Programme 2025
Our talks and activities in 2025
Recent Discoveries in an Ancient Landscape
A Zoom talk by Andy Crabb on 14th January
The talk will cover the Cut Hill Cyst, which is 4 times the size of the White Horse Cyst, discovered ten years ago.
The Cut Hill burial cyst is a 3,900-year-old Bronze Age burial chamber discovered in August 2024 on Cut Hill in Dartmoor National Park. Its discovery was prompted by a local historian who reported that a feature was eroding out of the peat. It contains well-preserved wood and other material yet to be identified. The discovery joins a similar one excavated in 2011 on Whitehorse Hill at Dartmoor. The two burials could provide unprecedented information about what life was like in Early Bronze Age England.
Andy Crabb is an archaeologist with Dartmoor National Park and Historic England. He has worked on Dartmoor for over 15 years. Andy’s role is wide ranging and diverse covering all aspects of archaeological management, providing advice, and even organising the occasional excavation. Andy has been a regular contributor to our programme of talks and has overseen our summer, archaeological walks and picnic.
Dame Georgiana Buller, the daughter of General Buller
A talk by Sue Knox in Harbertonford Village Hall on 6th May
Georgiana Buller organised a dozen WW1 hospitals in Exeter (lots of fascinating old photos) raised money for the Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Hospital, set up the school of occupational medicine in Exeter and generally supported the cause of the war wounded and disabled.
Sue Knox is a retired doctor and has also been a Red Coat Guide for the City of Exeter for 15 years. Sue now lives in Harbertonford and has spoken previously to our society on the subject of General Lawrence and his Tower – The History of Haldon Belvedere.
Tour of the Italian Garden, Great Ambrook, Ipplepen
A guided walk around the Italian Gardens on Thursday 3rd July
£10 per head – booking details nearer the time.
Completed in 1912 for Arthur Smith Graham, the garden inspires everyone who visits. Influenced by the Edwardian fashion for Italianate gardens, it takes a more informal, picturesque design approach suited to the Devon landscape.
The garden includes a number of buildings and structures of unusual design which are integral to the experience of the garden – the long pergola, the observatory at the summit of the garden, the swimming and plunge pools, rills, walkways and tennis court.
Despite decades of neglect, the garden remains remarkably close to its original design because of the survival of the original layout and features.
The visit takes approximately two hours and is led by one of their knowledgeable volunteer guides who will share fascinating stories about the history of the garden, its original owner and architect, and their restoration plans.
Down to Earth in South Devon Archaeological Aerial Survey and Excavation
A talk by Bill Horner in Harberton Parish Hall on 16th September
Since the 1950s, aerial archaeological survey (photography and more modern ‘remote sensing’ technology) has resulted in the discovery of many hundreds of archaeological sites in Devon. Relatively few of these have been investigated on the ground. However, housing, road and other forms of development have resulted in increasing numbers of sites being archaeologically excavated, providing us with new insights into Devon’s past. Using examples from South Devon and the wider county, the talk will look at the origin and evolution of archaeological aerial survey in Devon, and at excavations from the 1960s to the present day.
Bill Horner first came to Devon, from Yorkshire, in 1984, to Study Archaeology and Ancient History at Exeter University. After working for the Somerset Levels Project and as a freelance archaeologist in Somerset, Bill joined Devon County Council as a Sites & Monuments Record Assistant in 1991, taking to the skies above Devon for the first time in 1992. Bill became County Archaeologist & Historic Environment Manager in 2008, managing a small team that maintains the County Historic Environment Record, provides archaeological planning advice to Devon’s local authorities and to developers, provides land management and site conservation advice, and helps to facilitate archaeological survey and research across the county.
A Tudor Christmas with the Lady Katherine and her peasant
A presentation by Rosemary Griggs in Harberton Parish Hall on 2nd December
Appearing in full period costume as Katherine Raleigh, the mother to Sir Walter Raleigh, speaker and award -winning author Rosemary Griggs brings the festivities, feasting and fun of a Tudor Christmas to life in a presentation interspersed with songs from the peasant David. Travel back in time as a guest and join Katherine’s father, Sir Philip Champernowne, at his feast at the Court House Modbury. Discover the etiquette, the menu and the customs of a sixteenth century Christmas.
Author and speaker Rosemary Griggs has been researching Devon’s sixteenth – century history for years. She has discovered a cast of fascinating characters and an intriguing network of families whose influence stretched far beyond the West Country. She loves telling the stories of the forgotten women of history — the women beyond the royal court; wives, sisters, daughters and mothers who played their part during those tumultuous Tudor years: the Daughters of Devon.
Her novel A Woman of Noble Wit tells the story of Katherine Champernowne, Sir Walter Raleigh’s mother, and features many of the county’s well-loved places. The Dartington Bride, published March 2024, is the extraordinary tale of Lady Gabrielle Roberda Montgomery who travelled from France to Elizabethan England to marry into the prominent and well-connected Champernowne family. Rosemary creates, and wears, sixteenth-century clothing, a passion which compliments her love for bringing the past to life through a unique blend of theatre, history and re-enactment. Her appearances and talks for museums and community groups all over the West Country draw on her extensive research into sixteenth-century Devon, Tudor life and Tudor dress, particularly Elizabethan.