There will be a change of speaker and topic for the Isle of Man Natural History & Antiquarian Society (IoMNHAS) lecture taking place at the Manx Museum in Douglas this Saturday.

It comes after original speaker, Peter Geddes, has had to go into hospital and so won’t be able to deliver his planned talk on the Bradda Mines.

Dr Marie Weale, one of the society’s research coordinators, has now stepped in to deliver a lecture on 'From the Mouths of Manx Mothers; An Introduction to Maternal Health During the Medieval Period (AD500 – 1500)'.

Marie will present some of the early findings of the project funded by Culture Vannin and outline the methodology being used to assess the health of Manx mothers in the medieval period.

Marie says of her topic: 'Maternal health during pregnancy is known to have long-term effects on the health of the child throughout their life – this relationship is termed the maternal-infant dyad.

‘Vitamin D deficiency has been a major health issue throughout history. However, diagnosing it is challenging due to factors like changes in bones, poor preservation in ancient remains, and variations in how the condition present.

'Many studies focus on how common the condition is, but not on the social, cultural, and environmental factors that may cause it.

'Our research looks at four Manx sites dating from AD500 – 1500 for evidence of rickets on bone and within their teeth.

‘The macroscopic portion of this work has assessed skeletal remains from Rushen Abbey, Cronk Keeilane and Balladoole so far and found evidence of nutritional rickets at all three sites. The histological analysis is currently underway and is assessing evidence of nutritional rickets passed from mothers to their infants during pregnancy.'

Non-members attending the lecture, which starts at 2.30pm, will be invited to make a small donation.