The Englefield Lecture 2024
Professor Nicholas Orme is the speaker for this year’s Englefield Lecture which will take place on Saturday 13th April in St Mark’s Church, Englefield. Professor Orme will be speaking on Going to Church in Medieval England, the subject of one of his best-known books which was shortlisted for the 2022 Wolfson History Prize. He is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Exeter, and a canon of the Church of England. For further information and booking details see the poster below – click here for the link to TicketSource:
Guided Tour of Reading Abbey
Exclusively for Friends of Berkshire Churches and limited to only 15 people, this will take place on Wednesday 29th May, at 2.30pm. The Abbey, founded by Henry I in 1121, was one of England’s foremost and wealthiest monasteries. After the dissolution in 1539 it fell into ruin, and was only rescued from obliteration in the 19th century. Peter Durrant, who is Chairman of the Friends of Reading Abbey and co-author of their recent book, will lead the BHCT tour of this important site in the heart of Reading. Tickets £15 per person for the tour followed by tea, booking here: www.TicketSource.co.uk/Berkshire-Churches-Trust or phone Marion Elly (01628 482637).
The 2023 AGM and Annual Meeting took place on Saturday 16th September starting with the AGM at Holy Trinity Church, Theale. After exploring this magnificent church, a Grade I listed building, we moved on to St Mark’s, Englefield, where there was a short tour of the monuments and windows in this 13th century church, restored and partly rebuilt by George Gilbert Scott. We then visited St Laurence, Tidmarsh, a 12th/13th century church with a fine Norman doorway, and St Nicholas, Sulham, rebuilt in 1836-8, another interesting example of Gothic revival, before ending up at St James the Less in Pangbourne for a tour of the church, a magnificent tea and a short service of evening prayer. Our grateful thanks to all our hosts, particularly to the team at St James, for a wonderful afternoon.
The Englefield Lecture 2023
We were delighted to welcome Professor Nigel Saul as our speaker for the Englefield Lecture this year. Shown here with BHCT chairman, Dr Peter Durrant, he is a renowned academic, historian and biographer, an acknowledged expert on medieval church monuments and the author of many articles and studies on the subject, including English Church Monuments in the Middle Ages, History and Representation (Oxford University Press). Professor Saul was speaking on the ‘endless joy of variety’ in English medieval churches, with particular reference to the churches of Berkshire and took his listeners on an informative and entertaining tour of church architecture around the county and the country. We are very grateful to him and to Lord and Lady Benyon for the use of the Long Gallery at Englefield House.
If you would like to hear about future events please consider becoming a Friend of the Berkshire Historic Churches Trust. More information here or email secretary@berkschurchestrust.org.uk.
The August 2023 newsletter can be read here; the Annual Report for 2022-2023 is available here.
To be notified of future BHCT events please contact:
John Pritchard, 53 Thame Road, Warborough, Wallingford, OX10 7EB
email secretary@berkschurchestrust.org.uk
