has been secretary of the Industrial Archaeology team for 25 years.

He is on the left, receiving an inscribed glass decanter and tumblers - a gift from his IA colleagues - from Peter Perkins, NIAG chairman.

The SLHA bookshop on Steep Hill continues to provide an extremely valuable income to the Society.

It offers the largest range of books anywhere about Lincolnshire as well as general books about history and archaeology and a large stock of keenly priced second hand books of all types.