Future Trips and Events

Autumn Trip to the North-East of England

Friday the 7th to Sunday the 9th November 2008

A fantastic autumn trip to the north-east of England has been organised for November, not to be missed! Download the flyer for more details

Reconstruction of Wharram Percy Deserted Medieval Village, one of the sites on our tour

Past Events

The Clifton Antiquarian Club Summer Lecture, 14th June

'Death, Dykes and Disease: the Frontiers of Anglo-Saxon Migration'

By Tim Malim of SLR Consulting

By Ellie McQueen

A lecture exploring the archaeological evidence for the early colonization of East Anglia, focusing on the the communities who settled in South Cambridgeshire and their warfare with the native British population. It will describe the history of investigation, the nature of the surviving evidence, the health and wealth of the immigrants, and their defence against British counterattack. The talk will compare the evidence for strategic defence and control of frontiers with that of the later Mercian hegemony along the Welsh Borders: Offa's Dyke and Wat's Dyke

Trip to The Dordogne, June 4th-8th 2008

Didn't we have a lovely time the day we went to......

In the central area of France there is the beautiful region of Perigord where the Dordogne River flows. It is within this area that prehistory comes to life with a past that harks back at least 60,000 years. Apart from a Neanderthal presence, the Dordogne boasts one of Europe's premier Upper Paleolithic cave painting areas. This area was the scene for the latest four-day adventure of the Clifton Antiquarian Club in June of this year. The group comprised fifteen prehistoric-hungry adults, mainly archaeologists and a (fifteen month old) young lady, who unwittingly provided most of the light entertainment as well as the memorable distractions - from the main pursuit of prehistoric rock-art - whilst staying in the lovely medieval town of Sarlat.

The Upper Paleolithic caves of Font-de-Gaume, Lascaux II, Rouffignac and Pech-Merle were visited together with the rock shelter of Cap Blanc, the site of a Neanderthal bear cult at Regordou and the National Museum of Prehistory at Les Eyzies. The caves and rock shelter sites are regarded as being some of the finest Upper Paleolithic painted sites in the World. One day also saw several of us careering around the countryside in the pursuit of Neolithic stone chambered dolmens which seemed to have the capacity sometimes to elude us! Either the French map making or the English map reading was at fault (probably the former) but eventually four sites were visited, severely photographed and measured.

On the same day four of our members preferred the local amenities, market day and medieval atmosphere of Sarlet. The organisation worked wonderfully well (thank you organisers) and so did our eating-out with four restaurants tried and tested, and with some hilarious results at one of them with uncooked meat arriving along with a very hot stone slab being served - let the cooking at the table begin! Thankfully the weather allowed us to eat out in the stunningly beautiful town square on several nights.

The stunning geology, fauna and flora seen was added pleasure. These are just a few of the abiding memories of a wonderful experience.

Pam Shepherd
June 2008

What a fantastic trip. Not only magnificent cave art, but the wild flowers were unbelievable, both due to the limestone of the Dordogne area. We drove past fields and fields of wildflowers and orchids.

Pyramid Orchids, Lizard Orchids and Meadow Clary, all growing up in meadows, gardens and roadside verges as common as buttercups and daisies.

Butterfly Orchid and Red Helleborine were in flower in the woodlands. Fly Orchid, Bee Orchid, Man Orchid, Late Spider Orchid and Monkey Orchid (found on the grassland plateaux). One unidentified Mediterranean orchid species. Plus all the other limestone flora e.g. white rock rose, yellow rock rose, thyme, dropwort etc. And all this on an archaeological four day trip. A botanist's dream. Butterflies: Clouded Yellows, Adonis Blues and a Fritillary type. Birds: many Black Kites, Black Redstart, Nightingale singing softly during the day.

There must have been so much more I didn't have time to discover.

Daphne Kauders
June 2008

The Clifton Antiquarian Club Winter Lecture, January 2008

'The Rock Art Tradition of Valcamonica, Northern Italy: A World Heritage View'

Dr Angelo Fossati presented a fascinating lecture to the Clifton Antiquarian Club on the rock art of the Valcomonica in Northern Italy. This area, which constitutes one of the richest areas of rock art in the world, has over 300, 000 mainly carved images dating from the Upper Palaeolithic through to the Medieval period. The lecture was a great success and was followed by an excellent meal at a nearby restaurant.

The Mystery Tour, November 2007

...turned out to be a visit to North Wales with accommodation in Portmeirion. The eclectic range of sites visited included Prehistoric burial monuments such as Bachwen and Ystum Cegid Isaf, Medieval Harlech Castle and the industrial heritage of Llechwedd Slate Caverns.

Thank you to all those who helped to make it such a well organised and fascinating trip.

For a selection of photos of this event, please go to the 'Mystery Tour Photos Page' page.