Festival of Archaeology: Talk

What Lies Beneath Max Gate? | Martin Papworth

28 July 2022, 5:30pm - 6:30pm

Online event, streamed from Max Gate with National Trust archaeologist Martin Papworth; Hardy’s Wessex curator Harriet Still and Wiltshire Museum director David Dawson

In 1884, the writer Thomas Hardy unwittingly built his house Max Gate (near Dorchester) in the centre of a late Neolithic enclosure, now known as Flagstones. During the foundation excavations, he revealed a sarsen stone and various Romano-British clasps and bowls, as well as human remains.

Now, 138 years later, Martin Papworth returns to the same site to see what else this fascinating and ancient site can reveal to us.

Brought to you by Wessex Museums in partnership with National Trust and Home of Hillforts and Henges.

  • Opening hours:

    Daily: 9.00am - 4.30pm
    Sunday: 10.00am - 4.00pm
    Bank Holidays: 10.00am - 4.00pm

  • Dorset Museum

    High West Street
    Dorchester DT1 1XA

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Home of Hillforts & Henges is an exciting new event from 21st to 31st July that will celebrate Dorchester’s neolithic and iron age landscape, rich in earthworks and the people that have lived here for over 6,000 years.

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Co-ordinated by the Council for British Archaeology, the Festival offers hundreds of events nationwide, organised by museums, heritage organisations, national and country parks, universities, local societies, and community archaeologists.

The Festival of Archaeology will take place between 16 – 31 July 2022.

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Community Exhibition

18 February - 22 June 2023

The Art of Seeing: An exhibition of photographs by Dorchester Camera Club

The Club is delighted to have this opportunity to exhibit some of their members’ prints in the Dorset Museum together with an audio-visual presentation.

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Tours

21 March 2023, 11:00am - 12:00pm

Archaeology Highlights Tour

Explore archaeological treasures held by Dorset Museum – from Bronze Age gold to medieval silver -  in this volunteer-led tour.

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Special Exhibition

22 March - 25 June 2023

ARTIST ROOMS: Louise Bourgeois

Explore the work of Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010), one of the most important figures of modern and contemporary art. This spring Dorset Museum will show a major presentation of her work in this Artist Rooms touring exhibition featuring works jointly owned by Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland.

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Dorset Museum Music Society

22 March 2023, 7:30pm

Cordiera Piano Trio

A varied programme ranging from J.S. Bach’s most revolutionary son to a vivid and exciting contemporary American work by way of two pillars of the standard chamber music repertoire.

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Museum after hours

23 March 2023, 5:00pm - 6:30pm

FREE | Museum After Hours

Join us for an opportunity to explore the Museum at this FREE late opening.

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FULLY BOOKED

23 March 2023, 7:00pm - 8:30pm

Joanna Quinn in conversation with Tracy Chevalier

Spend an evening with Joanna Quinn and best-selling author Tracy Chevalier as they discuss Quinn’s debut novel, The Whalebone Theatre, a brilliant coming-of-age story set in Dorset before and during World War II.

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Special Event

24 March 2023, 6:00pm - 9:00pm

This is Now

The Friendly Society of Artistic Labourers and Dorset Museum invites you to a spectacular showcase of contemporary art, design, media, music, and performance. Inspired by…

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Tours

28 March 2023, 11:00am - 12:00noon

Dorset Museum Highlights Tour

Explore 250 million years of Dorset’s history in this volunteer-led highlights tour of Dorset Museum. Discover Roman mosaics, fossils from the Jurassic Coast, Thomas Hardy manuscripts and the sculptures of Elisabeth Frink – and plenty more along the way.

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Workshop

1 April 2023, 10:00am to 4:30pm

One day life painting pose

This is a structured class that will take students through the traditional monochrome underpainting approach to painting the figure in oils. Same pose all day…

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