Conferences
The annual conference usually comprises one day of lectures on local pipemakers and / or recent research and the second day with a field trip to visit local sites of pipemaking or historic interest. There are usually displays of material for viewing and articles / offprints for sale as well as a conference dinner where delegates can socialise and exchange information.
Conference 2024 - Hereford, Sat 17th and Sun 18th August
This year will see the Society’s first trip to Hereford, where the meeting will focus on pipes from that part of Britain, with an opportunity to see local finds and material from the kiln excavations at Pipe Aston. The conference will be held at The Kindle Centre, Belmont Road, HR2 7LE. Doors open at 9:00am, with the first paper at 9:30am. Tea and coffee during the day are included in your registration fee as is a buffet lunch. A conference meal has been arranged at the Cosy Club in the centre of Hereford. On the Sunday morning there will be a guided walking tour of the town.
For all enquiries and offers of displays and/or talks (which can range in length from 10 minutes to 30 minutes) please contact the conference organiser: Susie White at S-C-P-R@hotmail.com
To book your place at the conference just click HERE.
Click on the following link for a map showing you where our conferences have been in the 30 years period 1985 to 2015 - Conferences Map
London, 2023
To mark our 40th year we returned to London, where we held our first meeting. Our venue was the Alan Baxter Gallery, Islington. We had a really fascinating mix of papers about pipes and pipemakers from in and around London as well as enjoying a range of displays from some of the London Mudlarks. After a packed day of papers we enjoyed a celebratory conference dinner at a local restaurant - Iberica.
From left to right: Lectures about to start; St George and Dragon Pipe; Dutch pipes from the Thames (not to scale)
From left to right: Repurposed Trafalgar pipe; Delegates in The Castle Pub; Conference Dinner.
(photographs by Susie White)
Bristol, 2022
Our first meeting since 2019 took us to Bristol and the Bristol Commonwealth Society's very Grade 2 listed building in Clifton. We had an outstanding range of papers from our contributors followed by a conference meal at the Square Club. The Sunday was bright and sunny and we enjoyed a whistle stop tour of some of Britsol's hightlights.
From left to right: Lectures about to start; Conference meal; outside Bristol Museum with latest Banksy!
From left to right: Delegates in the gardens of Red Lodge; Red Lodge interior; Walking tour.
(photographs by Susie White, Marek Lewcun and Richard Carey)
For our 2019 conference we were in Sheffield at The Art House. We had an very interesting selection of papers on everything from pipes and pipemakers in Yorkshire to pipe kilns in Worcester and pipemoulds from Virginia in the USA. Following a very enjoyble conference dinner we had a guided tour of the historic centre of Sheffield on the Sunday morning.
From left to right: Lectures in full swing; some pipe recording happening; discussion of stem marks found in Sheffield.
From left to right: Viewing of the displays; conference dinner; walking tour of historic Sheffield.
(photographs by Susie White, David Higgins & Courtenay-Elle Crichton-Turley)
Cardiff, Wales 2018
In September 2018 we were in Cardiff, our first conference in Wales. As always, we had an excellent range of papers and delgates from all over the UK, Italy and America were able to attend. We had a very nice meal at a local pub on the Saturday evening. On the Sunday we had a visit to Nantgarw Chinaworks who's staff kept us well fed with tea, coffee, Welsh cakes, a splendid lunch and provided an excellent tour of the works.
From left to right: Lectures in full swing; Delegates enjoying the many displays; Delegates at Nantgarw Chinaworks.
From left to right: Pipe tools at Nantgarw; Nantgarw mould and pipe; Delegates and one of the Nantgarw kilns.
(photographs by Susie White, David Higgins and Charles Fountain)
Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire 2017
In September 2017 we had a very successful conference at the Potteries Museum in Stoke-on-Trent. There was a excellent range of papers and many delegates bought along displays of pipes for us to look at. The conference was one of the best attended that we have had in recent years. We had a splendid conference meal at a local restaurant. On the Sunday, despite a change of plan due a burst water main, we had a fascinating tour of the Broseley Pipeworks in Shropshire in the morning, followed by lunch. The day was rounded off with a tour of Moseley Old Hall in the afternoon.
From left to right: Lectures in full swing; Delegates enjoying a relaxing drink after the papers; Delegates at the conference dinner.
From left to right: Rex Key, pipemaker at Broseley; Interior of the Broseley pipeworks; Delegates after our tour.
(photographs by David Higgins, Susie White and Kate Cadman)
Wrest Park, Bedfordshire 2016
In September 2016 we held our conference at Wrest Park in Bedfordshire, the stately home of the de Grey family and the location of English Heritage’s store. The standard and range of papers this year was very high and we were able to look at some fascinating collections from Tilbury Fort and Westminster as well as having a tour of English Heritage's finds store. There was a conference meal at a local restaurant and on the Sunday we had our, now traditional, guided walking tour. We are hoping to publish summaries of some of the papers in future editions of the Newsletter but in the meantime a report on the conference can be found below.
From left to right: Wrest Park, Bedfordshire; Delegates viewing the displays; Delegates in the English Heritage Store
From left to right: Delegates viewing finds in the EH Store; On the walking tour, looking at the Bedford Mosaic; Delegates in front of the Bunyan Chapel, Bedford.
(photographs by David Higgins and Susie White)
Carlisle 2015
In September 2015 we were very pleased to see members, from as far afield as Sweden and American, make the trek up to Carlisle to join us for a fabulous conference at St John's Church Centre. A local Itallian restaurant organised a special conference meal for us and on the Sunday we had a fascinating walking tour of the city.
A selection of papers and summaries from the conference can be found in issue 88 of our newsletter.
Images from the 2015 SCPR Conference in Carlisle, Cumbria. From left to right: Market Square in Carlisle. Delegates looking at the displays. Our conference dinner at Casa Romana.
From left to right: Site photo of Samuel Hamilton's kiln in South John Street, with examples of the pipes recovered, inset. Delegates on the walking tour led by Denis Perriam.
(photographs by Susie White)
Warwick 2014
Our 2014 conference took place in Warwick. There was an interesting mix of papers presented to delegates on the Saturday at the Warwick Arms Hotel including displays of pipes and pipe production material. We had a splendid meal at the conference hotel on Saturday evening. Sunday saw us taking to the streets of Warwick for a fascinating tour of the town in glorious sunshine. It was a very successful meeting that everyone enjoyed. Our thanks go to all those who helped to make it a a success.
Summaries of many of the papers presented at the conference can be found in issue 86 of our Newsletter.
Images from the 2014 conference in Warwick. From left to right: Bryn Gethin explaining finds from excavations in and around Warwick; delegates enjoying the conference dinner; ready for the start of the walking tour.
From left to right: delegates on the walking tour; Brian, Richard, John and David viewing the museum display; pipe mould on display specially for the conference weekend.
(photographs by Susie White and Graeme Sutherland)
Dorchester 2013
Our 2013 conference marked our 30th birthday and we celebrated in style in Dorchester. The Saturday programme followed our now familiar format, with the morning session mainly looking at pipes and pipe makers from the local area with more general interest papers in the afternoon. This year one of our founding members, Roger Price, came to give a talk and also an account of how SCPR was formed - in his kitchen 30 years ago! Susie, our newsletter editor, had made a birthday cake to get us into party mood. We had a wonderful conference meal at the Kings Arms Hotel, on the Saturday evening. Sunday's very interesting walking tour led by conference organiser Robert Lancaster, rounded off a brilliant conference weekend. Our thanks go to all those involved in helping to make it happen.
Images from the 2013 SCPR Conference in Dorchester, Dorset. From left to right: Our 30th Bithday Cake made by Susie White; Roger Price cutting the cake;. Conference delegates catching up on pipe news over a coffee.
From left to right: The Kings Arms Hotel, venue for our Conference meal; Conference delgates looking for pipes in a stream on our walking tour (and they found some!); Conference delgates looking at the Roman House in Dorchester.
(photographs by Susie White)
Some of the papers from the conference have been published in SCPR84, which is now available to Members. It is hoped to publish the remaining papers from the conference in future issues of the newsletter.Sevenoaks 2012
The 2012 SCPR conference was held at the Vine Baptist Church Hall in Sevenoaks, Kent on 15th September. The Saturday programme of lecutres focussed on the Kent clay tobacco pipe industry and was complementated by displays. There was also a pipe making demonstration by Rex key from the Pipe Works Museum in Broseley, Shropshire. In the evening there was a fabulous conference dinner at the Royal Oak Hotel. On Sunday we had a guided walking tour of Sevenoaks led by conference organisser Brian Boyden. Some of the papers presented at the conference are due to be published in issues 82 and 83 or our newsletter.
Images from the 2012 SCPR Conference in Sevenoaks, Kent. From left to right: Conference delegates looking at material from Pipe Aston. Our conference dinner at the Royal Oak Hotel and finally our walking tour of Sevenoaks led by Brian Boyden.
(photographs by Susie White)
York 2011
The conference for 2011 was held in York at the Priory Street Community Centre - thanks to the centre for looking after us so well. A number of the delegates bought along a range of pipes and objects made from pipe clay for us to look at. After a very full day a excellent papers we moved to the Royal Oak for the conference dinner. On Sunday we had a guided tour of York followed by lunch at the Black Swan. To round the day off Pete Connelly, from York Archaeological Trust, gave us a tour of the Hungate excavation and we had a chance to look behind the scenes of this amazing excavation.
Images from the 2011 SCPR Conference in York. From left to right: Our conference dinner at the Royal Oak. Walking tour of York. Conference delegates behind the scenes at the Hungate dig with project director Pete Connelly.
(photographs by David Higgins and Susie White)
Some of the conference papers have been published in issue 80 of the Newsletter with more to follow in the next issue. Click on the link below for a summary of the 2011 conference.
Stirling 2010
The 2010 conference took place in the spectacular Stirling Castle on 18th and 19th September. The main theme of the conference was pipes and pipemaking in and around Scotland. A number of local archaeological units kindly brought along excavated pipe material for delegates to look at in between papers.
Images from the 2010 SCPR Conference in Stirling. From left to right: Conference delegates deep in discussion. Our tour of the castle. Delegates at the Conference Dinner.
(photographs by David Higgins and Arne Åkerhagen)
Grantham 2009
The conference for 2009 was held in Grantham Museum, Grantham, Lincolnshire on 19th and 20th September and was well attended, with delegates from the UK, America and Sweden. The main theme of the conference was pipes and pipemaking from Lincolnshire, although other papers were also presented. Our hosts, Grantham Museum, very kindly opened some of the display cases so that delegates could get a closer look at some of the pipe related exhibits.
Images from the 2009 SCPR Conference in Grantham. From left to right: Our lunchtime venue. Delegates on the walking tour. Pipemaking equipment on display in Grantham Museum.
(photographs by David Higgins)
Liverpool 2008
The 24th annual conference of the Society for Clay Pipe Research took place at Liverpool University on Saturday 20th of September and at Norton Priory Museum on the morning of Sunday 21st September 2008.
The Liverpool meeting on the 20th September was held at the newly opened (June 2008) Victoria Gallery & Museum within the University. The main theme of the conference was pipes and pipe production in the north-west in light of recent discoveries from excavations in Liverpool docks as well as older finds.
The second part of the conference took place on the morning of Sunday 21st September at Norton Priory Museum and Gardens just outside Runcorn. Here the conference delegates were able to inspect pipes from local excavations at the Priory, Norton Village and Halton Castle. There were also groups from Chester and Buckley for discussion.
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