In addition to the lecture feast this week at Christ Church, beginning today with the Becket Lecture, I thought I would mention Dr John Bulaitis’ Nightingale Lecture next April.

Reaper-binder: Brook Argicultural Museum

I know it is a long way off, but his topic: ‘the tithe war’ of the early 1930s, reminded me that tithe disputes have a very long history in Kent. Dr Bulaitis will be exploring several controversial incidents, and in particular ‘The Battle of the Ducks’. Such a history of social unrest in the Kentish countryside will have been examined at the one-day conference ‘New Directions in Kent History’ in March 2015 by Dr Paula Simpson, who will be drawing on her comprehensive study of tithe disputes in 16^th-century Kent. Like John Bulaitis, Paula Simpson will be providing fascinating details concerning agricultural practices and the tensions that sometimes spilled into violence between those farming the land and those farming the tithes – further examples of the rich vein of research being conducted in the county.