One of three short talks given before a packed audience at Jews' Court on Sunday 22 November was presented by Antony Lee about two recent acquisitions at The Collection. The first was a model of a bull in white marble, badly damaged, about 15 inches long, which was unearthed in a Lincoln garden in the north of the city.

This rare item dates from the Roman period (1st or 2nd century) and can be related to other images of bulls found in a range of artefacts across the Roman world. With the aid of modern computer technology a plastic replica of the original complete bull has been created and forms part of the display in The Collection.

The second item is a crudely carved piece of limestone, found in 1995 at Braceby, depicting a phallus, the symbol commonly used by the Romans to convey good luck. Part of the carving shows what might be the "evil eye", representing evil in the Roman World.

Antony Lee is Archaeology Curator at The Collection, Lincoln.  He is also Chairman of the SLHA Archaeology Team.

The second of three short talks at Jews' Court on Sunday 22 November, given by Derek Broughton, was on the theme of a Lincolnshire firm's development of the first diesel engine.

Derek explained in entertaining and pictorial fashion the advantage of the diesel engine over its precursors the steam engine (bulky, inefficient) and petrol engine (inflammable).

The creation of the first engine relying on the high compression ignition of heavy fuel oil was by Herbert Akroyd Stuart in 1890. His concept was taken forward successfully on a large scale from the early 1890s by Richard Hornsby & Son of Grantham.

A little later Rudolf Diesel created a much more cumbersome engine, running on similar lines, and this was taken up by US manufacturers. It was the Americans who coined the term "diesel" engine and ensured it entered our language rather than the more appropriate "Akroyd" or something similar.

Derek Broughton is a former employee of Ruston Bucyrus and a member of the SLHA Industrial Archaeology Team.

The first of three short talks at Jews' Court on Sunday 2 November was given by Chris Johnson on the history of Jews' Court and its association with the Jewish community.

The examination of a wide range of documents indicates that there were once two separate buildings on the site, both owned by Jews until the expulsion of the community in 1290.

The synagogue was a short distance away from the street frontage, probably in the north-west corner of the present Jews' Court building. A good deal of the subsequent history of the building, its ownership and occupation can be gleaned from various records, including its reconstruction in its current form in the late sixteenth century.

It was acquired in parlous state from the City Council by the Lincolnshire Architectural and Antiquarian Society in 1928 and has been occupied by SLHA since 1988.

Chris Johnson is a retired archivist. He is joint-author with Stanley Jones of "Steep, Strait and High", a study of ancient houses of central Lincoln, to be published by Lincoln Record Society in spring 2016.

SLHA held a day of talks on the canals and waterways of Lincolnshire at The Source Centre in Sleaford on Saturday 14 November. An audience of over 70 enjoyed a wide variety of well-illustrated and informative presentations on this broad theme, covering both the historical background and current developments across the county.

The Canal and River Trust
David Pullen
Set up in 2012 the CRT manages 2000 miles of waterways in England and Wales, including the Witham, Trent, Fossdyke, and Grantham Canal in Lincolnshire. Within its responsibility are a huge number of listed structures, many over 200 years old. It is partly funded by the Government (DEFRA) but relies heavily on volunteers and various partnerships within the private and public sectors.

Over 75 delegates enjoyed a full day of talks - the annual SLHA Archaeology Conference - on the theme of Art and Archaeology, at The Collection Museum in Lincoln on Saturday 17 October.

The programme covered both local and wider topics, and the speakers were also drawn from both Lincolnshire and further afield, including Leicester, Manchester and Oxford Universities.

Following an inspirational introduction from David Stocker, our Lincolnshire specialists Adam Daubney and Antony Lee described two significant Roman artefacts - a mirror and a marble bull figurine - that had turned up recently.

The bull fragment was on temporary display in the museum, as was Samuel Lysons' depiction of the chariot-race mosaic from Horkstow, and Sarah Scott from Leicester continued the Roman theme with an appreciation of the context and purpose of Lysons' work.

Even more exotic are the Coptic textiles from Egypt, the best-surviving textiles from the whole Roman Empire, described by their Curator, Frances Pritchard of the Whitworth Gallery, Manchester, along with later examples.

Similarly stunning artefacts were covered in the Anglo-Saxon sessions, including the Staffordshire Hoard that has occupied our distinguished expert Kevin Leahy for several years.

Toby Martin from Oxford discussed the place of the earlier Anglian material from Lincolnshire in Eastern England. The day was rounded off splendidly by a new reconstruction of the eastern end of St Hugh's cathedral by Stuart Harrison.

Dr Andrew Walker gave an attentive audience an amusing and informative gallop through the history of racing in Lincoln in St Hugh's Hall on Wednesday, 14 October.

The formative years saw a visit by King James I to a race meeting on Waddington heath. The enclosure of heathland saw the city corporation offer the West Common for a new course in 1773. Andrew described the development of the racecourse both in physical and social contexts, showing extensive research in newspaper archives. Whilst racing may have been wildly popular amongst the "lower orders", it upset the responsibly minded who feared drunkenness, pickpockets and prostitution.

Andrew covered the rise and decline of the racecourse through to 1964 when the Levy Board's decision of withdraw funding saw the end of flat racing. Though point-to-point racing continued for some years, the Labour City Council's objection to hunting saw this finish too. Recent attempts to revive racing on the West Common have failed.

We are grateful as ever to Andrew Walker for a diligently-researched talk and for his devotion to SLHA by coming all the way from Kent to deliver it!

The Society's annual Leach Lecture was held at Burgh le Marsh Heritage Centre alongside the fine 5-sailed windmill on Saturday 5 September. A packed room of SLHA and Burgh Heritage Group members enjoyed two short presentations.

Eileen Chantry spoke about the Burgh barber, Jabez Good (1830-1911), a very gifted - though untrained - wood carver, who created the fine pulpit in the parish church. There is also an example of his carving on display in the Heritage Centre.

This active and gifted man, who remained a lifelong bachelor, was an artist, a taxidermist and clerk to the parish council.

He is also widely known for his Lincolnshire Glossary, an important collection of Lincolnshire dialect words, which he published along with a brief history of Burgh.

Lincolnshire Churches, especially demolished ones and less common examples, was the theme of Fr Terry Steele's slide-and-talk presentation.

These photographs, many taken by Fr Terry himself, provide an important record of buildings, many of which disappeared decades ago.

Among the 100 or so churches shown were interesting examples from the city of Lincoln, Grimsby, Grantham, and a wide range of villages across the county.

Terence Leach, a leading member of SLHA, was a noted local historian with particular interest in Lincolnshire families and their houses. He died in 1994.  This was the 21st lecture in his memory.

The large and attentive audience at Burgh

Graham Saunders, former Hull University Lecturer, entertained a large audience in Spilsby Methodist Church on 11 July with an illustrated talk on the musical contribution of members of the Wesley family.

The event was the annual Brackenbury Lecture arranged in sequence by SLHA, the Lincolnshire Methodist Society, Spilsby Methodist Church and the Tennyson Society, and normally held in the historic Methodist Chapel in Raithby (currently unavailable).

The founders of the Methodist Church, John and Charles Wesley, had a strong interest in music and hymn singing, and the sons of Charles - Charles (1757-1834) and Samuel (1766-1837) - became professional musicians. Samuel, much influenced by J S Bach and later by Haydn, wrote both secular and church music of fine quality.

Samuel's son, Samuel Sebastian (1810-76), was a child prodigy who became a temperamental adult with postings as organist at several English cathedrals.  He is recognised as one of the finest English musicians of his day; several of his compositions are familiar to 21st century congregations and audiences.

Chris Page, who is researching the industrial history of Sleaford in preparation for a book, gave a talk about the gas and electricity undertakings in the town to SLHA members attending the AGM in Sleaford on 13 June.

The gasworks, designed by Charles Partridge of Boston, was opened in the town in 1839; the office and entrance gateway (which as listed buildings still stand) were the work of Sleaford architect Charles Kirk.

As in many towns, the works were later extended (by J T B Porter of Lincoln) and provided with additional gasholders. Gas making finally ceased in 1956 and the site was cleared in the 1960s.

A 2-wire 220 volt DC electricity supply was set up in Sleaford in 1901 at a cost of £6,900. Power for the generator originated from boilers supplied by Robey of Lincoln. Cast iron lamp standards in the town were made locally by Hempstead & Co and later supplied by Ward & Dale.

The National Grid reached the town in 1931 and the old system was converted to a 3-wire AC supply. The original site to the west of the town centre was abandoned in 1967, though much of the generating house survives minus chimney.

As an alternative to Chris's talk, other members visited the recently created Sleaford Museum on Southgate. Here, an enthusiastic group of volunteers proudly talked about their splendid new building - formerly a public toilet block - and introduced the fascinating range of exhibits of locally sourced artefacts on display.

Whilst it has long been known that the Hanseatic League traded all over the area using these vessels, the understanding of the extent of this has recently been increased dramatically by the use of DNA and isotope analysis.

The latter, for instance, has been used to establish that fish bones found in London originated from fish caught north of Norway, suggesting that over-fishing of local waters is nothing new.

Many other examples, including the movement of people, were quoted and his conclusion was that there was a very broad-based economy in natural resources such as fish, timber, salt, wool and iron ore together with a re-distribution of processed commodities such as cloth, wine and metal goods.

This trade was mainly between towns and cities with distinct hubs such as Lubeck, Bruges and London.  The speaker is writing a book about his researches.

Jim Bailey is a miller at the unique 8-sailed mill in Heckington and also a director of the Heckington Windmill Trust.

At a meeting of SLHA members on 13 May he gave a lively account of the £1.2m project which is creating an ambitious visitor attraction from the mill and its ancillary buildings.

The mill was built in 1830 and, after severe storm damage, was transformed from 5- to 8-sail operation in 1890 by John Pocklington, the new owner, who brought sails and machinery from Tuxford's foundry in Boston. 

The current development is partly funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.  The SLHA visit to Heckington on Saturday 20 June will include the 8-sailed windmill.

Neil Wright entertained an enthusiastic audience at St Hugh's Hall, Lincoln, on 15 April with an account of actors and theatres in Georgian Lincolnshire.

During this period the theatre was very popular and almost every town had a theatre which was served by touring companies. The largest companies in the county were based at Lincoln and Stamford and they also visited towns in the immediate area beyond the county boundary.

Towards the end of the Georgian period theatre attendance went into sharp decline because drama was thought to be immoral and most theatres and the companies of actors went out of business leaving very little physical evidence of this golden era.

Little has been published about this subject and Neil's book on it will be published by SLHA later in the year.

At a meeting in Lincoln on Wednesday 18 March well-known local archaeologist Tom Lane gave a wide-ranging talk on the archaeology to be found near the Lincolnshire coast, concentrating on the coastal industries such as salt-making commencing about 1500 BC, through fishing (examples included ship-wrecks, fish-hook making and fish traps) up to recent tourism activities.

"The coast now is not what it has been", he said, referring to the effects of fluctuating sea levels over the years which have resulted in finds occurring well inland of the present coastline. He claimed that a major opportunity to search for the remains of Old Skegness, lost to rising sea-levels around 1500, was missed when the seabed was disturbed during the construction of off-shore wind farms.

In conclusion he pointed out that changes of sea-level have resulted in many layers of soil deposits which can confuse and mislead archaeologists.

Stewart Squires gave a talk on this subject at Jews' Court on 15 March.  Between 1862 and 1868 granite was quarried on the tiny island of Lundy in the Bristol Channel.

Several quarries were worked and horse-drawn tramways created to move the stone to a quay at the south-eastern corner of the island, but after a short time production of the poor quality stone became uneconomic. At the peak of operation over 400 men were employed in the industry and facilities such as hospital and school were built as well as cottages and houses.

Today, there are very few surviving reminders of this nineteenth century industry and, owned by the National Trust, it is merely a quiet holiday location.

At a well-attended meeting at Jews' Court on 15 March Nigel Burn described the significant events in Lincoln between 1215 and 1217 when Nicola de le Haye was constable of Lincoln Castle.

During this period she defended the castle successfully against the rebel barons and received King John himself in February 1216.  She was also in charge of the castle during the second Battle of Lincoln the following year.

Rob Wheeler spoke to a well-attended meeting in Lincoln on 18 February about trade and traffic on the Fossdyke.  Detailed accounts of trade on the canal (which links Lincoln to the Trent at Torksey) have survived for the period 1714-1724 and he used these to analyse the import of coal from the south Yorkshire coalfields.

Fluctuations in coal tonnage can be related to weather conditions (winter ice; low water in summer).  Information about boat owners and operators can be correlated with the types of boat being used (lighters or keels).  It is also possible to demonstrate the operation of cartels in the case of larger vessels.

Improvements to the navigation were made under Richard Ellison later in the century.

An enjoyable conference on a wide range of topics was held at Gainsborough Methodist Church on Saturday 7 February. Contributions were as follows:

Bardney Riots
David Letts
In 1815 a work force of 900 men ("bankers") were employed in straightening the river Witham near Bardney.  A riot began when they were charged an excessive amount for bread by a local baker.  This rapidly escalated, spreading to inns and alehouses, and was soon out of control.  Additional constables were summoned, militia were called in from Louth and the magistrate from Gautby read the Riot Act.  Order was soon restored and later the ringleaders were given short prison sentences. (Bardney local historians are continuing to work on details of this little known and little recorded event.)

Fallen Sons of Gainsborough
Peter Bradshaw
Over the past few years a local group has researched the lives of First World War casualties buried in Gainsborough Cemetery.  Thanks to Peter and colleagues, several unmarked graves of WWI soldiers now have proper Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstones and have been ceremonially rededicated.  Private headstones marking graves of other servicemen who died have also been restored; work of exceptional quality supported by a Heritage Lottery Grant has enabled stones to be re-erected, re-assembled and cleaned - a remarkable achievement, much appreciated by descendants of the casualties.

Women in World War I
Kathryn Storr
During the First World War women did not just "keep the home fires burning" (in the words of a contemporary song); they were employed in many essential industries and services and pioneered voluntary activities. Women dealt with the huge influx of Belgian refugees; made up dressings and clothing for hospitals; organised the very first flag days; worked on the land; joined the police force; nursed in hospitals for wounded servicemen; and made munitions. They also played active roles in the services, but these and many of their civilian jobs came to an abrupt end when the war was over.

Lincolnshire Lads on the Veldt
Alan Stennett
Among the 133 Lincolnshire Infantry Volunteers who went to South Africa in 1900 was the speaker's grandfather, Arthur Stennett. The letters he sent back to the family in Lincolnshire give a full and lively account of his journey across the country and subsequent battles with the Boers in Johannesburg and Pretoria. This campaign ended in defeat, and the surviving 83 soldiers - including Arthur - were forced to retreat. The speaker's recent photographs, taken in the same South African terrain, illustrated the harsh conditions described in the soldier's letters.

The Market Rasen Rifle Volunteers
Catherine Wilson
At a time of perceived threat from the French in 1860, companies of Rifle Volunteers were set up across the country, including one at Market Rasen.  The local newspaper frequently reported the group's activities: its parades, its camps, fund-raising balls and, under the patronage of the gentry, its special receptions at the area's country houses. Their practice ground and shooting butts - they shot every day - were first at Hamilton Hill and then in Linwood Warren (now a LWT nature reserve). The group was disbanded when the Territorial Army was established in 1908.

The North Lincolnshire Home Front
Stephanie Codd
The Lincolnshire Star, which covered the north-west corner of the county, has been digitised and can be read on line.  Stephanie has created a blog in which she is highlighting local events extracted from the Star and is posting them exactly 100 years after their occurrence.  Over the first 6 months of the war many articles and reports mirror the national picture: Red Cross fund raising; women making shirts and pockets for troops; hosting Belgian refugees; church prayers; advice on recipes. Differences in the activities and attitudes of different sections of Lincolnshire society at the time of war are evident.  (Stephanie's blog: http://northlincolnshirehomefrontww1.blogspot.co.uk/)

Neil Wright gave a short illustrated talk to SLHA members in Lincoln on Sunday 25 January describing the wide range of buildings in Boston associated with the railways.

In the early days of the GNR the town was chosen as an administrative and working centre for the region and at one time there were 900 employees in either clerical or blue-collar jobs.

The buildings and yards included: gas works, water tower, engineering works, stables, goods delivery, granary, coaling plant as well as the more usual station buildings and signal boxes.

On Sunday 25 January Jean Burton gave a talk on the life and achievements of Henry Winn (1816-1914), notable for being the country's longest serving parish clerk - 72 years - at Fulletby, near Horncastle.

Winn inherited his father's cobbler's business and added a range of local activities to this, including churchwarden and schoolteacher.  He fathered 21 children, only 4 of whom reached adulthood.

In his lifetime he achieved a reputation as writer and poet on rural subjects, with his contributions appearing frequently in local newspapers.

Ian Cox of Navenby Archaeology Group described the excavation undertaken by his group with the assistance of 160 volunteers in 2013.  Essential support had come from the Heritage Lottery Funding.

On a site close to the former Roman Ermine Street, a series of structures had been exposed together with a large number of items: 7500 pottery shards, 3000 animal bones, 300 coins, 240 glass fragments, 300 metal finds, remains of 9 individuals. 

Seven successive phases of the site had been identified: quarry; barn; kitchen; building with oven; large oven; another building for social activity; large building (end of 4th century AD).

On Wednesday 21 January a large audience in Lincoln listened to John Minnis as he took a photographic tour of the town of Boston looking at its very fine but often under-appreciated buildings.

Avoiding the well-known landmark structures the speaker covered every type of building from the humble dwelling house to substantial commercial, industrial and residential properties mainly built after 1700.

This English Heritage project will result in a book to be published in July 2015 which celebrates the very rich architectural heritage of the town with photographs and architect's drawings of its diverse buildings. Bostonians will be very proud of the result if the lecture is anything to go by.