More News

• Congratulations to our member John Poulter on being elected as a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a (slightly) more prestigious body than our own. John is a retired systems analyst who has made an important contribution to understanding the planning of Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall, publishing journal articles on the topic, writing two British Archaeological Reports, and speaking at the Arbeia Conference among other places.
• Our member Jennifer DuCane has most generously donated Carrawburgh Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall to the nation. The fort had been cared for by her and her family since 1950, but, she says, "it has been a great privilege, but also a serious responsibility, to own Carrawburgh Roman Fort. The time has come to pass on this amazing site as a gift to the nation." Follow this link for Historic England's press release, and this one for a note by David Breeze and Lindsay Allason-Jones on the excavation and the stones found at Carrawburgh.
• On 27 November last year we bid successfully at auction for the 1813 membership certificate of Bridget Atkinson, the Society's first woman member, along with a number of other papers that probably came from our secretary Robert Blair. Many thanks to Les Jessop, of the Natural History Society of Northumbria, for alerting us to the item in the auction catalogue. A small group of transcribers has been assembled, and in due course digitised photos, and transcripts, will appear on our website.
• Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn has been successful in its Heritage Lottery Fund bid for a project around its holdings of manorial records. The project is programmed to start in spring 2020. Further details will be available shortly.
• Hexham Local History Society have releases the first version of their Photo Archive on their website, with over 500 images from the postcard collection of Colin Dallison. There are around 2000 slides also to come.
• RIB Online, the digital library of Roman inscriptions from Britain, has been relaunched in a much expanded form. Much of the hard work involved has been done by our member Scott Vanderbilt (in far-away California). Congratulations to Scott and his colleagues!
• If you watched the BBC TV programme A House through Time , on 5 Ravensworth Terrace in Newcastle, you may be interested in two articles about personalities who featured in it, based on research for the programme by Helen Rutherford, which appeared in Newcastle News (the magazine of Newcastle Law Society) in April and May 2019.
• Durham University are running a project looking at the faith landscape of Northumberland and Durham from the Neolithic onwards. Follow this link for details. They are looking for community field workers and volunteers.
• Anyone brave enough, fit enough and with a head for heights can now go up Durham Cathedral's central tower (325 steps!). It is open Monday to Saturday, 10.00-4.00, for £5 adults, £4.50 children, tickets available from the cathedral's visiting desk.
• The June 2019 News Bulletin contained a short piece about archaeologists' japes in the 1930s, discovered by Professor Tony Birley. It had to be severely cut to fit in the News Bulletin, so attached is his article in full. If anyone has information for him, please contact him direct.
• The massive slide collection of our late Barbara Harbottle is about to go onto our Flickr site.  Follow this link to read more about all the collections so far on the site. If you can offer a name for an image entitled ‘Unknown’, and have a Flickr account. you can add a comment in the box below the photo. Others can e-mail Irwin Thompson, who has set up the site for us. Please include a link to a photo or website as “proof”.
• A new website has been launched by Coquetdale Community Archaeology to promote their Border Roads project
• Future Learning have launched a new free online course, Archaeology and the Battle of Dunbar 1650 - six weeks' duration, estimated 2 hours' study a week. Follow this link for details and registration
• A community project has been launched to compile a Historical Village Atlas for Bishopwearmouth, with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, volunteers welcome for a range of tasks.
• The British Film Institute has launched a new Britain on Film crowdsourcing platform, with the aim of mapping locations around the country that are seen in their archive films. They are keen to engage with grassroots groups such as local history societies, local museums and archive organisations. They have created a short animation to promote the platform; follow this link to download.
• The Great Labour Unrest: Rank-and-file movements and political change in the Durham Coalfield by Dr Lewis Mates, first published in 2016, is now available from Manchester University Press in hardcover at the reduced price of £16 (plus p&p). To order your copy go to Manchester University Press - The Great Labour Unrest
• NHS at 70: the Story of Our Lives, is a national programme supported by the HLF, with the aim of capturing oral histories of and about the NHS from people whose lives have been affected by it, and preserve them in a publicly accessible online archive. Peter Mitchell, the local co-ordinator, is looking for volunteers to undertake the interviews; contact him by e-mail if you are interested.
• Friends of Gateshead Archives is a new group being set up, following a successful HLF application. Please contact the co-ordinator, Maggie Thacker, by e-mail if you are interested
• Dive Into Durham is a research project exploring the River Wear Assemblage, 12,000 objects recovered from the bed of the River Wear at Durham, by diver Gary Bankhead and colleagues. It has been adopted as a research project by Durham University, and is looking for crowdfunding to help with the costs.
• The North East Labour History Society has put a number of issues of North East History, its annual publication, online. Issue 1 (1967), and issues 36-48 (2005-2017) are now available
• During the work on their building, the Mining Institute's regular series of lectures will be held next door at the Lit and Phil.
• St James’ Heritage and Environment Group looks after the graveyard at St James' Church Benwell. The original graveyard plan has been lost, but they have a database of all the visible memorials. Volunteers continue to find ‘new’ gravestones below the surface of the soil. The Group is seeking advice and help with the task of identifying further hidden gravestones and other stone features.  Send them an e-mail if you can assist.
• Capital Newcastle; A Walk through Newcastle's Architectural Orders is a new publication from Newcastle Antiquaries, a fold-out pamphlet with a detailed explanation of the classical 'orders' of architecture on one side, and a map showing a walking route round Newcastle's city centre on the other, featuring eighteenth- to twentieth-century buildings that illustrate each element. Copies are free. If you would like some to distribute to local groups, schools, or your friends, please send an e-mail to author Alan Beale

• Our Data Protection Policy is now available on this website. As required under the General Data Protection Regulations, we are no longer sending e-circulars or electronic copies of the News Bulletin to those from whom we have not received specific consent to do so. Members who have not consented default to receiving items by post only. You can of course resubscribe to our e-mail lists at any time; simply send us an e-mail, including your name and (if known) your membership number.

• North East Labour History Society has published transcripts of the personal memories of 60 people who have been involved in the labour movement from the North East, and are asking anyone with transcripts or notes of further oral history reviews to get in touch.

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