2010 to 2011 Programme - meetings in the Farmor Room, Fairford Community Centre
September 16th: Swing Riots in Fairford by Jill Chambers, author of Gloucestershire Machine-Breakers
Increasing hardship for agricultural labourers across the south of England during the winter of 1830
led to rioting and industrial sabotage. Fairford was no exception with a riot involving up to 100 men
and the destruction of several threshing machines resulting in troops patrolling the streets and the
subsequent imprisonment and transportation of a number of Fairford residents. Jill Chambers has
meticulously collected evidence on the events and has published several volumes about the riots.
At this meeting we hope to be visited by a descendant of one of the Fairford men transported to
Australia.
November 18th: Gimson and the Barnsleys: The Arts and Cratfs Movement in Gloucestershire - a talk by
Dave Walton
Fairford has a special interest in Ernest Gimson as he designed Fairford’s War Memorial a few years
before his death. He actually designed it to go in the Market Place and he probably would have redesigned
the base if he had lived.
February 17th 2011: Where have all the Shops gone?
a daytime talk followed by a short walk to locate the site and put names to businesses that once existed in
Fairford. Do you remember the location of the ‘Barrel and Basket? What was the shop in the old council offices
in London Street?
March 17th 2011: The Thames and Severn Canal
the talk by Bruce Hall, Chairman of the Cotswolds Canals Trust and will include recent developments at the eastern end of the Canal.
May 19th 2011: Fairford Park
Nicholas Ford Agent and Director (Chief Executive) of the Ernest Cook Trust since 2002 will talk about
the former buildings of Fairford Park.
June 16th 2011: to be arranged.
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JUNE 17th 2010 AGM
At the AGM on June 17th the Committee was elected as previously. Doug Newton gave an interesting talk.
He was part of the Concorde Flight Testing team at RAF Fairford and is now the mainstay of the Concorde
Association. Members enjoyed information from ‘behind the scenes’ and nostalgic photographs of a triumph
of British engineering. The short film at the end of the talk was especially enjoyable as a reminiscence
of the world’s most aesthetic aircraft.
FEBRUARY 18TH 2010 ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM
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At the February meeting Jude Barrett, an Education Officer from Oxford's Ashmolean Museum of Art
and Archaeology, talked to the society about their £61 million redevelopment project. The presentation
covered a brief history of the museum and details of the refurbishment and also illuminated some of the
highlights of their collections and the new ways in which they are presented.
The museum was first opened in 1683 to house the collection of Elias Ashmole, which consisted of
his own original acquisitions and those of John Tradescant and son of the same name. The collection grew
with additions from many sources until it was split in the late-19th Century with art and antiquities
remaining in the Ashmolean on its present site.
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Part of the interior of the newly refurbished Ashmolean Museum
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Zeus from Artemision (c.470) statue
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Historically, the fabric of the museum and the
things in it was shaped by Ashmole's bequest and subsequent donations. However, the refurbishment has
allowed the museum to be reshaped to fit the new display strategy of 'Crossing Cultures, Crossing Time'.
To achieve this, exhibits on the lower ground floor illustrate objects and activities common to different
cultures. Following this the ground floor represents the Ancient World of Europe, China and North Africa.
The first floor illustrates Asian Crossroads: Eastern Art, artifacts from India, the Islamic Middle East
and the Mediterranean area. The second floor explores the topic West meets East, including European
ceramics, Renaissance and Baroque art, more items from Japan and China and the 'England 400–1600' room
where some of the items excavated from Fairford's Anglo-Saxon Cemetery are displayed. The third floor
houses modern art.
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The museum's frontispiece, the Cockerell Building built in 1845, and which
also houses the University's Modern Languages Faculty (the Taylorian), has not been replaced. A new
building designed by architect Rick Mather has replaced other buildings added piecemeal over the
museum's long history. Excavation of the site allowed the basement level area to expand and, with
the new building works completed, the floor space of the museum has greatly increased.
The redevelopment provided an opportunity for the site to be examined by
Oxford Archaeology who uncovered some medieval pottery and
waste pits. The refurbishment began in 2004 with museum items being placed in storage, which has
provided an opportunity for conservation work to take place. Internal and external demolition
followed from 2006 leading to the Museum's ten-month closure before reopening in November 2009.
Jude's presentation highlighted the difficulties of construction and access in a city centre site.
She also spoke about the new state-of-the-art environmentally controlled display cabinets designed
to aid the conservation of exhibits
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Runestone from Sweden
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Part of the Anglo-Saxon display including brooches from Fairford
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The speaker's highlights of the museum included:
the
clay pithos with octopus design excavated from Knossos, Crete;
Powhatan's Mantle,
a deerskin decorated with shells that belonged to the father of Pocahontas;
an early
Cycladic figurine thought to be a votive offering;
Paolo Uccello's
Hunt in the forest an early renaissance painting demonstrating the use of perspective.
The speaker also brought replicas of Anglo-Saxon items the
Alfred Jewel
and the Cuddesdon Bowl
which were passed around the room. The Museum anticipates the opening of study rooms with accessible storage of items, such as those from Fairford,
that are not on general display.
The presentation was very informative and whetted the appetite of those in the audience for a trip to
Oxford.
Further information
Ashmolean
Ashmolean - wikipedia
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Meeting Reports for 2009
Meeting Reports for 2007 and 2008
Meeting Reports for 2006
Meeting Reports for 2004 and 2005
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