Society News

The Festival of Archaeology 2026 starts today!

Over the next two weeks, people across the UK will be heading out on walks, visiting excavations, trying ancient crafts, joining online talks and discovering the archaeology hidden in the places around them.

West Midlands History Exchange June 2026 Bulletin

Please find below a link to the latest West Midlands History Exchange Bulletin which is for June 2026.

Change of speaker for next Friday 5th June

Dr. Mark Knight, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, will give a talk on "The Trent Valley Past and Present - project update"

Society Transactions Volume LVII for 2026

Staffordshire Archaeological & Historical Society Transactions Volume LVII for 2026 has now been published in print.

Society Newsletter Issue No. 152 May 2026

Please find on the News tab the Society's Newsletter Issue No. 152 for May 2026, compiled and edited by Richard Totty.  We hope you find it interesting and informative.

SA&HS Zoom Lecture Friday 24th April - ** CANCELLATION **

There was a lecture scheduled for tomorrow evening Friday 24th April, to be delivered remotely via the means of Zoom.

Vikings in the Midlands

A 10-week Lecture Course with Dr Charlotte Ball

Staffordshire Archaeology Day 2026 Saturday 18th April

Stoke-on-Trent Museum Archaeology Society (SOTMAS). FREE Event at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery (PM&AG).

'Hidden Gems' a Tour of Roman Wall Settlement

The Friends of Letocetum (FoL) have arranged an event:

Talks taking place at Staffordshire History Centre in March and April

Friends of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archives (FoSSA)

Women's History Walk around Lichfield

With thanks to Sarah Dale

Lichfield Festival Friends Sunday Afternoon Talks - 8th March & 19th April

With thanks to Adrienne Swallow of LFF.

Notification of the 2025 Annual General Meeting

Notification of the 2025 Annual General Meeting No. 66 & Lecture - at Wade Street Church, Frog Lane, Lichfield, WS13 6HS

Dr Mike Hodder "Ryknield Street and getting around the Roman West Midlands"

is the title of the next talk from the Friends of Letocetum

Newsletter Issue No. 151 January 2026, available now.

Compiled and edited by Richard Totty.  We hope you find it interesting and informative.

The Parted Veil. An article by Sam Whitehouse

Now available to view and download from our website.

CHANGE OF SA&HS LECTURE THIS EVENING AT WADE STREET CHURCH

Dr Richard Totty will present: "The 1851 Religious Census of Staffordshire".  At Wade Street Church, Lichfield, Friday 17th October at 8.00 pm

Change of speaker for the 31st October lecture

Dr J R Hunt will be giving a talk on researching parish churches in the western midlands.

September 2025 Newsletter

Available now on the News page.

Change of Venue for Future SAHS Lecture Programmes

From the start of the SAHS 2025 autumn lecture programme in September ...

May 2025 Newsletter

Available now on the News page.

Annual General Meeting Minutes 2025

Download our latest Annual General Meeting Minutes 

Society Excursion to Ansley and Berkswell Churches, Warwickshire

Following the success of Dr Hunt’s guided tour of three Staffordshire churches in 2024 we are pleased to announce a SAHS Excursion to Ansley and Berkswell Churches, Warwickshire, with Dr John Hunt  Wednesday March 5 2025

Day School Event - SUN AND FIRE: SHROPSHIRE IN PREHISTORY

On Saturday 8th March 2025 a significant Day School is taking place in the town of Shrewsbury

January 2025 Newsletter

Available now on the News page.

Proposed Closure of the Museum of Cannock Chase

We bring to your attention what this Society considers to be alarming news!

Geophysics studies at the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA).

In August and September 2023, working with a team of geophysics specialists and researchers, Transforming the Trent Valley volunteers helped conduct a series of geophysics studies at the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA).

Society Transactions Volume LV for 2024

We are pleased to 'announce' that SA&HS Transactions Volume LV for 2024 has now been published, edited as ever by Dr Nigel Tringham. 

SAHS Late summer Newsletter 2024 – Bumper book review edition.

Available now on the News page.

The 2024/2025 Lecture Season

First the analysis…

Annual General Meeting

To be held at the Guildhall, Lichfield.

The Society Facebook Account - An Information Update

A message from the Committee.

'The Buildings of England: Staffordshire' - Christopher Wakeling and Nikolaus Pevsner

Within the Series: Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England

Published by Yale University Press London - ** Exclusive Discount Offer **

Change of speaker for the talk on the 21st May.

A lecture via Zoom

Available Now! Our latest Newsletter. May 2024

The latest issue, number 146, edited by Richard Totty, is available to view or download from the News page.  Enjoy!

15th March AGM Minutes

AGM minutes are available to view as a PDF

Visit to St Mary’s Abbey Colwich

Tuesday 23 April 10 for 10.30

Field Visit to the Gnosall Group of Churches (3) on Wednesday 6th March 2024

Dr John Hunt will be leading a guided 'study visit' of the three Staffordshire churches at Bradley, Church Eaton and Gnosall

The latest Newsletter

Our January 2024 newsletter is now available to read on this site.

Contents include: A new project on the Legacy of Slavery in Staffordshire: Transforming the Trent Valley and the Anchor Church: book review ‘Brickmaking and Brick Building in the Midlands’ by Mike Kingman: News and Events in Staffordshire including of course our own Spring 2024 Lecture and Field Visit Programme.

Paul Norris - Retired Committee Member

It is with regret and sadness that we record the death on 14th August of longstanding SA&HS Member Paul Norris. He was 91.

Mick Aston, Noted Landscape Archaeologist - Past Member of this Society

BREAKING NEWS!

SA&HS Transactions Volume LIV for 2023

The latest Newsletter.

Our May 2023 newsletter is now available to read on this site.

The Autumn Series of Lectures

The Programme for the Autumn (September to December) series of lectures is
now published

Society Transactions Back Stock

** FREE OFFER ** - Staffordshire Archaeological & Historical Society has a surplus stock of back numbers of its Transactions.

Organised Visit to Maxstoke Castle Wednesday 19th April 2.00 pm

Places remain available to attend the above visit which will be a guided tour. 

17th February AGM Minutes

AGM minutes will be available to view as a PDF

The Archaeology of Sutton Park - A Guided Walk

on Wednesday 1st March 2023 at 11.00 am

Notification of the 2022 Annual General Meeting No. 63 & Lecture

at the Guildhall in Lichfield on Friday 17th February 2023

The Society's Transactions have been made free to view (open access) - for the most part

The archive of the SA&HS Transactions Volumes on the website has now been made free to view as downloadable pdf copies, under the Society's new Open Access policy. 

The January 2023 Society Newsletter is available now.

The Society's Newsletter Issue No. 142 for January 2023 is published.  We hope you find it interesting and informative. 

2022 Annual General Meeting

Members are advised that the 2022 Annual General Meeting of the Society will take place at 7.30pm on Friday 17 February 2023 in the Guildhall, Bore Street, Lichfield.

SA&HS Lecture on Friday 23rd September 2022

The lecture on Friday 23rd September 2022 is now to take place via Zoom.

The September 2022 Society Newsletter is available now.

Sadly we have to record the passing of two highly significant individuals from within our ranks.  It is with deep regret that Society Member Bob Meeson died in May, followed by Society Member Betty Fox at the beginning of August.

Mrs Betty Fox

With very deep regret we have been informed of the death on 6th August aged 89 of serving Committee Member, former Membership Secretary, Archivist and Honorary Vice-President Betty Fox.

Minutes of the 62nd Annual General Meeting held at The Guildhall, Lichfield on Friday 18 March 2022 at 7.30pm.

Note 1. This meeting is the delayed AGM from 2021 originally intended to be held in
February 2022.

Note 2. Minutes of the 61st AGM and Officer Reports for 2021 were distributed to members
prior to this meeting within "Combined Summary Reports"

Staffordshire Medieval Cross Slabs Survey, c.1000 - 1600. A request from John Hunt.

Further to my appeal made at the Society's AGM on Friday, March 18th, 2022, I would like to restate my request of the SAHS membership for their assistance in a piece of research that I am currently undertaking.

Visit to the Church of St Michael & All Angels Hamstall Ridware, Staffordshire Wednesday 20th April

SA&HS Visit to the Church of St Michael & All Angels Hamstall Ridware, Staffordshire. Wednesday 20th April 2022 at 10.00 am

St Michael & All Angels is a beautiful Grade 1 listed church in rural surroundings on the edge of the village of Hamstall Ridware.  The church dates from the Norman period but there were substantial additions in the 14th Century, notably the tower, chancel and chapel.

Annual General Meeting

The re-arranged AGM for 2021 will now be on Friday 18 March at 7.30pm in the Guildhall, Lichfield, immediately before Dr Gillian White's talk on Catherine of Aragon which will start at 8pm

SA&HS AGM & Lecture Friday 18th February 2022 at the Guildhall - CANCELLED

Regrettably we have to advise that tomorrow evening's scheduled AGM and lecture have been cancelled.  We feel it unsafe to proceed given that unprecedented Storm Eunice is forecast to be with us throughout Friday and into the evening bringing with it a high expectation of travel disruption, damage and risk to life.  Please except our apologies in this matter.

Effective Social Media For Local History

Social media platforms offer a great way to both network with others and promote local and family history projects.

News from the Staffordshire Historic Churches Trust

The latest news-bulletin of the Staffordshire Historic Churches website has just been published online

Society Visit to West Bromwich Manor House Wed. 16.3.22 10.30 am

Richard Totty has arranged the above visit for SA&HS Members. Please see Events page for further details.

Staffordshire Archaeological & Historical Society is now a Society Member of the British Association for Local History (BALH)

As a Society Member, a number of benefits are now available to us as a history and heritage group.

The January 2020 Society Newsletter is available now.

We hope you find it interesting and informative.  Any comments will be most welcome.  If you think you may have something of interest for inclusion in the next edition by all means get in touch.

The Newsletter Editor is Richard Totty.

The latest Newsletter is available to download now.

Please go to the Newsletter page for the September 2021 issue.

Autumn Lecture Programme

The first lecture this autumn, following the summer break, will be "1346: Crecy", a talk to be given by Dr Gillian White on Friday evening 24th September 2021.  This will again be delivered by means of Zoom.  The Battle of Crecy was the first decisive victory over the French for Edward III in the Hundred Years War.  Gillian White gave an excellent Zoom talk back in April (Henry VIII and the Field of Cloth of Gold) and we expect this next presentation to be similarly most interesting.

Minutes of the 61st Annual General Meeting held via Zoom on Friday 18 June 2021 at 7.15pm

Note: Minutes of 60th AGM and Officer Reports were distributed to members prior to this meeting within "Combined Summary Reports"

Excavations at RAF Perton.

We have been notified of the following talk:

The latest Newsletter is available to download now.

Please go to the Newsletter page for the May 2021 issue.

SA&HS Transactions Volume LII

SA&HS Transactions Volume LII for 2021 has now been published.  An image of the front cover (with picture of St Chad as depicted in stained glass at York Minster) is shown on the Transactions webpage, with a list of contents accompanying it.  

2020 Annual General Meeting

As a result of the Government restruictions associated withthe Covid-19 pandemic it was not possible for the Society to hold its 2020 AGM as normal in December 2020. It is now planned to hold the AGM virtually through the medium of Zoom as a preliminary activity to our last Zoom lecture on 18 June 2021 at 7.15pm. Further details will be circulated to all members in due course.

We are moving into the 21st century (again!). The SAHS is now on Twitter

A Society Twitter account has been set up.

Dr Nigel John Tringham MBE

We are pleased to announce that Dr Nigel Tringham, Honorary Editor Staffordshire Archaeological & Historical Society Transactions, has been awarded the honour of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours.

The January 2021 Society Newsletter - issue no. 136 - is available now.

It is 22 pages long and contains contributions from a wide range of sources.  Edited once again by Richard Totty, it is hoped you find this latest issue interesting and informative.  If you have any comments or feedback please let us know.  You'll see that:

The first Zoom lecture is on Friday 15th January at 8.00 pm

May we wish you a Happy New Year !

Kind regards  Stay safe

 

A message from the Nicholson Museum and Art Gallery

My name is Laura Summers and I am working on behalf of Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and the Nicholson Museum and Art Gallery.

This year, the Nicholson Museum &Art Gallery celebrates its ten-year anniversary. During this time, the museum and art gallery has exhibited and become recognised regionally and nationally as a valued exhibition space and an important feature in Leek.

The Lecture Programme 2020-2021 - The uncertainty continues!

We do live in the hope of returning to some semblance of normality in the spring of 2021 but we are not in control of that. The Programme that is set at the moment is still limited. There are a couple of TBC (to be confirmed) meetings for which we are awaiting responses and changes will be advised as and when there are firm booked speakers for the stray dates - keep watching the website!

BREAKING NEWS! The September 2020 Society Newsletter - issue no. 135 - is available now.

Please go to the News or Newsletter tab.

Covid-19 and the Impact on The Society's Autumn 2020 Lecture Programme - A Message from the Honorary President  

Dear SAHS Member,

As for most societies and organisations, the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions necessary to ‘live with it’ has meant that it has now been nearly six months since SAHS was last able to organise an event for our membership. We have all been disappointed not to hear the excellent cast of speakers lined up for us, or to be able to participate in our usual programme of field visits. We have however been able to publish our Transactions as normal, and to continue with the publication of our Newsletters, in addition to which numerous online ‘extras’ have hopefully mitigated some of the disappointment felt at the disruption to our activities.

Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group website

The group was established in 1984 and its members individually research aspects of the history of Sutton Coldfield and its surroundings from original sources.

Wall Roman site museum (closed) open 24/7 !

As you might expect, the small museum at Wall (Letocetum) Roman site is now closed until further notice because of the current crisis, but it is open 24/7 online, thanks to Sue Whitehouse and Emma Preston, members of the National Trust volunteer group the Friends of Letocetum, who have developed a virtual museum.

 CBA West Midlands Archaeology - Call for Contributions

This is a round robin calling for everyone’ s summary reports for West Midlands Archaeology. For WMA we define the West Midlands region as: Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire.  Accompanying illustrations or photographs would be very welcome (please send these digitally by disk or email – see notes for contributors for formats accepted).  Please also remember to include grid references for all site summaries as well as relevant HER reference numbers.  It would also be really helpful if you could collate your entries by county, especially as this year, again, the counties will be divided between a number of sub-editors.

Cruck-Trussed Houses – where we are now

The interesting reference in the last Newsletter to P.R.Sheppard’s paper in volume 1 of our Transactions on ‘Cruck-trussed houses in Lichfield’ prompted thoughts on how far we have travelled towards a better understanding of crucks since 1960. The paper is still useful today, but it reflected the common perception of the time that cruck-framed houses were built from the Norman Conquest (1066) until the Reformation (sixteenth century). With access to tree-ring dating it is now possible to confidently assert that so far no full cruck timber-framed building is known to survive from the Norman period, and indeed our oldest exemplars were constructed about two hundred years after the Conquest. The two buildings that currently vie for the title of the oldest full cruck framed house are Cruck Cottage in Upton Magna (Shropshire), which has a tree-ring felling date of 1269d, and 104 Lower Radley (Oxfordshire), where a single full cruck blade has an overlapping date-range of 1256-88d.

Why you should read Transactions Vol LI - Mike Hodder

The main article in Volume 51 of the Society’s Transactions is the first product of a new venture by the Society to bring reports on important but hitherto unpublished excavations, in this case in Lichfield, into print and present an overview of current knowledge. There are also reports on the excavation of a Romano-British farmstead in Tamworth, metallurgical research on the metal used by money forgers in Flash in the Peak District, and an article on the architectural writer and artist John Louis Petit. In addition the volume contains notes on recent archaeological work in Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Walsall and Wolverhampton, and book reviews.

SA&HS Transactions Volume LI for 2020

A few words from the Treasurer. Please read.

The May 2020 Society Newsletter - issue no. 134 - is out now.

Please go to the News or Newsletter tab.

The online edition of the society's latest Transactions, Volume LI, is now published.

This latest volume of Transactions contains articles on a wide range of archaeological and historical subjects from throughout the county.

CBA Festival of Archaeology to go ahead with revised format

In response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) has decided to make some changes to the 2020 CBA Festival of Archaeology. It will now be taking place in two parts with a series of digital events in July and on the ground events in October.

CANCELLATION OF SPRING LECTURE PROGRAMME

Please read ....

New Publication - 'Norton Canes Poor Law Relief and the Workhouse' by Sam Whitehouse

Author and SA&HS Member Sam Whitehouse has published a new title 'Norton Canes Poor Law Relief and the Workhouse'.

Friends of Shenstone Tower (FoST)

St John Shenstone derelict medieval church tower is the subject of an exciting project to renovate it and bring it back to life and back into use as a community resource.

Sad News

Richard Brosch 

The January 2020 Newsletter is out now.

Please go to the News or Newsletter tab.

Happy New Year!

The latest Young Archaeologists' Club newsletter is out now!

Staffordshire Hoard monograph published

The Society of Antiquaries has published The Staffordshire Hoard: An Anglo-Saxon Treasure.

The monograph is the culmination of ten years of research into the 2009 find, comprising almost 6kg of precious metal objects from the period AD600-AD650 - the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon objects ever found.

 

Annual General Meeting

Minutes of the 60th Annual General Meeting held on Friday 6 December 2019

The Lecture Evenings will recommence in January.

See the Lectures & Events pages.

The Akrotiri Cyprus Project Update

Following on from Vicki Score's fascinating lecture at the guildhall on the 11th October.

STAFFORDSHIRE HOARD

Those of you with an interest in the technical aspects of the Staffordshire Hoard will enjoy reading Dr Eleanor Blakelock’s article on ‘Secrets of the Anglo- Saxon Goldsmith – the results from the analysis of the gold in the Staffordshire Hoard’

Transforming the Trent Valley (TTTV)

We mentioned this project in a recent newsletter. The Heritage Lottery Fund have made a grant of just under £5 million to a consortium of organisations for an environmental project in the mid Trent Valley covering an area from Uttoxeter to Tamworth (basically the rivers and the lands immediately around the rivers). The lead organisation is the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, based at Wolseley Bridge near Rugeley.

The latest Society newsletter is now available. Number 132 - September 2019

The Society's newsletter is published three times a year, in January, May and September. The latest Edition is available.

A new Honorary General Secretary - Steve Lewitt

Members will be aware that the position of Honorary General Secretary has been vacant for a period of time. We are pleased to announce that Society Member Steve Lewitt has kindly stepped forward to fulfil the role and he has readily been welcomed on to Committee, initially as a co-optee before anticipated election to post at the next AGM. 

The latest volume of the Sociey's Transactions is published

The recently-published fiftieth volume of Transactions contains articles on a wide range of archaeological and historical subjects from throughout the county.

New Website Co-ordinator takes the reigns.

The Society welcomes our new Website Co-ordinator.