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Category: Kent

Maritime Kent and more Canterbury landmarks

Some of you may remember that about 15 month ago the Centre held a conference on ‘Maritime Kent through the Ages’. Following that successful day Stuart Bligh, Dr Elizabeth Edwards and I decided we should capitalise on the interest shown and edit a collection of essays under the same heading. Since then we have made considerable progress and I thought I would let you know that we are in the process of receiving essays from 23 contributors, including Professor Maryanne Kowaleski (medieval trade and industry), Dr Sandra Dunster (early modern coastal communities) and Professor Andrew Lambert (modern coastal defence). In terms of the publisher, we are continuing to work with Boydell and without wanting to jinx the project, things are looking promising on all fronts, so more details as matters progress.

Medieval Canterbury Weekend 2020 and Canterbury’s water supply

I am continuing to make progress on the programme for the Medieval Canterbury Weekend 2020 that will take place from Friday 3 to Sunday 5 April. All being well, work on the website will take place during September and I’m hoping we will be able to go live online in early October. I’ll let you know when that happens.

Canterbury news and exploring an iconic building

Having had two weeks off, which gave me a chance to write a paper and almost finish an article, I thought this week I would start with a brief reminder about two Centre events in September: the Parish Histories conference and the Michael Nightingale Memorial Lecture.

Magna Carta workshops at the Royal Harbour Academy Ramsgate

Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh has asked me to write the Centre’s final blog before the summer vacation because I (Dr Diane Heath) have been working on a terrific project with a local school. However, before I turn to the Magna Carta Impact workshops, please allow me to advertise a forthcoming conference for which you can now book tickets. ‘Revisiting sources and themes in parish histories’ is being held in Canterbury on Saturday 21 September 2019 (from 9.30 until 16.30) and it is being co-organised by our Centre for Kent History & Heritage, the University of Kent, and Warwick University’s Network for Parish Research. This means that delegates will have access to the top researchers on churchwardens’ accounts and other parish records and will have the chance to put questions to these experts in parish history at the plenary panel session. Parish records are often vital sources for religious, political, socio-economic, and cultural history as well as for micro-histories and genealogy. There is also a chance to visit Canterbury Cathedral Archives to examine documents relating to churchwardens and parish history which are not normally on display. For the programme please click here: https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/arts-and-humanities/events/arts-and-humanities/ckhh/revisiting-sources-and-themes-in-parish-histories.aspx but if you already have all the details you can skip to the booking page here https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/event-booking/book.aspx?event=217605. We very much hope you will be able to join us for this cutting-edge research event.

Exploring Church Records at Maidstone and Canterbury

Next week I’m intending to report on Dr Diane Heath’s second set of ‘Magna Carta: Women, Children and Family’ workshops at The Royal Harbour Academy in Ramsgate (this week she is at a conference in Prague on ‘Medieval Animals’), so today I’ll just draw attention to three events that will be happening in September involving the Centre in some way.

Biodiversity and Medieval Pageant at Canterbury

I’m going to concentrate on the Medieval Pageant this week because it has now become a major day in Canterbury’s calendar, and once again Professor Louise Wilkinson led a team of staff and students from CCCU to bring family-friendly activities to those on the city trail, but first I want to bring other matters to your attention.

Exploring medieval society at Canterbury and Tonbridge

I thought I would begin this week with news about several events that are due to take place on and around 6 July, although before that I thought I would mention that Professor Jackie Eales is going to ask Matthew Crockatt to create a second virtual exhibition on the Centre’s webpages. You can see ‘Medieval Faversham’ already https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/arts-and-humanities/research-kent-history-and-archaeology/crkha-latest-projects/medieval-faversham.aspx and this second would be the Canterbury history posters produced by many of the taught MA students that featured in the blog a few weeks ago: https://blogs.canterbury.ac.uk/kenthistory/celebrating-canterbury-history-exhibition-by-cccu-masters-students/ .

Conferences, Medieval Canterbury and Alice Roberts

Having led a guided walk around ‘early medieval Canterbury’ for delegates on the second day at the ‘Negotiating Power in the Early Middle Ages’ conference organised by Charlotte Liebelt, with the assistance of Drs Leonie Hicks and Mike Bintley, at CCCU, I thought I would first mention another medieval history conference that will take place next Friday and Saturday. This, too, will be at CCCU and is entitled ‘Rebellion in Medieval Europe’. One of the keynote speakers next week will be Dr David Grummitt (Head of the School of Humanities, CCCU), and the conference organisers are Drs Adrian Jobson and Paul Dalton, with Professor Louise Wilkinson.

The Gough Map – asking new questions

It really will be a short blog this week because it is in some ways a slight breather before a very hectic time next week that has several meetings, two conferences and a workshop. Nevertheless, this week has seen Dr Diane Heath and her co-producers getting to the final stages on their ‘Medieval Animal Magic’ booklet for primary schools, while Professor Louise Wilkinson has been busy working at The National Archives and giving papers, as well as attending Exam Boards – it is that time of year!