Chester Town Hall

Names are everywhere but do we ever stop to question their meaning and think about how somewhere got its name? This talk will make you more aware of place-names and demonstrate the rich variety within our local Cheshire and Borderland landscape. Place-names are fascinating. Come along and find out more!

A non linguist’s view of minority languages, the talk will discuss minority languages in an informal way, weaving views and anecdote. The talk revolves around travels in some of the world’s most linguistically diverse regions.

Come along to hear a talk about two documents arising from King John’s Magna Carta of 1215: the ‘Cheshire Magna Carta’, granted by the Earl of Chester to his local barons, and King Henry III’s Magna Carta of 1225, which became the definitive version and the 800th anniversary of which we celebrate this year.

Manchester-born Isabella Banks is best known for her popular novel, The Manchester Man (1876). However, her first work of fiction, God’s Providence House (1865), was influenced by family links to Chester. This talk will take a literary walk through the city and surrounding area, to explore the places that inspired her.

A moving talk on a forgotten aspect of Chester’s past when hundreds of young children from London’s Foundling Hospital – many illegitimate – were taken into care in Chester and nearby during the 1760s. Includes why and how the local hospital was established, and discussion of the children’s care, education and employment.

The County Lunatic Asylum for Cheshire opened in Chester in 1829 and was later to be known by a variety of names including Upton Mental Hospital, the Deva Hospital and West Cheshire Hospital.  This talk will consider some of the staff and patients who lived and worked within its walls in its first hundred years.

John Haygarth (1740-1827) founded Chester Smallpox Society in 1788 to prevent and control the disease. Regarded as an outstanding and visionary physician who significantly contributed to the foundations of public health, his early life in a remote Yorkshire Dales village is equally fascinating and not as well known to the public.

Find out the background to this new light-hearted look at Chester’s history from its author, O. B. Appledore, in this illustrated talk. Gain an insight into how this innovative book has evolved, including the selection of topics, the drawing of Chester illustrations and maps and the accompanying cartoon characters.

Bestselling author Natalie Haynes returns to the world of Greek myth she so wittily explored in Pandora’s Jar and this time examines the role of the goddesses. These goddesses are as mighty, revered and destructive as their male counterparts. Isn’t it time we looked beyond the columns of a ruined temple to the awesome power within?