Warwick Symposium on Parish Research

25 –27 May 2012 (Friday evening to Sunday afternoon)

Scarman House, University of Warwick

Programme

Friday 25 May

4.00 – 5.00Arrival and Welcome

5.00 – 5.30 Opening address

Prof. Beat Kümin (Warwick University, History)

‘Parish Studies Today: Approaches, Interactions, Perspectives’

5.30 – 7.00Evening plenary lecture (1 hour + discussion); Chair: Beat Kümin

Prof. John Harper (Bangor University, School of Music)

‘Exploring the experience of worship in the late medieval parish church’

7.15 – 8.15Buffett supper

8.30 – 9. 30Workshop 1

Dr Jonathan Willis (University of Birmingham, History)

‘The Reformation of the Parishes – the Acoustic Dimension’

Saturday 26 May

9.00 – 11.00Morning sessions

11.00 – 11.30Coffee

11.30 – 1.00Midday plenary lecture(1 hour + discussion); Chair: Katherine French

Prof. em. Chris Dyer (University of Leicester, Centre for English Local History)

‘Have historians been too sentimental about the village community, 1334-1540?’

1.00 – 2.00Lunch

2.00 – 4.00Afternoon session

4.00 – 4.30Tea

4.30 – 6.00Evening plenary lecture(1 hour + discussion); Chair: Peter Marshall

Dr Penny Roberts (University of Warwick, History)

‘Conflict and violence in the French urban parish in the age of the Reformation’

6.00 – 7.00Evening roundtable (1 hour)

Warwick Network for Parish Research:

‘Parish Studies Tomorrow’

Participants: Dr Joanne Anderson (University of Warwick, History of Art), Kristi Woodward Bain (Northwestern University , Religious Studies), Agata Gomolka (University of Warwick, History of Art), Matthew D. Jackson (University of Warwick, History), Susan Orlik (University of Birmingham, History), Dr Jonathan Willis (University of Birmingham, History), Don White (University of Warwick, History)

7.30 – 9.00Symposium dinner

Sunday 27 May

9.00 – 11.00 Morning sessions

11.00 – 11.30Coffee

11.30 – 1.0Midday plenary lecture (1 hour + discussion); Chair: Beat Kümin

Martin Crampin (University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies

‘Discovering the visual culture of Welsh parish churches in the modern age’

1.00-2.00Lunch

2.00 – 4.00Afternoon sessions

Departure

Saturday morning sessions (9-11; 2 hours each)

Workshop 2.

  • Catherine Richardson (University of Kent, School of English) and Dr Tara Hamling (University of Birmingham, History)

‘From household to parish: the materiality of daily life’

Session 1. Engaging with History; Chair: Dee Dyas

  • John Bland (Warwickshire Local History Society)

‘Warwickshire Local History Society’

  • Helen McGowan (Divine Inspiration)

‘Understanding and sharing the story of your parish church’

  • Warmington Heritage Group

‘Grove Farm Project – The house and its land’

  • Prof. John Wolffe (The Open University)

‘Building on History’

Session 2. Images Painted and Carved; Chair: Don White

  • Dr Gillian Draper (British Association for Local History)

‘Harry the glasyer: making and replacing stained glass in churches on the Kent and Sussex borders, c. 1470 to 1570’

  • Dr Miriam Gill (Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Leicester)

‘Working on the Wallpaintings Interpretation Project of the Churches Conservation Trust’

  • Hamilton Kerr Institute / Dr Spike Bucklow

‘The conservation of wooden polychromy in churches’

  • Anthony Fletcher (Chair of South Newington Parish Team)

‘South Newington Wall Paintings and Church Restoration’

Session 3. Preaching and Pastoral Provision; Chair: Heather Falvey

  • Revd Martin Gorick [NB: needs to leave at 10 am]

‘Stratford Sermon Series Project’

  • Ian Brodie (Southam)

‘Bastard priest: The life of a Scottish-born 19thC vicar of Grandborough, Warwickshire’

  • Prof. em. Claire Cross and Dr Judith A. Frost (The University of York, History)

‘A Prior and his Parish: Alvered Comyn and Wragby Church in the Reign of Henry VIII’

  • Andrew Thomson (King’s College London, History)

‘17th-century Winchester clergy’

Saturday afternoon sessions (2-4 pm; 2 hours each)

Workshop 3

  • Dr Joanne Anderson (University of Warwick, History of Art) and Dr Hannes Obermair (Bolzano Regional Archives)

‘In the books and on the walls: Parish life in late medieval Bolzano’

Session 4. Diversity and Dissent; Chair: Claire Cross

  • Ruth Barbour (Local History, Leicester)

‘Catholics in the deanery of Warwick 1670 -1820: How many, where and who?’

  • Maureen Harris (University of Leicester, English Local History)

‘“A schismatical people”? The politics of religion in a post-Restoration “papist” Warwickshire parish’

  • John Reeks (University of Bristol, History)

‘Pew Politics: The consequences of reorganising communion tables in Bath and Wells, 1632-1640’

  • Sarah E. Thomas (University of Aberdeen, Centre for Scandinavian Studies)

‘Diversityof religious practices in late medieval Norwegian and Scottish parishes’

Session 5. The Making of a Fifteenth-Century Norfolk Parish Church: A study of Fincham St Martin; chaired by co-organizers

  • Claire Daunton, Sandy Heslop, Helen Lunnon and Nick Trend (University of East Anglia, Norwich)

The four speakers will present a joint session looking at a single late medieval parish church, placing emphasis on the building as a primary source and also drawing on historical, art historical and antiquarian evidence. The session will cover a broad range of issues including patronage, architecture andfurnishing, and modes of construction, and will place Fincham inthe wider context of parish church building in late medieval East Anglia.

Session 6. Archives as Evidence; Chair: Tara Hamling

  • Dr Heather Falvey (University of Oxford, Continuing Education Tutor)

‘Bells, books and the unexpected: discordant notes in early modern parish records’

  • Dr Valerie Hitchman and Dr Andrew Foster (University of Kent, History)

‘The Churchwardens’ Accounts Database Project’

  • Revd Peter Kettle

‘What’s in that top cupboard? Archival material from Holy Trinity with All Saints South Kensington’

  • Dr Sylvia Pinches (University of Leicester, English Local History)

‘A parish through the prism of an Easter book and tithe records: Ledbury, Herefordshire, 1597-1607’

Sunday morning sessions (9-11; 2 hours each)

Session 7. Artworks, Agents and Interactions; Chair: Joanne Anderson

  • Dr Sandra Cardarelli (Aberdeen) [+ reading a paper byOlivia Bruschettini (Grosseto)]

‘New research in the Diocese of Grosseto: Towards a systematic approach in parish research’ / ‘Digitization of artworks in churches of the Diocese of Grosseto and related research with historical sources’

  • Dr Donal Cooper (University of Warwick, Art History)

‘Ideal Poverty versus Real Poverty? Mendicant and Parish Churches in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy’

  • Don White (University of Warwick, History)

‘Invisible saints: The search for medieval wood sculpture in British parish life’

Session 8. Mentalities and Priorities; Chair: Liz Tingle

  • Gabriel Byng (Clare College, Cambridge)

‘How affordable were medieval parish churches?’

  • Dr John Hunt (University of Birmingham, History)

‘Lordship, community and the parish church: A window on medieval “mentalité”’

  • Bart Minnen (independent researcher)

‘The Church of St Martin in Wezemaal, an European centre of the devotion to St Job in the 15th and 16th centuries’

  • Karsten Merrald Sørensen (Aarhus University/University of Flensburg)

‘Account books. A sourcefor the church and community history in the duchy of Schleswig in the 17th century’

Session 9. Parishes Divided?; Chair: Roger Bowers

  • Kristi Woodward Bain (Northwestern University, Religious Studies)

‘Materializing conflict: How parish communities remember their turbulent medieval pasts’

  • Mairi Macdonald (Shakespeare Birthplace Trust)

‘Church and Guild, a conflict for supremacy in 15th century Stratford-upon-Avon’

  • Dr Nigel Ramsay (UCL, English Monastic Archives)

‘Monasteries and parish churches’

Session 10. Communities of the Living and the Dead; Chair: Hannes Obermair

  • Revd Mark Bratton and Jill Tompkins Bailey

‘Spirit of Berkswell Project’

  • Jennie Hawks (Diocese of Norwich)

‘The Churches Discovery Project’

  • Harold Mytum (Centre for Manx Studies/School of Archaeology, Liverpool)

‘Texts and More: Results of Graveyard Surveys in Britain and Ireland’

Session 11. Unlocking the Treasure Chest: new approaches, recent discoveries and issues in interpreting parish churches; Chair: Miriam Gill

Sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Christianity & Culture, University of York

  • Dr Dee Dyas and Louise Hampson (Christianity and Culture, University of York)

‘Unlocking the treasure chest: but where are the keys? Interpreting parish churches today’

  • Dr Kate Giles (The University of York, Archaeology)

'Digital models as research tools for churches: Stratford on Avon, a case study’

  • Anthony Masinton (The University of York, Archaeology)

‘3D modelling as a research tool’

Sunday afternoon sessions (2-4pm; 2 hours each)

Workshop 4

  • Harald Mytum (Centre for Manx Studies / School of Archaeology, Liverpool)

‘Graveyard Recording: Beyond Transcriptions’

Session 12. Churches in Motion; Chair: Andrew Foster

  • Dr Jenny Alexander (University of Warwick, History of Art)

‘Nottingham St Mary’s church, ‘excellent, new and uniforme yn work’

  • Michal Bauwens (University of Ghent, Institute of Early Modern History)

‘Rebuilding the parish: The Saint James parish in Ghent (1566-1600)’

  • Dr Valerie Hitchman (University of Kent, History)

‘Destruction, desecration and neglect? The parish church in and around London c1640-1660’

Session 13.Mercy to the Sick and Poor; Chair: Mark Hailwood

  • Prof. Jeremy Boulton (Newcastle University, School of Historical Studies)

‘How to be duck food: pauper burials in St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, 1747-1825’

  • Jonathan Kewley (Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society)

‘Imagine No Overseers...: Some Georgian Parishes not subject to the Poor Law’

  • Paula McBride (University of Warwick, History),

‘Magic and healing in the early modern English parish’

  • Angela Nicholls (University of Warwick, History)

‘Warwickshire parish housing: Mapping provisions for the poor in the 17th century’

Session14.Parishioners and the Built Environment; Chair: Donal Cooper

  • Stephen Bates (University of Warwick, History)

‘Parochial encounters with the Virgin Mary in Reformation England’

  • Bridget and John Cherry

‘A condition survey of tombs in a north London churchyard [Hornsey, Haringay]’

  • Agata Gomolka (University of Warwick, History of Art)

‘The practicality of disease and deformity: the grotesque head as a protector of the parish’

Session 15. Textual Communities; Chair: Nigel Ramsay

  • Mark Booth (former Senior Archivist, Warwickshire Record Office)

‘The Manorial Documents Register and the Historic Towns Project’

  • Dr Pamela Fisher (University of Leicestershire, School of Historical Studies)

‘Leicestershire VCH – A New Chapter’

  • Anne Kirby and Jeannette Oubridge (Bishop’s Tachbrook History Group)

‘Reflections on Bishop’s Tachbrook: Past and Present’

  • David Paterson (Former Head of History at King Edward VI College Nuneaton)

‘Parishioners and Pupils: An endowed Grammar School and its local parish in the 16th Century’

Stalls/ Table Displays

  • Avon Dassett Local History Group
  • Berkswell Parish
  • Bishop’s Tachbrook History Group
  • Archivio storico della città di Bolzano
  • British Association for Local History
  • Cardall Collection
  • Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture, University of York
  • Churches Conservation Trust
  • ‘Churchwardens’ Accounts Database Project’
  • Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society
  • Leicestershire Victoria County History
  • National Churches Trust
  • Ecclesiological Society
  • Grosseto Diocese
  • HertfordshireRecord Society
  • South Newington Parish
  • Victoria County History Herefordshire (Sylvia Pinches)
  • Warmington Heritage Group, ‘Grove Farm Project – The House and its Land’
  • Warwickshire Local History Society

2012 Programme 1