Tewkesbury History Festival

20/05/2026

Depravity Art-Daisy Dixon

Dr Daisy Dixon, author of Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art, presents a journey through some of the most volatile and contentious works of art ever produced throughout history-from prehistoric sculpture to extreme metal music, Renaissance paintings to videogames- revealing how beautiful art can sometimes be the most insidious, and why the greatest threat might lie in our own judgement about the art we censor or condemn.

📅 Sunday 21st June
🕑 4pm

To find out more about the event and to book tickets go to our website www.tewkesburyhistoryfestival.co.uk

19/05/2026

Mothers-in-War: The Women of the Wars of the Roses- Annie Garthwaite

The Wars of the Roses was not just a conflict of soldiers and battlefields, but a chess match played by the most formidable women of the 15th century. At the centre of it all stood Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, mother to two kings. In this session, we delve into the life of a woman who was the architect of the Yorkist dynasty and a survivor of the most turbulent era in English history.

Led by acclaimed historical novelist Annie Garthwaite, this event explores the research and passion behind her celebrated novel The King's Mother.

📅 Sunday 21st June
🕑2.30pm

To find out more about the event and to book tickets go to our website www.tewkesburyhistoryfestival.co.uk

19/05/2026

Can't wait to have Elizabeth Norton reveal the history of female monarchy across 5,000 years on Sunday 21st June. This is also a fabulous chance to get your books signed by her too!

I am delighted to be speaking at the very first Tewkesbury History Festival this June. This brand-new event is bringing the past to life right in the heart of one of England’s best-preserved medieval towns, and the lineup is fantastic – covering a range of different time periods and topics.

I’ll be taking the stage on Sunday 21 June at 1pm to discuss Women Who Ruled the World: 5000 Years of Female Monarchy. I’d love to see you there for what promises to be an incredible four days of storytelling and discovery

18/05/2026

Women who ruled the World: 5,000 years of female Monarchy- Elizabeth Norton

From Cleopatra to Catherine the Great, Boudicca to Elizabeth I, from ancient Japan to 19th Century Madagascar, female kings have always been a rarity, an oddity, or an undesirable outcome in almost all places on the globe a male ruler was preferred to a woman, with female inheritance vanishingly rare and frequently disputed. In spite of this, women have secured crowns-or fought for them over several millennium.

Join acclaimed historian Elizabeth Norton at the Tewkesbury History Festival as she tells the scintillating story of the female Kings: Women who risked everything, sometimes unwillingly to find a place in a man's world

📅 Sunday 21st June
🕚 1pm

To find out more about the event and to book tickets go to our website

www.tewkesburyhistoryfestival.co.uk
Elizabeth Norton – 5,000 years of Female Monarchy

17/05/2026

5 weeks to go 🙌🥳🎉
Can't believe after all the planning it's almost time for our first Tewkesbury History Festival.

Thursday 18th to Sunday 21st June

Big shout out to all the wonderful historians and authors who will be coming to Tewkesbury, can't wait to welcome you.

16/05/2026

If you've visited Tewkesbury you're sure to have seen the wonderful Arrival horse sculptures - The Victor and The Vanquished.

Tewkesbury Battlefield society are now raising funds for a new sculpture, this time of Queen Margaret of Anjou, that will stand in the grounds of Tewkesbury Abbey.

15/05/2026

And not forgetting the gentlemen speaking at the Tewkesbury History Festival

Thursday 18th June
🔸️Julian Richards 2.30pm Stonehenge
: The Story so far

Friday 19th June
🔸️ Piers Taylor 11am The Evolution of the English Home
🔸️ R.A.J Waddingham 2.30pm The Viking Age
: Conquest and Culture
🔸️ Rory MacLellan 4pm The Knights Hospitallers and the Medieval World
🔸️ Ian Mortimer 7.30pm An A-Z of English History

Saturday 20th June
Matt Lewis 11am The Survival of the Princes in the Tower
🔸️ Nathen Amin 4pm Owain Glyndwr: Rebel, Prince, Visionary

Sunday 21st June
🔸️Tom Phillips 11am Fables and Folklore (family session)

To find out more about the events and to book tickets go to our website www.tewkesburyhistoryfestival.co.uk

15/05/2026

Very excited to be welcoming 12 amazing women historians and authors to our first Tewkesbury History Festival 18th-21st June

Thursday 18th June
🔸️ Kate Vigurs 11am The Human Cost of World War II
🔸️ Alison Weir 1pm The Boleyn Secret
🔸️ Nicola Tallis 4pm Uncrowned Queen
🔸️ Sarah Dunant 7.30pm First Lady of the Renaissance

Friday 19th June
🔸️ Katie Hickman 1pm The Aviary Gate Series

Saturday 20th June
🔸️ Melanie Backe-Hansen 1pm House Histories: The Secrets Behind Your Front Door
🔸️Kassia St Clair 2.30pm Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History
🔸️ Kate Lister 7.30pm A Galloping Catastrophe: S*x and

Sunday 21st June
🔸️ Elizabeth Norton 1pm Women who ruled the World: 5,000 years of female monarchy
🔸️ Annie Garthwaite 2.30pm Mothers-in-War: The Women of the Wars of the Roses
🔸️ Daisy Dixon 4pm Depravity Art
🔸️ Suzannah Lipscomb 6pm Witchcraft and the Witch Trials

To find out more about the events and to book tickets go to our website www.tewkesburyhistoryfestival.co.uk

14/05/2026

A Galloping Catastrophe: S*x and History -Kate Lister

Well this talk will certainly get Tewkesbury talking on a Saturday night!!!

Prepare for a frank, witty, and unapologetically honest journey through the social history of the female body.
This session strips away centuries of stigma and misconception to explore how society has viewed, policed, and misunderstood the female anatomy throughout the ages.

Led by the brilliant historian Kate Lister, this talk is a masterclass in uncovering the deliberately hidden parts of the female past. Kate brings her trademark humour and academic rigour to a subject that is often whispered about but rarely discussed with such refreshing clarity.

📅 Saturday 20th June
🕚7.30pm

To find out more about the event and to book tickets go to our website www.tewkesburyhistoryfestival.co.uk

13/05/2026

Owain Glyndwr is one of most revered and misunderstood figures in Welsh and British history. A national hero to many and a rebel to others, Glyndwr's vision for an independent Wales sparked one of the most explosive uprisings against the English crown in the early 15th century.

But who was the man behind the legend? As a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a leading expert on the Tudor period, Nathen brings passion and deep archival knowledge to the stage. He sets the context for Owain: born into a conquered Wales, yet with an English wife and having fought on the side of the English crown. So how does Owain come to be regarded as the father of Welsh nationalism and the leader of a disunited group of former Welsh kingdoms have been searching for.

📅Saturday 20th June
🕚4pm

To find out more about the event and to book tickets go to our website www.tewkesburyhistoryfestival.co.uk

10/05/2026

What’s a place that means something to you?

We’re giving away two tickets to Tewkesbury History Festival's event 'Archaeology at Stonehenge' with Julian Richards, and we want to hear about the places that hold memory, meaning, or connection in your life.

It could be:
• A historic building
• A landscape or walking route
• A local landmark
• A place tied to family or community memories
• Somewhere that changed how you see the past
• Or something else entirely!

To enter, send us:
📍 The place
✍️ A short piece (up to 300 words) telling us why it matters to you
📸 Optional photo welcome

Two winning entries will each receive two tickets to the Festival's Stonehenge event with Julian Richards on June 18, 2026.

Entries close: 21st May
Submit your Place of Memory and Meaning here 👉 https://tinyurl.com/52uf39xr

Competition T&Cs 👉 https://tinyurl.com/2vbmtmt8
UK entries only, 18 +