Thursday 24th October – The Life and Times of Henry I – Professor Stephen Church of Lincoln University 7.00p.m. at the Village Hall (Doors open 6.30) Tickets £7.50 in person, £5 for a zoom link
Henry I: King of England when St Kyneburgha’s Church was being built
We are delighted to welcome Stephen Church to Castor to tell us more about Henry I. He was King of England 1100 to 1135, the youngest son of William the Conqueror. He was born in the ‘purple’, in other words his father had been anointed king and his mother queen before his birth, in either 1068 or 1069. He was the first ’Norman’ member of the ducal family to be born in England, and indeed he was raised here, until he reached adulthood, being knighted by his father at Westminster on 24 May 1086. Henry was, therefore, unusual amongst English kings: no future king of England would be raised in the country until Henry III (born in 1207). In this lecture, Stephen Church will explore some of the key events of Henry’s time as king of England.
Stephen got serious about history from 1995 after completing undergraduate and postgraduate work in London. Between leaving school and becoming an academic historian, he was a bank clerk, a buyer of cardboard boxes and plastic bottles, a labourer, and a housing liaison officer for Camden Council. Today he is director of the Battle conference for Anglo-Norman Studies and edit the annual publication, Anglo-Norman Studies. He is also an associate editor of the journal History.
Thursday 28th November – The Life and Times of John Clare – Dr Sam Ward, Archivist for the John Clare Society – 7.00p.m. at the Village Hall (Doors open 6.30)
Tickets £7.50 in person, £5 for a Zoom link
Born in 1793, John Clare he is now regarded as one of the most important poets of the natural world. He wrote many poems, essays, journals and letters about love, corruption and politics, environmental and social change, poverty and folk life. A talented fiddler, he became, in effect, one of the first collectors of ‘folk’ tunes.
Clare captured the local landscape between Peterborough and Stamford through a substantial transformation of land ownership and management. His perspective remains relevant to us, 200 years on.
We are delighted to welcome Dr Sam Ward to talk to us about John Clare and perhaps some angles which are less discussed.
Sam is an academic at Nottingham Trent University. He is a Trustee and the Archivist for the John Clare Society. He has written extensively on John Clare (1793 – 1864) and the labouring-class tradition and has co-edited the poetry and correspondence of Clare’s “brother bard and fellow labourer” Robert Bloomfield. His work on Clare focuses on questions of ownership and appropriation and on Clare’s abiding interest in sound and song. He is honorary visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Regional Literature. John Clare and Community.
Professor Carenza Lewis – cancelled
Very sorry but the Trust is taking a 12 month break from organising talks..
