Exhibitions and tours

9 September 2019

Peter Clarke: Clergy and Criminal Violence in later medieval Kent

Location: Kent History and Library Centre

Time: 1pm - 2pm

Price: free

A presentation of the speaker’s current research on clergy and criminal violence in later medieval England and Wales, with special reference to pre-1500 church court records in the Rochester and Canterbury diocese archives.

Peter D. Clarke is Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Southampton and specialises in later medieval religious history, especially the papacy and canon law.

28 September 2019

Lucit in Tenebris Veritas: The Records of Kent’s Two Dioceses (one-day conference)

Location: Kent History and Library Centre

Time: 10am

Price: £12 (includes a buffet lunch. Booking is essential).

Inspired by William Somner’s motto ‘Lucit in tenebris veritas’, a day to celebrate the unification of the Canterbury Diocese records under one roof, alongside the archive of Rochester Diocese. Our speakers will explore some of the rich diversity of material found in these collections, shedding light for family and local historians, students and academics alike on many aspects of personal and topographical as well as ecclesiastical history. Documents from both collections will be on display.

Papers by:

• Ken Fincham (University of Kent) on the ‘Clergy of the Church of England Database’
• Catherine Richardson (University of Kent) on the early modern household
• Timothy Brittain-Catlin (University of Kent) on Queen Anne’s Bounty
• Celia Heritage (Ancestry Progenealogists) on Wills and Probate Records for the family historian
• Sheila Sweetinburgh (Canterbury Christ Church University) on lay piety in late medieval Kent
• Paula Woolf (Trinity College Cambridge) on the involvement of women in early modern disputes over tithe.

9 October 2019

Maidstone on Film

Location: Archbishop's Palace

Time: 7pm

Price: £12 (includes refreshments)

This special programme takes us on an archive film tour of Maidstone and district from the 1930s to the 1960s. The films, all drawn from the collection of Screen Archive South East (SASE), feature:

• the parade of Maidstone industries led by the Mayor of Maidstone, Councillor G. Tyrwhitt Drake (c. 1930)
• auctioneers at work at the livestock market (1932)
• the River Medway and its course through Aylesford Bridge, Allington Lock and East Farleigh (c. 1935)
• a visit to Harold Potter, the miller at Chegworth Watermill (1946)
• the Kent Show of 1951 (in colour) at Mote Park
• the work of the Maidstone and District Motor Services
• street scenes and landmarks from the 1960s.

Many of these films have never been seen before in public. SASE works in partnership with Kent Archives to collect, preserve, digitise, research and promote moving images made in Kent and the region. This show is presented by SASE and Kent Archives and Dr Frank Gray of SASE provides it with a commentary.

21 October 2019

James Lloyd: The White Horse of Kent

Location: Kent History and Library Centre

Time: 1pm - 2pm

Price: free

The White Horse is the ubiquitous symbol of the county but what exactly does it mean and for how long has it been used?

James Lloyd gained a Cambridge doctorate for research into local government in Anglo-Saxon England. He currently combines roles as an archivist at the Kent History and Library Centre and Librarian at Aylesford Priory.

28 October 2019

Paul Cullen: Kent Inn Names

Location: Kent History and Library Centre

Time: 1pm - 2pm

Price: free

Paul considers fresh research in this follow-up to an earlier talk on how Kent alehouses, inns and pubs got their names.

Paul Cullen is the English Place-Name Society’s editor for the Survey of Kent. His academic background is in historical linguistics, especially Old English, Old Scandinavian, and Old French. He is known to dozens as the folk troubadour, Paul Carbuncle.