Join celebrated historian, Prof Ronald Hutton for a fascinating lecture on witch-hunting.

Why did the notorious medieval and early modern witch hunts take place? What made them different from witch hunts elsewhere in the world, why did they stop, and what are the implications of this for witchcraft beliefs and human rights in the present world? How far is the fear of witchcraft still a potent factor today? This talk aims to suggest answers to all these questions

About your speaker: Prof Hutton is an English historian who specialises in Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and Contemporary Paganism. He is a professor at the University of Bristol, has written 14 books and has appeared on British television and radio. He held a fellowship at Magdalen College, Oxford, and is a Commissioner of English Heritage. We are delighted to welcome him back to The Barn!

Refreshments available. Free parking on site.

The primary purpose of this event is to raise money for WMBT and to support conservation, management, maintenance and improvement of the WMBT site.

Jonathan Holt will take audience members on a wonderful tour of  Bristol & South Gloucestershire revealing the stories behind the region’s many architectural follies. Author of  Bristol & South Gloucestershire Follies, the result of numerous explorations, as well as books on Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, and the administrative county of Gloucestershire, he is a tour guide and Editor of Follies, the organ of the Folly Fellowship, a charity dedicated to their preservation and enjoyment.(www.follies.org.uk). Continuing the folly theme, he has built a shell house in his garden in Bath.

Refreshments available on arrival. Cash and card payments accepted.

Free parking on site. Parking for this event will be at the Barn, BS36 1SE.

The primary purpose of this event is to raise money for WMBT and to support conservation, management, maintenance and improvement of the WMBT site.

This ticket is to view the talk online over Zoom. Please buy one ticket per device. The viewing link will be sent out at least 1 hour before the start time. 

We are delighted to welcome back Company of Chivalry to The Barn.
Normally seen at our annual Medieval Fayre as our re-enactment troupe, this time they will be presenting a talk on the routines and rigours of life in Medieval England and asking if we think we could survive!

The primary purpose of this event is to raise money for WMBT and to support conservation, management, maintenance and improvement of the WMBT site.

This ticket is to view the talk online over Zoom. Please buy one ticket per device. The viewing link will be sent out at least 1 hour before the start time. 

Join Prof Richard Coates for first lecture of 2023 on the history and meaning behind local and national place names.

Place-names are of consuming interest to many people. They arise out of local language, history and culture, and some well-known ones can be understood with greater precision through attention to linguistic and historical detail. In this talk I present some of the findings of national place-name scholarship, and look in detail at some local names in the south of Gloucestershire and nearby.

About your speaker: Prof Coates is currently Professor emeritus of Onomastics at The University of the West of England. He is a linguist with special interests in the area where linguistics, history and geography meet with a particular focus on finding out the origin of English place-names created before about 1500 A.D., but thinks any place-name of any period can be interesting if you look at it in the right way! We are delighted to welcome him to The Barn!

The ​speaker fee from this talk will be kindly donated to the RNLI so by buying a ticket you are supporting both The Barn and the RNLI. ​Thank you. 

Join celebrated historian, Prof Ronald Hutton for our festive lecture on Medieval Festivals, some of which may even have been held in places like The Barn.

Medieval Britain had a rich and regular calendar of major seasonal festivals, serving different human needs at different points of the year and fitted to the practical processes of the farming year. This talk seeks to answer the questions of how many there were, and why; what their relationship was with those elsewhere in Europe; what difference Christianity made to them; and whether anything changed fundamentally in them with the coming of modernity.

About your speaker: Prof Hutton is an English historian who specialises in Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and Contemporary Paganism. He is a professor at the University of Bristol, has written 14 books and has appeared on British television and radio. He held a fellowship at Magdalen College, Oxford, and is a Commissioner of English Heritage. We are delighted to welcome him to The Barn!

Refreshments available. Free parking.
Parking for this event will be at Winterbourne Academy's car park, High St, Winterbourne, Bristol BS36 1JL. This is a park and stride service with the Academy car park being a 10 minute walk along Church Lane to Winterbourne Medieval Barn.
Please be aware that this is a country road so you may wish to bring a torch. Please take care when walking along this road, especially when it is dark as it can get quite narrow.

The car park will be open from 6pm and locked again at 9pm. Please ensure your vehicle is moved before 9pm to avoid any inconvenience.
 
 The limited spaces in The Barn's car park will be reserved for pre-booked accessible parking only.