An Award for Excellence was made to West Lindsey District Council for their project "Pilgrim Roots - Gainsborough's cultural programme for Mayflower 400". This celebration delivered on-line information, creative projects and community activities.

An Award for Excellence was also made to Louth Museum for 'Ruth's Blog', a regular feature on the Museum's website. This provides illustrations and information about the museum's artefacts and other local heritage topics.

In this SLHA on-line talk on 8 September Professor Rob Iliffe looked at Isaac Newton's lifelong relationship with his childhood home.

Newton retained an ongoing interest in the Manor through local agents, and periodically he was able to return from Cambridge and London to manage the property (and his tenants).

He often referred to himself as a country boy, and the knowledge and skills he gained from his rural upbringing would provide significant foundations for his later work.

Above all, the Manor was the place where Newton's ingenuity flourished, whether as a boyhood site for making natural sundials out of the various walls in his house, or as a sanctuary from the plague where he did epoch-making work in optics, physics and mathematics.

Towards the end of his life, Newton viewed the house and its garden as an almost mystical setting for all the great discoveries of his annus mirabilis.

Robert Iliffe is Professor of History of Science at Oxford, co-director of the online Newton Project and Director of the online Newton Mint Papers Project.

He has written widely on Newton, and is the author of 'A Very Short introduction to Newton' (Oxford 2007) and Priest of Nature: the Religious Worlds of Isaac Newton (Oxford 2017).

Photograph: Woolsthorpe Manor

Dr Richard Gurnham led a morning's tour of some of Louth's notable buildings on Saturday 3 July. The event was organised by SLHA's Building Recording Group (RUBL).

The tour began with a brief introduction to the early history of the town and the inspection of the Saxon cross displayed in the parish church.

Buildings of interest were noted and described by our guide as the tour proceeded slowly along Upgate, Mercer Row, Cornmarket and Little Eastgate.

The time allotted for the visit overran, so the intended walk along Westgate had to be omitted after a brief look at the Tudor-Gothic Vicarage of 1832.

Photograph: A view of the Vicarage 

Caitlin Green has recently revised her book Britons and Anglo-Saxons: Lincolnshire AD 400-650, published by SLHA in 2012. The new edition was published in 2020.

Dr Green surveyed the new evidence and new ideas that have expanded or modified her earlier publication in an on-line talk arranged by SLHA on Wednesday 10 March. The audience for the talk exceeded 60.

Lincolnshire - especially the northern part of the present county - was at the heart of cultural and political changes in the period after the Romans departed and before the Anglo-Saxon society was established.

A great many artefacts point to the continuation of the crafts and skills associated with the Roman period. The etymology of several Lincolnshire place names reflect important trading, political or military activities in the fifth, sixth and seventh centuries.

Illustration: A 'hybrid' domestic jar from Greetwell Villa, Lincoln, showing Roman technology with Anglo-Saxon form

Paul Scott of the Sir Joseph Banks Society gave an on-line talk to the Society on Wednesday 24 February; it was attended by over 50 members. Paul explored the significant contribution made by Joseph Banks to the beginning of the Industrial age.

Banks travelled widely and frequently across Britain and became heavily involved in several powerful society groupings - often as leading member - as well as maintaining informal contacts with many influential individuals.

He became well informed in a wide range of day-to-day issues and often acquired considerable practical knowledge of the technologies of the time. His wealth also enabled him to influence many important initiatives.

Paul Scott's illustrated presentation dealt with examples of Banks' achievements and how he became involved with such eminent individuals as Josiah Wedgwood, Matthew Boulton, James Watt and William Smith. Reference was also made to Banks' wife and sister, both intelligent and knowledgeable collectors (porcelain and coins respectively).

Dr Jonathan Foyle, author of "Lincoln Cathedral: The Biography of a Great Building", was the guest speaker at the SLHA AGM on Saturday 6 February. The title of his talk was 'New Observations on Lincoln Cathedral'.

Dr Foyle recounted the early history of the Cathedral and emphasised the significance of its dedication to St Mary. The many fine carvings of roses, other flowers and leaves in the Cathedral are symbolic of Mary and the contemporary view of her supreme position in religious observance.

The Flora Murray Award for 2020 has been presented to the Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire for their project 'Layers of History' led by Cola Jennings. The award was announced at the on-line Annual General Meeting of the Society on Saturday 6 February 2021.

This project involved over 200 volunteers who were given the background knowledge and trained in the skills to investigate, record and understand landscapes at a variety of sites in the county.

On Sunday 31 January a large on-line audience enjoyed a presentation by Naomi Field about Maidenwell Manor. The tiny hamlet of Maidenwell, 5 miles south of Louth, was mentioned in the Domesday survey but did not grow beyond a handful of houses and never had a church - or at least the site of one has never been established.

The principal manor in the parish - a substantial holding - came into the ownership of Sir James Lancaster in the early 17th century. He had a distinguished naval career and served as a director of the East India Company. Through Lancaster's will the estate was passed on to the Worshipful Company of Skinners and subsequently to Basingstoke Corporation.

Surveys of the Maidenwell estate in 1713 and 1803 with accompanying plans give useful information about the house, garden and adjoining farmstead. The house fell into disrepair and was rebuilt by Basingstoke in 1903. It was the imminent demolition of this early 20th century property in 2000 that led to a professional survey by Naomi, the outline of which she went on to describe in her talk.

The house was of appropriate size and style for a prosperous tenant farmer, with attractive reception rooms and accommodation for several servants. Details of the house's impressive contents were set out in the advertised sale particulars which followed the tenant's death in 1908.

Basingstoke sold the estate in 1977  and now a new house is being built by the current owner. It is pleasing to note that the commemorative plaque of the 1903 house will be incorporated in the walls of the new on its adjacent site.

We were delighted to hear that Jon Sass has been awarded the MBE in the New Year's Honours. He is a longstanding member of the Industrial Archaeology team at SLHA and leading light in the Lincolnshire Mills Group.

Jon is widely acknowledged as the foremost authority on the windmills and watermills of Lincolnshire, and over the years he has generously shared his expertise and knowledge with countless mill owners, local historians, molinologists and others.

Jon's knowledge of mills is based on practical experience. He was part of the team that restored Lincolnshire's last surviving post mill at Wrawby in the 1960s and has had direct 'hands on' experience of many mills since.

He has also written numerous articles about Lincolnshire windmills, watermills, millers and millwrights. His book 'Windmills of Lincolnshire' (2012)  brought together much of his accumulated knowledge in concise text and historic photographs. It is a superb lasting tribute to Jon Sass and his recording of this aspect of Lincolnshire's unique heritage.