The Kent Archaeological Society hosted a talk by Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh on the painted medieval church pillar in the Kent town of Faversham.
Posted Sun, 14 Mar 2021
Church wall paintings are frequently the preserve of art historians, but such material culture is also valuable for those who study the lives of ordinary people in the Middle Ages. Here I’m going to be looking at Faversham’s ‘remarkable’ early 14th-century painted pillar to explore what it may have offered those of the town in spiritual terms, which in turn may help us to understand issues concerning late medieval piety. Additionally, this presentation considers the pillar’s creation following a period of conflict in Faversham’s history, another aspect of urban life that has parallels elsewhere in the county.
Open on YouTube→
Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh is Co-Director of the Centre for Kent History and Heritage at CCCU and a Specialist Associate Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Kent. She edited Early and Later Medieval Kent as part of the Kent History Project series and is one of the editors for Maritime Kent through the Ages, to be published this year. She has published widely on medieval and Tudor Kent topics using a microhistory approach, exploring themes from civic ritual to mazer bowls and much inbetween.