Upcoming Events calendar
To sign up to any of our events please Contact us with your name and the event you will be attending.
The calendar above shows scheduled events from the Worthing Archaeological Society and associated local organisations. Click event on calendar for further information. To filter the type of the events shown, use the drop-down arrow on the top-right of the calendar. N.B. dates, times and locations of events not organised by WAS should be confirmed with the organisers.
The WAS Lecture Programme for Winter-Spring 2026 is available and can be downloaded as a printable pdf
Please note, lectures could change subject to unforeseen issues.
Next ‘WAS’ events
For lectures, members have free entry and visitors are asked to make a donation of £4 to the society.
For excavations, a day membership can be purchased for £5.
21 November 2026
Study Day: Archaeological Glass Identification
Presented by John Shepherd
Today glass is all around us. We use it for so many purposes but this is not a recent phenomenon. There was a time when glass was very expensive, used only by the elite, but with the introduction of glass-blowing around the end of the first century BC this all changed. For most of history since then glass vessels and windows became commonplace.
This day school will present this amazing history, focusing upon the earliest use of glass in the Roman and medieval periods. Some glass from later periods will be examined too as there will be an emphasis on what the glass specialist is looking for when determining the age of a vessel from a mere fragment of glass. Hopefully this will be an opportunity to hone one’s glass ID skills.
Please bring along any glass that you might wish to have identified – archaeological fragments or complete.
At Worthing Museum, Members £25.00, Non-members £30.00.
8 December 2026
Lecture: Chanctonbury Ring: The story of a Sussex landmark
Presented by Dr Janet Pennington
Chanctonbury Ring on the South Downs has been an iconic landmark for Sussex inhabitants and visitors for over 200 years. However, the ring of trees, most of which were destroyed by the great storm of 1987 and replanted in 1990, covers another ring, the c.750 BC (Late Bronze Age) earthwork. The earlier Ring contains the remains of a Romano-Celtic and Romano-British temple complex; it has a very special atmosphere that draws people to it. Set within a much older landscape, it also attracted 16-year-old Charles Goring of Wiston House, who planted beeches and other trees around it in 1760. The talk reveals the history of the area, a murder on the hill, the tree species over the centuries and a spate of literary outpourings about the Ring by 19th and 20th century novelists, poets and travel writers.
Janet Pennington is an independent historian with a PhD in early-modern Sussex inn and tavern history. Her MA dissertation is about Sir Thomas Sherley, the Elizabethan owner of Wiston House near Steyning. While working as the archivist at Lancing College, she also taught local history and palaeography for the Centre of Continuing Education at the University of Sussex. Janet gives illustrated talks throughout Sussex, particularly on pubs, aspects of Wiston Estate history and a variety of other subjects, such as the ritual protection of the home and travel in the past. She lives locally and is at present revising her book on Chanctonbury Ring (2011). Her website www.sussexhistorytalks.co.uk reveals more.
Contact us if you are interested in attending a study day or dig.