Between the Autumn and Spring (usually September to May) we organise a programme of monthly lectures on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons; these are held in the Lecture Theatre of the Grosvenor Museum or online via Zoom.
Our lectures cover a wide range of topics and are given by speakers who are experts in their field. In addition, conferences are occasionally organised in partnership with other organisations. Admission to lectures is free to members of the Society. Visitors are welcome on payment of an admission fee, normally £5.00. Students are given free entry with a valid student card (except Newstead lecture).
If you are not a member and would like to attend any of the lectures listed, why not join CAS for £20 or £10 for a student member. This will provide you with free access to CAS lectures all year round
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James Wright
Historic Building Mythbusting
14:00, Saturday 3rd May, 2025
Grosvenor Museum Lecture Theatre
£5.00 Members
£10.00 Non-Members
(Doors open 13:30, payment in cash on arrival)
Go to any ancient building and there will be interesting, exciting, and romantic stories presented to the visitor. They are commonly believed and widely repeated – but are they really true? These stories include those of secret passages linking ancient buildings, spiral staircases in castles giving advantage to right-handed defenders, ship timbers used in the construction of buildings on land, blocked doors in churches which are thought to keep the Devil out and claims to be the oldest pub in the country.
James Wright will explain the development of such myths and investigate the underlying truths behind them. Sometimes the realities hiding behind the stories are even more interesting, romantic, and exciting than the myth itself…
The speaker, James Wright (Triskele Heritage), is an award winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period. He is the author of the popular Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog and his book Historic Building Mythbusting was released via The History Press on 6 June 2024.
Please familiarise yourself with CAS’s Zoom etiquette guide here
Wednesday 2nd October, 2024: Exton Park Campus, Westminster Building CWE018 (ground floor, room 18), 15:00.
Directions to the Westminster Building at the University of Chester
Lecture: ‘Christianity before Conversion’
Speaker: Helen Gittos
Saturday 19th October, 2024: Grosvenor Museum, 14:00
Lecture: ‘Shamanism in pre-Christian Scandinavia’
Speaker: Clive Tolley
Wednesday 6th November, 2024: Zoom, 19.30
Lecture: ‘What Lies Beneath’
Speaker: Katy Soar
Wednesday 4th December, 2024: Zoom, 19:30
Lecture: ‘Heronbridge Excavations 2002-05: The Roman Phases’
Speaker: David Mason
Wednesday 8th January, 2025: Zoom, 19:30
Lecture: ‘Warrington Excavations’
Speaker: Kirsty Lloyd
Wednesday 5th March, 2025: Zoom, 19:30
Lecture: ‘Rethinking the Hillforts of Iron Age Wales’
Speaker: Toby Driver
Saturday 3rd May, 2025: Grosvenor Museum, 14:00
Lecture: ‘Historic Building Mythbusting’
Speaker: James Wright
A List of Lectures from the 2022-2023 Chester Archaeological Society Lecture Season
“Adders, Ammonites and Jet: The Cult of St Hild in the Middle Ages”
Presented by: Dr Thomas Pickles, Senior Lecturer in Medieval History University of Chester and Chester Archaeological Society Chair
“New insights into old hoards: Do the Bronze Age and Iron Age hoards of Wales and the Marches suggest a selective and reflective continuum of depositional practice?”
Presented by: Andrew Reynolds, doctoral researcher at the Department of Archaeology, University of Reading and retired Senior Lecturer at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David
“The Archaeology of Wirral”
Presented by: Dr Rob Philpott, University of Liverpool
“The early medieval period in the Welsh Marches – the material evidence”
Presented by: Pauline Magdalene Clarke, Postgraduate Researcher,
University of Chester
“Beacon Ring”
Presented by: Dr Paul Belford, Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust
“Recording the Past for Our Future: The Portable Antiquities Scheme in Cheshire”
Presented by: Heather Beeton, Finds Liaison Officer for Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside
“Prehistory and Afterlives: Reconstructing the Biography of the Pillar of Eliseg, an early medieval cross in north Wales”
Presented by: Professor Nancy Edwards, School of History, Law and Social Sciences, Bangor University
“Commerce and Consumers: The Ubiquitous Chest of the Late Middle Ages”
Presented by: Dr Katherine Wilson, Associate Professor of Later Medieval European History, University of Chester
”Sacred or Profane? An Archaeological Reappraisal of Late Medieval Sexual Badges”
Presented by: Sarah Hinds, Doctoral Researcher at the University of York
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Where possible our lectures and short talks are recorded and made available on our website and YouTube channel.
Below you can see the recorded lectures from the 21/22 series:
