Conferences 2026
From 30th April – 1st May 2026, we will be holding a 2-day conference at Sheffield Hallam University, to celebrate the pioneering work of Professor Nicola Verdon (1970-2024).
This conference will be followed by the BAHS Spring Conference and AGM, which will be held at Channing Hall, Sheffield, on 2nd May. Further details to follow.
Spring Conference 2025
The Spring Conference was held in Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket on Thursday 24 and Friday 25 April 2025; it was well attended.
Winter Conferences
There will be no Winter Conference in 2025. In 2024, we made the decision to have a break from this conference (traditionally held in London) as we are currently restructuring how our conferences work to respond to changing demands by our membership. We are also making changes in response to new opportunities for online formats and pressures in terms of the increasing costs of venue hire, which we wish not to pass on to members as far as possible.
We also welcome informal comments and suggestions sent by email to the Secretary, and discussion at the society AGM, about the future of conferences with the Society.
The Society’s Conferences
We normally hold two annual conferences: a day conference in London at the beginning of December and a residential Spring Conference.
Other Events
The Society promotes and participates in other events both in Britain and abroad. We support otherwise unfunded events through our Conferences and Initiatives Fund. Further details of this are below:
Conferences, Initiatives and Publications Fund
Do you have a project in British rural history or in comparative rural history including a British element for which you need support? The British Agricultural History Society is keen to encourage initiatives that promote research and public engagement on the theme of rural history. Some potential initiatives might be:
- A one-day workshop or conference
- The publication costs of producing a monograph or edited volume
- A wider engagement activity such as a schools or community history project
We are particularly interested in activities that promote wider participation in the Society and to support proposals from those who are not full-time/permanently employed university academics. We would also be keen to support workshops that might generate articles for the Agricultural History Review and publication costs of books that might be reviewed in the Review.
Grants will be up to £500 in value. They will not normally be repeated in cases where the Society is the sole funder. The Society’s support must be fully acknowledged in any publicity, meeting materials, or publications. Any events held with support from the fund should be advertised on the BAHS website and, as far as is practicable, be open equally to all interested historians. It is expected that successful applicants will already be, or will become, members of the British Agricultural History Society. The Society is happy to part-fund an initiative alongside other funders as part of a clear budget.
Please note that we only provide support for specific initiatives. This means we do not provide funding for conference attendance by applicants, fees and living costs of students or research support costs.
Applications should take the form of a proposal, including a clear statement of why the initiative aligns with the objectives of the Society and a budget outlining exactly how the funding will be used and any other sources of funding already secured or for which the applicant will apply. For conferences, workshops and public outreach events a draft programme and speaker list should be included when available. For publication costs, a summary of the book’s content and list of authors must be provided. Application proposals should be 2-4 pages in length.
To make an application, please contact the secretary of the Society by email (secretary@bahs.org.uk) with your application attached. You can also direct any queries to the secretary. We consider applications on a rolling basis at meetings held four times per year (typically taking place in March, June, September and December).
Past conferences
Most photos from Spring Conferences below are by Catherine Glover, with some by Henry French and Bill Shannon.
The Spring Conference 2023 took place at the University of Nottingham.
2019: Laxton Open Fields
The trip was led by Professor John Beckett, who had primed us with a lecture on the previous evening on how the medieval system of farming strips in three open fields works in 21st-century England. Once we reached the village, Professor Beckett handed us over to one of the farming tenants who first gave us a talk in the Laxton Visitor Centre, where he explained how the open field system worked in the past, and works today, with the aid of the replica map.
He then took us out to one of the three fields, the one that is lying fallow this year, and we walked up the side of his strip to the ridge, from where we could survey most of the Laxton field system (including the outlying areas which had been enclosed into individual farms because the strips there took so long to get to from the village), and a large heap of manure waiting to be spread over the land.
Back in the village, the large number of farmhouses with yards and farm buildings gave a noticeably different feel from that of most English villages, where the farms are generally away from the centre, among their own fields.
The satellite photo from Google Maps shows more clearly that this is an open field system with strips (rather than modern ‘prairie’ which it can resemble from the ground). The conference delegates walked from top to bottom (as it were), along the track (which we were told is about the width of a medieval strip; the modern strips are wider to facilitate the use of modern farming equipment). The manure heap can be seen just below the Y-junction of the tracks, in the bottom left-hand corner.
2018: Somerset Museum of Rural Life
2017: Plumpton, Weald and Downland Museum
2016: Wortley Hall
2015: Bangor University
The 2015 report is by Rebecca Ford.
2014: Denman College
The 2014 report is by Dr Carol Beardmore.
2013: Coulton Mill
2012: Sparsholt College, Winchester
With outings to Cholbolton Down Farm and Boaz Centre
2011: Easton College, Norwich
With an outing to Blickling Hall
2010: St Mary’s College, Durham
With an outing to Beamish Open Air Museum
2009: University of Northampton, Sunley Management Centre
With trips to Pilton, Lilford, and Wadenhoe
2008: Nottingham
With a trip to Sherwood Forest