Although it is good to be able to note that there were guest history speakers at both CCCU and the University of Kent this week these being Dr Giorgia Tolfo from TNA and Professor Alice Taylor (King’s College London) respectively, the latter giving the Annual Anselm Lecture, I want to bring you news of March’s meeting of the Kent History Postgraduates.

However, before I get to Peter Joyce’s very interesting presentation, I have three notices and keeping with lectures, I want to draw you attention to one that will be taking place next Thursday the 27^th March. This is the Centre for Anglican History and Theology’s 4^th annual lecture in ecclesiastical history and this year it will be given by Professor William White (University of Oxford). His title is ‘When walls could talk: changing ideas about church buildings in the age of revolution’ and his presentation will be at 6pm in the CCCU chapel. As he says, “At the turn of the 19^th century, church buildings transitioned from whitewashed walls to colourful designs with stained glass. This is usually linked to the Gothic Revival and the Oxford Movement. In fact, this shift reflects deeper political, cultural and societal changes, highlighting how the Church adapted to revolutionary challenges. The lecture will explore how alterations in ecclesiastical architecture transformed sacred spaces, revealing a re-enchantment influenced by secularizing forces.” If this sounds interesting, please do come along and there will be a reception afterwards. For any questions or queries, please do contact Professor Kenneth Fincham at K.C.Fincham@kent.ac.uk

Furthermore, it is good to be record that we had the second monthly meeting of the Maidstone ‘Reformation to Restoration’ History project where as well as Dr Jack Newman, the project lead, and me, there were Adam and Ruth, the VCH general editors, and Debbie and Lyn, Oldham trustees as representatives of the Oldham Trust as project funders. The project seems to be making good progress, especially in two areas, the nascent website: https://themakingofmaidstone.org/resources and the use of ‘Transkribus’, an AI tool to transcribe in the first instance PCC Maidstone wills.

A third area I want to bring to your attention is that the Canterbury Society and the Canterbury Commemoration Society are looking to place Blue Plaques on the English Heritage wall in Longport to commemorate significant individuals who played a part in the long history of St Augustine’s Abbey. Another organisation is going to produce the first for Abbot Hadrian and there are a further 7 spaces. Among the initial suggestions are: St Augustine of Canterbury, King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha, Abbot Scolland, Henry VIII, Lady Margaret Wotton, John Tradescant the Elder, Sir Alexander Beresford Hope, Nathaniel Cyril Kondile Mhala and Lawrence Walcott. As the organisers say, this list is not exclusive, and other people may occur to you. If so, please can you send your thoughts and suggestions to the Secretary of the Canterbury Commemoration Society secretary@cantcommsoc.co.uk by 30 April, many thanks.

Now to the meeting this Wednesday of the Kent History Postgraduates where we had a large in person audience (needing extra chairs!) and online for Peter Joyce’s excellent presentation on William Lambarde’s place and importance in Elizabethan Kent (and England) and his legacy in such areas as later uses of his almshouse rules, his study of Old English and the revival of interest in languages, and his first-hand accounts of different aspects of Kentish society, a society that he influenced, perhaps from the judicial bench but potentially far more through his writings. As this is work in progress, being part of the chapter Peter is currently working on, I’m going to keep this as a brief report.

Peter began by providing a summary of the range and quality of Lambarde’s scholarship and how his achievements were viewed favourably by leading contemporaries both in the established Church and among Elizabeth’s chief ministers and members of the aristocracy. Thus, Peter took us through Lambarde’s Perambulation, his linguistic interests and his rediscovery of the Textus Roffensis, and his works relating to Elizabethan local government (the Ephemeris and Speeches). It is this latter which is most pertinent to Peter’s research into the treatment and understanding of the poor regarding their place in contemporary Kentish society, as well as how the development of almshouses in the Medway area, underpinned by the Protestant ethos of the period, would influence later institutions.

Indeed, Peter explored Lambarde’s religious stance because he considers this has major implications for how Lambarde envisaged society. This can be seen in terms of his doctrinal views in favour of a more extreme Protestantism, but also regarding his attitude towards the dangers posed by the Spanish in the Low Countries and the potential for the collapse of the Dutch Protestant cities. In the same vein, he sought to align Catholicism with witchcraft as well highlighting that such perils could endanger the English monarchy and state, which in turn could corrupt the ‘English way of life’. Of particular relevance to that, he was concerned about ‘youth’, which is in many ways not surprising bearing in mind the demographic profile of the time, as well as the perceived link between alehouses and ‘nurseries of naughtiness’.

Yet as Peter, noted, Lambarde showed in his writings a deep concern for the impotent poor and, as noted above, the practical remedies for this rested in part from the systems of justice enacted through the judicial system, but even more through his almshouse rules and the Poor Law of 1601.

Peter presentation was well received and sparked numerous comments and questions, and the discussion spilled out of the room with many of his audience heading to the café afterwards to continue the conversation – so a highly successful meeting!