Hampshire Field Club - Archaeology Section Conference 2026

“In the Time of the Tapestry: Aspects of England at the Time of the Conquest”
The annual HFC Archaeology Conference

This autumn’s London display of the Bayeux Tapestry and events closer to our own time remind us that political regime changes have massive impacts on countries’ populations. We hear about the politics but what was life like in the England leading up to the Battle of Hastings? We hope to give a flavour of it in this year’s conference, at a new venue which we hope you will enjoy.

Our conference will aim to explore the late Anglo-Saxon period from various viewpoints and we have gathered some of the south’s leading experts to help us:
- Professor Ryan Lavelle is no stranger to HFC conferences and will expound on the state of the country prior to the Norman invasion,
- Dr Rob Webley is an expert on medieval metalwork and will use finds from the Portable Antiquities Scheme to illustrate daily life,
- Professor Emeritus Barbara Yorke highlights the importance of the church in everyday life,
- Dr Katherine Weikert, often seen these days on television elucidating on what it was like actually being alive in medieval times, and
- Our own Mary Harris talks about That Tapestry and reveals some surprises about the contents and its construction.