ALHA is the umbrella group for local history and archaeology societies in Bristol, Bath, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.
We help member societies by compiling an annual list of recommended speakers, and by publicising societies’ activities through our newsletter and website. We organise a local history study day each year, and our AGM is accompanied by a lecture with a distinguished speaker.
Each year we publish 3-
We have strong links with the Regional History Centre at the University of the West of England, and with the libraries, archives, museums and other organisations in our area.
We offer both Society and individual membership, and further details can be found here..
Click on About Us for how to contact ALHA
Click on Publications for information about our publishing programme, and how you can contribute to the written history of our area.
Click on Events for details of the meetings, walks and other activities organised by our member societies.
Click on Groups for links to our member societies, and details of what they do and how you can contact them.
Click on Archive for back copies of ALHA publications “Quest” and “Avon Past”, and for issues of the Newsletter and monthly Update.
The Newsletter, published at the end of December, is now available, and is packed with interesting news and opinion. It can be downloaded here.
Previous Newsletters, and monthly updates, are all available for download in the Archive section of the website.
The 2020 ALHA Annual General Meeting, delayed by Covid, will now take place as a Zoom meeting on Monday 18th January 2021 at 7.30 p.m.. It wil be hosted by Frampton Cotterell & District Local History Society and we are very grateful to them for their help. The agenda for the AGM, together with the minutes from the 2019 AGM and the Secretary’s report for 2019-
Please advise Catherine Dixon the ALHA Secretary at blackrockcfd@hotmail.com if you wish to attend the AGM.
As part of the AGM, we invite groups and societies to tell us about their activities and programmes during antivirus the restrictions. These reports should be limited to 5 minutes. Please advise Catherine Dixon, the ALHA Secretary at blackrockcfd@hotmail.com if you wish to make a contribution.
Some groups have started making arrangements for meetings after the end of the pandemic, and these can be found on the Events page.
If your group is a member of ALHA and you would like to see your events listed, please send them to the webmaster.
Click on the link below for more detail and registration instructions. The website of the organisation may have details of tallks later in the year.
21 January 2021 Ruins, ruin lust, and risk
Dr Corinna Wagner, Associate Professor of Literature and Visual Culture at the University of Exeter.
UWE Regional History Centre and “M” Shed
27 January 2021 The Vikings
Professor Katy Cubitt
Bristol Historical Association
28 January 2021 Murder on the Middle Passage: The trial of Captain Kimber
Professor Nicholas Rogers, Distinguished Professor in History at York University, Toronto
UWE Regional History Centre and “M” Shed
13 February 2021 BALH Digital Workshop : How to get your local history research out there!
Claire Kennan
British Association for Local History
24 February 2021 Henry VII: Treason and Trust
Dr Sean Cunningham
Bristol Historical Association
10 March 2021 Bristol’s First Slave Traders 1662-
Dr Richard Stone
Bristol Historical Association
10 March 2021 BALH Digital Webinar : How to grow your local history social media presence
Daniella Gonzalez
British Association for Local History
30 March 2021 The Agricultural Revolution, the Working Classes, and the Landless Labourer
Rosemary Caldicott
Podcasts -
A series of local oral history podcasts made by Marcus Smith with BCfm, in partnership with Bristol24/7, Bristol Museums, Bristol Archives, UWE Bristol and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Available on Bristol 24/7 and elsewhere
Surgery in Eighteenth-
by Michael Whitfield.
This study sets sketches of half a dozen Bristol surgeons against the background of medical profession of the time. Technically surgeons ranked below physicians in status, but these men might enjoy great reputation as their apprentice lists and fees demonstrate. Nor was their work limited to surgical intervention; and the detailed and well-
To order a copy of this title, or any other ALHA publication, please go to Publications.
The Society has recently published Keynsham & Saltford 1945 -
Further details of this book, which is 176 pages and costs £15, can be found on the Society website.
Since 2015, Bristol Record Society has been working on a programme of digitisation, in line with its core mission to make available materials needed for studying the history of our extraordinary city. While the Society began this initiative with the electronic publication of its own volumes, it has now moved on to other primary sources and scholarly works.
In association with the Bristol Branch of the Historical Association, the BRS digitised and e-
In the last year, the Society has also e-
Details of the items recently digitised are in the Archive section of the ALHA website, together with information about other digitisation initiative concerned with the history of our area.
The future BGAS programme can be found at www.bgas.org.uk. All meetings have now been postponed until further notice.
ALHA offers grants to assist local history research, publications, events, conservation and other projects which accord with its charitable objectives. The Committee has wide discretion over the kind of work to be assisted and the terms of the assistance. Recent grants include one to support the publication of volumes of the Victoria County History to cover parts of Gloucestershire.
Details of the conditions and how to apply can be had from the Treasurer.
Click for details of the exhibitions, tours, walks and other activities taking place in Bristol in future weeks and months.
Click for details of the exhibitions, tours, and talks taking place in Bath.
The ALHA Summer Walk at Thornbury, August 2019
Follow ALHA on Facebook
The photo of Chipping Sodbury market was found on the Facebook page entitled Chipping Sodbury Photographs. The photo of Stanton Drew Stone Circle is by Michael Day and is taken from flickr. The photo of the Netham Lock in Bristol was taken by the webmaster. Click on each photo to see a full-
The photo of the summer walk is by Jan Packer.
Avon Local History and Archaeology is a Registered Charity. No. 270930
This website was last updated on Sunday, January 17, 2021. If you spot any errors or omissions, please advise the webmaster.