November 2024 Nottinghamshire Heritage Events

November is absolutely full of exciting and educational heritage events. If you're looking for something to do this autumn, check out our list below for some inspiration!

Friday 1st: 'Do you have any questions about what conservators do? Or about how the Nottinghamshire Archives care for the archive? The Nottinghamshire Archive conservators will be available to answer your questions online via Instagram on Friday 1st November between 10am and 3pm.’ To find out how to submit your questions, visit the event page here.

Saturday 2nd: Head to the Bassetlaw Museum ‘for a poignant presentation that delves into the life of Kveta Lefkovicova, a 16-year old girl, who escaped from Prague a year after the start of World War II. Kveta was one of the few who survived. Tragically, her entire family perished in Majdanek, a Nazi German concentration camp in occupied Poland. Kveta’s story will be brought to life by her daughter Gillian, who will bring some of her mother’s treasured keepsakes, such as two rings and a jewellery box made out of scrap metal in the prison camp'. Entry is free but booking is required. Book your place here.

Tuesday 5th: Join Professor Mark Pearce of the University of Nottingham for a talk that ‘will explore the reasons why more than 200 Bronze Age metal objects were deposited in the River Trent, and what these weapons – many of which are clearly of high status – can tell us about the warrior chiefs and their bands who lived along the river in the second and early first millennium BC’. Booking is required, prices vary from free to £3. Book your place here.

Thursday 7th: ‘Celebrate the dark and learn about the dangers of the night in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries’. The National Civil War Centre in Newark, will be hosting ‘Evening Talk: Female Highwaymen’ in which you will ‘find out more about the real renegade women who might have robbed you of your purse’! Tickets cost £10 and booking is required. Book your place here.

Friday 8th: Head to the National Civil War Centre in Newark for a comedy performance of Professor Von Goosechaser’s Halloween lecture about the strange beliefs of the seventeenth century. Tickets cost £10 and booking is required. Book your place here.

Sunday 17th: ‘Join Byron expert Geoffrey Bond at Southwell Minster as he explores the life and times of Nottinghamshire’s most famous poet. The Newstead Abbey Singers will also perform songs, setting some of his poems to music’. The event is free, and booking is not required. For more information about the event, visit the event page here.

Monday 18th: ‘To coincide with the new exhibition at Creswell Crags’, their curators will be hosting the online talk ‘The Science of the Ice Age’ which will answer questions such as: How do we know how cold and how warm it was? What can be used to reconstruct past vegetation? How do we know when things happened? And what can we understand about the animals that survived the Ice Age? Tickets are free but booking is required. Book your free place here.

Above: Pit pony working in the mines. (By Heinrich Börner (1864 – 1943) - Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

Tuesday 19th: A talk by Nottinghamshire County Council's wonderful Historic Buildings Officer Janine Buckley at the Mansfield Central Library 'celebrates the tremendous efforts of the county’s pit ponies’. ‘With first-hand accounts from former pony drivers and freshly discovered documentary and photographic evidence, this talk delves deeply into the lives of a workforce that gave all they had. Learn how their working conditions changed over time, and how they are remembered by their former handlers’. Tickets cost £3 and booking is required. You will also receive a copy of Janine's new book 'Colliery Stables and the Nottinghamshire Pit Pony'Book your place here.

Wednesday 20th: ‘Join former miner and mining historian, Phil Whitehead, at Worksop Library to hear tales of engineering, endeavour and enterprise from the area’s earliest colliery’, Shireoaks Colliery. ‘It existed for 137 years and touched the lives of thousands of local people – perhaps more than any employer in the locality’. Tickets cost £3 and booking is required. Book your place here.

Wednesday 20th: Our Historic Buildings Officer Janine Buckley will also be hosting a ‘talk celebrating the pre-eminence of the horse on Nottinghamshire’s country estates’ at Beeston Library. In the event, you will be able to ‘explore our legacy of highly architectural stables and discover how horses experienced these spaces’. Tickets cost £3 and booking is required. You will also receive a copy of Janine's new book 'Country House Stables of Nottinghamshire'.Book your place here.

Friday 22nd: At Bassetlaw Museum, ‘local author and historian Adrian Gray will give an illustrated and entertaining introduction to his new book, ‘The Scandalous Lives of the Sherwood Forest Nobility’. Featuring ‘Clumber, Rufford, Thoresby, Welbeck, Newstead and perhaps the less well known Bestwood and Worksop Manor. Adrian will cover a range of scandals including lustful affairs, disastrous marriages, vast sums lost in gambling and even some political corruption’. This event is free but booking is required. Book your place here.

Friday 22nd: At the National Civil War Centre in Newark, ‘join costume historian Meredith Towne find out how to blend in in the seventeenth century. Delve into our dressing up box and make sure you know your doublet from your mantua!’ Tickets cost £10 and booking is required. Book your place here.

Thursday 28th: Aimed at home-educated Key Stage 2 children, Mansfield Museum will be hosting ‘a fun and interactive workshop exploring the incredible story of how humans evolved’. Student will ‘explore important steps in our evolution, like tool-making, language, and culture, along with the genetic changes that make us unique’. Tickets cost £7.50 per child (accompanying adults are free) and booking is required. Book your place here.

Saturday 30th: ‘Meet the National Civil War Centre curators Glyn and Kevin and kick off the festive season with a delicious Christmas cream tea in their café. Join them on a special tour of the galleries; open display cases, handle objects from their collection and find out what’s involved in looking after their treasures’. Tickets cost £25 which includes the cream tea and gallery tour. Booking is required. Book your place here.