We are delighted to be continung our Historic Towns Trust lecture series for 2024. Now in its third year, the series have proved very popular with both members and non-members.

The Cambridge Townscape, 1550 – 2024

Thursday 29th February 2024 7:00pm

Although its situation on the edge of the Fens and the uplands of South Cambridgeshire meant that from early medieval times Cambridge was an important market centre, it was the University that dominated its cultural, political and social life from the late 13c until (at least) 1914, its Colleges dominating the streetscape and introducing new architectural ideas.

This talk explores its influence, and how from the time of Parliamentary Enclosure (1807) eastwards expansion started to change its character, a process accelerated by the coming of the railway in 1845, with both the Colleges and private developers involved in both new housing and the redevelopment of its commercial heart. In the 20c expansion continued unabated, with the addition of a council house building programme (one of the largest in the UK) between 1920 and 1980 and, more recently, the development of University-dominated West Cambridge, Science Parks, and the world-renowned Biomedical Campus.

Details and booking

Charting Ipswich’s history - a new Historic Towns Trust map of one of England’s oldest towns

Thursday 28th March 2024 7:00pm

James Winterbotham and Keith Wade will give an update on a new Historic Towns Trust map planned for Ipswich, one of England’s wealthiest port towns in the Middle Ages.

James will set out the background to the project – how the Historic Towns Trust operates, what we hope the map will achieve – and how the project will come together. Keith will provide a summary of the town’s development from Anglo-Saxon times, looking at the principal features of Ipswich’s topography, and what recent archaeological excavations tell us about the town’s unique history.  

The origins of the present town of Ipswich lie in the 7th century when it functioned as a landing place for foreign visitors, both traders and diplomats, wishing to engage with the local elite. In the early eighth century a permanent settlement was laid out around existing routeways and the town grew to cover 50 hectares, both north and south of the river Orwell. The Danes built the first town defences in the late ninth century and they were rebuilt on roughly the same lines in the 11th and 13th centuries. Although now levelled their route can still be seen in the street system. The port flourished throughout the medieval period but declined in the 17th and 18th centuries. Significant monuments now gone include five medieval religious houses and Wolsey’s College. The town became very wealthy in the 19th century after the creation of a wet dock and the coming of the railway. As a result, the town boasts many splendid public buildings of that date.

A combination of archaeological and historical evidence indicates an astonishing continuity of the 8th century street system, only modified by later developments.

Details and booking

We hope to announce another lecture. Please check our events listing for further details.