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TAG: St Thomas of Canterbury

Canterbury, Dover and Becket on 6th July

This week I am going to concentrate on events linked to 6 July, but first, as promised, herewith details of Dr Ben Marsh’s talk on Tuesday 20 July at 7pm online through Teams, which promises to be a fascinating exploration and very timely considering the political, social and cultural climate we live in today.

Kent History Postgraduates and Kent Maps – exploring space and time

I thought I would start this week by saying that I really like the display in the CCCU Bookshop front window for Marc Morris’ new book due out on 20 May For as well as Marc’s very striking cover for his The Anglo-Saxons. A History of the Beginnings of England, Craig also has a couple of artefacts as part of the display that shout out ‘Anglo-Saxon’.

CHAS Canterbury through the Centuries and KHP – new discoveries

This week I’m playing catch up, and because there is so much, I’m going to save the last of the Lunch Time Lectures by Anna-Nadine Pike until next week (for the joining url, see last week’s blog). Moreover, even though I wasn’t able to get to it, apologies Dean, I just want to say that as co-organiser Dean’s online conference on Jews in medieval England has also taken place this week. Thus, the Centre for Kent History and Heritage is very active on all sorts of fronts.

Giraffes in churchyards and saints in barrows – more exciting discoveries

I thought this week I would start with a short plug for the Tudors and Stuarts History Weekend on 27th and 28th March this year: https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/tudors-stuarts where you will find all the details and how to book. Moreover, I am very excited because we have now picked our film maker who is Alex Durham, a CCCU alumna in Film Studies, to produce the second film on Paul Bennett exploring ‘Early Tudor Canterbury’. This we hope will give a feel for the Weekend ‘being in Canterbury’.

Celebrating St Mildred and other Canterbury and Kent saints

As well as containing large numbers of meetings yet again this week, it also included the pleasurable occasion when Dr Diane Heath and I handed over the pop-up banners on aspects of the history of St Mildred’s church – parish and people to those at St Mildred’s.

Virtual ‘Becket’ Pavement – celebrating medieval animals

As this is the last blog before its 2-week ‘vacacion’, I thought I would remind readers about the great opportunity for a part-funded MA by Research on a project based around the St Albans Library inventory. Due to the generosity of a local benefactor, this is a chance for someone interested in Book History and Material Culture to investigate a substantial gentry family library collected in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, which covers a very wide range of fascinating subjects. Annotations cover the period up to the auction of the library books in 1938 and the inventory also includes silver and plate, jewels, statues, objects of worth and paintings. This project will draw on comparable ‘great house’ libraries to explore, for example, ideas about collecting and reading habits, as well as the presence of book-sharing networks among this group in Hanoverian and Victorian society. The successful applicant will be offered a bursary of £1000, with the possibility of applying for a further £1000 from the Ian Coulson Award fund. If this sounds exciting and you would like to find out more about the opportunity, please do contact Dr Claire Bartram who will be one of the supervisors: claire.bartram@canterbury.ac.uk

St Albans Library inventory

Exploring remembrance at Canterbury

This week I thought I would take my cue from the events of last weekend and the idea of significant anniversaries – the international remembrance of VE Day 75 years ago and a local remembrance of Sir Roger Manwood’s foundation of his almshouses in Canterbury 450 years ago. Of course, the ceremonies and other events planned for both of these either didn’t happen at all, especially in the case of Manwood’s almshouses, or were very different than first planned, the VE Day commemoration of those who had come through WWII , but even more those who hadn’t. However, the actual focus of this blog is neither of these, and hopefully I’ll be able to report on the Manwood event next year, nor is it Becket 2020, which seems to becoming Becket 2020/21, although Becket might be said to have a walk-on part.

Canterbury mazers – virtual material culture

While governments – national, regional and local, continue to grapple with the situation, and a large number of businesses and charities are equally trying to manage, even survive – note, for example, the grave problems being experienced in the horticultural and agricultural sectors; universities, too, are feeling the strain. This is certainly the case sorting out what to do for the best for students regarding teaching, assessments and exams, and thus matters of progression and completion of degrees.