Orwell Local History Society Website
The Society is open to all and offers lectures on topics relating, as far as possible, to the county of Cambridgeshire. We meet in the Methodist Church schoolroom, Town Green Road, Orwell, at 8.00pm on the last Tuesday evening of the month from January to May and from September to November. In June and July we visit places of historical interest within easy reach of Orwell, usually on the last Tuesday of each month.
The Society has been researching the early history of Orwell over the past two years by digging archaeological test pits at various sites around the village. In March 2018 we staged an exhibition of the results so far and we will continue digging during this year. For details contact our secretary.
A small group of Orwell LHS members is also involved in maintaining and continually adding to our website, Orwell Past & Present, set up in 2012 with the aid of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant. The site is an ongoing record of life in our village over the past 2000 years, but also gives information on current events, clubs and facilities in the village. Contributions and comments are welcomed and the site includes a link to the Orwell Community Archive of old photographs within the Cambridgeshire Community Archive Network. An 80 page book containing a selection of these photos, with notes on Orwell history, is available price £5, from the secretary at the above address.
Membership: £10 per annum, payable at the November meeting. Non-members are welcome at £2 per meeting.
Programme 2018
April 24th How Cambridge celebrated Queen Victoria’s Coronation - Speaker - Tamsin Wimhurst
May 29th. David Short, former landlord of the Queen's Head, Newton, on the history of drinking in England and his experiences as an innkeeper at the centre of a village community.
This meeting will be held in the Lordship Community Room - NOT IN THE USUAL VENUE AT THE METHODIST CHURCH.
June 26th. Guided visit at All Saints Church, Barrington, at 7.00pm, followed by supper at The Royal Oak.
Saturday 28th July - from 2.30pm to 5.00pm. Visit to Burwell Museum, with a talk and a guided tour. £4 per head. Please book at our May meeting.
Tuesday 25th September - Meetings begin again in the Methodist Schoolroom. with a talk by Dr Sean Lang entitled ‘The Blues, the Reds and the Whites: Cambridge and the Russian Revolution’