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TAG: Early Medieval Kent

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.

Yews, Jews, Aliens and Canterbury World Heritage Site – a busy week

Today we reached ‘Y’ in the Heritage A – Z so if you would like to find out about the difference between Irish and English yews, then check this out: https://medium.com/the-christ-church-heritage-a-to-z/y-is-for-yew-9f06b2fb5dca  and you can see what I have written for our penultimate letter.

Celebrating Canterbury history exhibition by CCCU Masters students

Professor Peter Vujakovic’s brainchild, the Heritage A – Z, has now reached ‘Q’ is for Queen Eleanor of Provence, and you can read a fascinating piece by Professor Louise Wilkinson, with some lovely illustrations at: https://medium.com/the-christ-church-heritage-a-to-z

Paul Bennett, Canterbury UNESCO and Jayne Wackett

Last night a packed lecture theatre of students, staff and the public were treated to a great lecture by Paul Bennett, Visiting Professor of Archaeology in the Centre for Kent History and Heritage at CCCU, but I just want to mention another couple of things before I get to his talk.

Medieval Bestiaries before J.K. Rowling’s ‘Fantastic Beasts’

This is just a short piece before we come to our busiest weekend of the year. Preparations are continuing and we are looking forward to meeting all our great speakers and those attending Tudors and Stuarts 2019, some for the first time and others who have become our ‘regulars’.

William Somner, Archbishop Laud and Canterbury

It has been an interesting and busy week, and before I get to the William Somner conference on Saturday, I thought I would just mention that it was great to see the new Juxon Room at Eastbridge Hospital. They have certainly transformed a rather dark room into a light space that means the roof timbers are beautifully exposed to be admired at last. The other exciting feature is the glass floor panels that allow you to see the bridge timbers and the river below. See the photo below.

Folkestone, Faversham and Canterbury – medieval saints and other matters

Now that we are in March, I thought this week I would start with news of the book launch next Thursday which features Gender in Medieval Places, Spaces and Thresholds, and among the three speakers will be Professor Louise Wilkinson, who attended the conference at CCCU this publication came from and Dr Diane Heath, one of the three editors and the contributor of a chapter on ‘tombscape’. If that sounds intriguing, please do come along to the CCCU bookshop at 5pm. Copies of the book will be on sale at a special CCCU Bookshop discount. We will be having a wine reception, too, courtesy of the School of Humanities and organised by Professor Jackie Eales. Here is a link to this and other events taking place as part of International Book Day: https://blogs.canterbury.ac.uk/studentnews/celebrating-academic-book-week/#.XHjwF_vMLGw.twitter

Challenging times throughout the centuries

I thought I would begin where in a sense I left off, and now that the programme for Women’s International Day and Women’s History Month is now up on the CCCU website, I thought I would give you the link: https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/equality-and-diversity/edi-events/international-womens-day-and-womens-history-month.aspx so please feel free to check out what will be going on next month, including the two events involving the Centre.

Victorian Kent – ‘Dickens Land’

I have received an email from Dr Lesley Hardy to say the Anglo-Saxon Candlemas concert last Saturday was a great success at SS Mary and Eanswythe church in Folkestone. About 150 people attended and heard poetry and other readings, as well as musical items, including plainchant. I believe the final preparations are underway for the exhibition in Folkestone library that is coming soon on the ‘Finding Eanswythe’ project, so do watch out for further notices.

Apocalypse – in Anglo-Saxon terms by Katy Cubitt

Firstly some news about what will be taking place next week. Next Tuesday Abby Armstrong, who successfully defended her doctoral thesis just before Christmas, will be giving a paper on the daughters of Henry III, the first in the History seminar series at CCCU for this term. I expect to see lots of staff and postgraduates there, and if this sounds interesting, please do come along and join us in Newton, Ng01 at 5pm. Then two days later, the Centre with the Friends of Canterbury Archaeological Trust [FCAT] will be holding their January lecture in Newton, Ng07 at 7pm, when Dr Steve Willis (University of Kent) will speak on ‘Roman Lympne: context, new research and new questions’. Again, all welcome and we would be delighted to see you.