The mini-display of vintage food gadgets, organised by the Society, opens at The Open Door, Berkhamsted on Tuesday 7^th Sept to the 18^th.

Try guessing what each item does!  (Before flipping the page for the answers).

Fun and interesting for all  –  including children (and grandchildren)  –   to see a different world.

Dating mainly before the age of electricity, and pre-dating the invention of the food-processor, the hand-cranked 20 items are on exhibition as part of this years Edible England theme of the Heritage Open Days 2021.

Enjoy also the other exhibits on display at The Open Door as part of their Food Glorious Food! event.

Where? The Open Door Community Space, 360 High St, Berkhamsted HP41HU (west end of the town, towards Tring).

When?  7^th – 18^th Sept 2021, Mondays to Saturdays, 10:30 to 3:30 pm.

Cost?  FREE

Organised by?  The Berkhamsted Local History and Museum Society

We’ll be outside Tesco / Aitchisons with the red dot map of WWI soldiers’ homes in Berkhamsted, so come and see if your house is on it. If so you can read about the soldier who lived there in Men of Berkhamsted: Lest we forget.

We’ll be selling all the local history new books at greatly reduced prices (£5-10), along with a selection of second hand books (£1-4). Information on our forthcoming talks, Heritage Open Days and some freebies!

If you have any local history queries, pop down and we’ll see if we can help.

Come and celebrate Berkhamsted’s architecture and culture
at this year’s Heritage Open Days

This year’s HODs will be between 11 and 20 Sep 2021
Click here for HODs 2021 pdf file
Click here for details on HODs website
(look out for the Foundling video on this link from 10 Sep for HODs week)

Update on bookings: The only tours with limited spaces now are:-
Watercress – a thriving industry in Victorian Berkhamsted
Sunday 12 September 10.30am and Thursday 16th September 10,30am
Visit to a working watercress bed –  Sunday 19th September 11.00 -14.00
Online event available all week Berkhamsted  Foundling Hospital – Memories of Childhood. Information available from HODs website (link above).

Thanks to the efforts of Bill Willett in scanning and indexing, we can now view two surveys of the Manor of Berkhamsted from 1607 and 1616 and Sneyd’s History of King Edward VI Grammar School (1842) here

From the East Anglian Film Archive on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of VE Day, a 10-minute compilation film offered a snapshot of life on the home front during World War II.

BLH&MS talk and AGM on 25 Mar 2020 is postponed due to Coronavirus. Stay safe and we hope to see you in Sep 2020. Meanwhile, life’s better by water and here’s Castle Street bridge: Alford’s timber yard on the left, Crystal Palace pub on the right…

The Battlefields Trust in conjunction with the Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers and Historic England are running a battlefield heritage training day on 25 March 2020 at the National Civil War Centre in Newark.

The day is primarily aimed at those responsible for the management of battlefield heritage in local and national government, such as archaeologists, conservation officers and planning advisors. The training provides an introduction to some of the challenges, opportunities and approaches associated with battlefield heritage.

Free tickets for such professionals have now all been allocated, but there are some tickets remaining that the Trust can make available to members of the Battlefields Trust and other interested individuals on a paid for basis.

Tickets cost £20 for Battlefields Trust members and £35 for non-members, including a sandwich lunch and teas and coffees.

BLH&MS talk on 19 Feb 2020

The Railway Comes to Tring, by Ian Petticrew.

The talk looks (in brief) at how the London & Birmingham Railway came to be built: the route as originally proposed – and as eventually constructed; civil engineering along the line from Euston to Tring; early train services and the Railway’s impact on stage coach services, the Sparrows Herne Turnpike and the canal.

Meeting begins at 8pm in the Wellcome Great Hall, Town Hall, Berkhamsted. Visitors are always welcome @ £3 at the door.

It’s 2020 and you’re warmly invited to our East Anglia Regional Study Day! This is our fourth one and it’s on Saturday 29 February 2020 at the Cedars Hotel, Stowmarket, Suffolk, IP14 2AJ starting at 10.30 am with coffee/tea available from 10.00.

Our speakers include Dr Sophie Thérèse Ambler (FRHistS, FHEA Lecturer in Later Medieval British and European History at Lancaster University) who will be talking to us on Simon de Montfort and the Battle of Evesham (1265).

We are very pleased to welcome back Dr Harry Sidebottom, author of the Warrior of Rome novels and Fellow and Director of Studies in Ancient History at St Benets Hall, and Lecturer in Ancient History at Lincoln College, who will be talking on the Late Roman Army and the East Anglia Saxon Shore forts.

And for those of you who missed our study day on the Battle of Fornham Dr James Barnaby has very kindly agreed to talk to us about the Campaign of 1173 building up to the actual battle. And as ever Trust Development Officer Julian Humphrys will be with us, to talk on the work he’s been doing around the Battle of Hastings, and answer questions on the work of the Trust.

We also want to take this opportunity to seek members’ views on future Trust activities in East Anglia.

Price: £32 to include a buffet lunch and tea/coffee. (Life members £25).

Please contact David Austin for a booking form.
Here is a link to the Cedars’ website

We really look forward to seeing you there.

The Berkhamsted Local History & Museum Society will be running a stall at the Court House in Berkhamsted where there will be a small history display and a number of local history books for sale, including ‘Berkhamsted in WWI’ and ‘Men of Berkhamsted – Lest We Forget’. Do stop by for a chat! Tea, cake and coffee will be served (at 50p).