Publications available from the group
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Books and leaflets
Since LLHG was formed in 2006 we have published, as a group or as individuals, a number of books and papers.

 if you would like any of them contact LLHG.

The Three-Legged Society

The Ague: A History of Indigenous Malaria in Cumbria and the North

Luck to Levens

Levens in the Shadow of the Great War

Natural Awakenings: Early Naturalists in Lakeland

The Dark Path to Knowledge

The Three-Legged Society - published 2012 by Lancaster University is about  three local naturalists who worked together and whose lives and achievements  were in  undeserved obscurity.

The Ague: A History of Indigenous Malaria in Cumbria and the North -published 2016 by Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society(CWAAS) uncovers the previously little known story of a disease we regard as tropical in our corner of England.

Luck To Levens - published 2014 by Levens Local History Group (LLHG) uses our collection of photographs to provide a window into our village life as it was once.

Levens in the Shadow of the Great War - published 2020 by LLHG is both our memorial for the Levens men who were killed and a description of how village life was affected by and adjusted to wartime conditions. See more about this book and find a PDF copy in Projects.

Natural Awakenings: Early Naturalists in Lakeland - published 2019 by CWAAS tells the story of the lives and achievements of eleven pioneering naturalists who first began to observe and record the natural history of our region from the time of Cromwell to the early Nineteenth century.

The Dark Path to Knowledge: The Autobiography of John Gough of Kendal (1757-1825), "Blind Philosopher" and Polymath - published 2021 by CWAAS is  the first time that Gough's own manuscript and the  sequel written by his son have been been transcribed for publication.

Papers

Our latest - still subject to copyright - contact us if you want a copy

Hodkinson, Ian D. (2023) Entomologists' Watering Holes: The Derby Arms at Witherslack, Antenna 47 (4), 192-195.

Hodkinson, Ian D. (2023)  William Lakin Turner (1867-1936): a portrait of a Lakeland landscape artist, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 23, 157-176..

Hodkinson, Ian D. (2021) Thomas Coulthard Heysham of Carlisle (1791-1857): a Cumbrian naturalist and insect collector, Antenna 45 (2), 73-77.

Hodkinson, Ian D. (2021) Cumbrians and the Klondike Gold Rush, Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 21, 215-237.

Previous
Tom Clare, Geoff Cook, Ian D. Hodkinson, Mark Simpson & Stephen Read (2021): A re-interpretation of the Levens Park ring cairn, Cumbria, based on the original excavation archives, Archaeological Journal, DOI: 10.1080/00665983.2021.1898259.  You can see it HERE

​The following recent studies have been conducted by LLHG. They include stand-alone or professionally supported field research funded by the Heritage Lottery or the society.

Oxford Archaeology North. 2014.  Sizergh Castle, ‘Dig in the Park’, Community Archaeology Survey and Excavation, Summary Report, 30 pp.
 
Oxford Archaeology North. 2014.  Sizergh Castle, Dig in the Park, Community Archaeology Survey and Excavation, Cumbria. Archaeological Report,  157pp. + Figs.

Oxford Archaeology North. 2014.  Sizergh Castle Kettle Hole, Cumbria. Stratigraphic Survey, 74 pp. + Figs. 

Ian Hodkinson (2015). Kirks-head, Kirkstead and the Temple of Diana: the naming of archaeological sites in Levens Park. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, New Series. 15, 246-249.

Stephen Read (2016). Burials at Hyning, Levens. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society.16, 241-247.

Read, S. 2017. Levens Park Geological Survey. Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Newsletter 85, Summer 2017, p. 5.

Oxford Archaeology North. 2017. Levens Park, Levens, Cumbria.  Geophysical Survey Report. 13 pp. + illustrations.

Stephen Read and Allan Steward (2018). ‘A neat gothic edifice’: St. John’s the Evangelist Levens. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society.18, 263-282.

Ian Hodkinson (2018). Science, superstition and sorcery: ‘wise men’ in Westmorland during the seventeenth to nineteenth century. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society.18, 223-244.

Ian Hodkinson, Geoffrey Cooke, Blaise Vyner, Stephen Read, Tom Clare and Mark Simpson (2018). Unpublished Romano-British finds from the Levens Park excavations of 1968-1971. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society.18, 283-302.

Jeremy Rowan Robinson, *Geoffrey Cook, *Kevin Grice, Brian Hardwick, Philip Minchom and *Mark Simpson (2019). Pillow mounds of Westmorland. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society.19, 141-160. *society members.

Read, S. 2019. Osteological Analysis of Human Remains from Site B, Levens Park. Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Newsletter 90, Spring 2019, pp. 14-15.

Ian Hodkinson (2020). In the shadow of the Stuart Pretenders: the life of Francis Strickland ‘Man of Moidart’ (and Westmorland?). Northern History.57, 1-24.

Unpublished Material
A selection of notes and papers, chiefly biographical, about people with local connections can be seen in "Find out about - Levens People"