Durham University

Graduate Student, Archaeology

Other Affiliations: Durham University, Combined Honours
University of York, Archaeology
University of York, Art History

PhD student and Tutor in departments of Archaeology and Combined Honours

Castle (University College)

Thesis Title: Kings, Commoners and Communities: 'Sensing' the Pilgrimage Experience of the English Medieval Church c. 1170-1550

About

After receiving a Distinction in the MA in Buildings Archaeology, which followed a BA(Hons) in History of Art, both from the University of York, I am now a third-year PhD student within the department of archaeology at Durham University, for which I am a current BAA Ochs Scholar and was the recipient of the 2011 Society for Church Archaeology Research Grant.

My thesis uses an innovative interdisciplinary approach to examine how the visual and tangible infrastructure of cult churches were received from three individual perspectives: royalty, laity and a parochial society; a comparison which has, as yet, escaped scholarly attention. It views the experience through the senses of the pilgrim, both king and peasant, as they embark upon the culmination of their journey: the visit to the shrine. Based on the principles of recent socio-anthropological and archaeological analyses on the sensory culture of the past, the research provides an alternative socio-sensual ‘embodied’ approach to illustrate how the medieval ‘pilgrimage experience’ was socially constructed for and by a diverse range of ritual participants, whilst arguing against the suggestion that social status was removed during mass ritualistic devotion. The four major pilgrimage churches: Durham Cathedral-Priory, York Minster, Canterbury Cathedral and St Neot Parish Church, Cornwall – each conducted individually, standing as a case study of a specific component in the larger discussion of the experience of late-medieval sacred space – allow for a comparison of Northern and Southern pilgrimage churches, and saints of local, national and even international reverence.

I am a tutor of various modules for the BA and MA in Archaeology, as well as the Combined Honours module 'Perspectives in Human Nature'. I was the 2010-11 elected Secretary to University College MCR and held the position of Secretary and PR Officer to the Durham Medieval Archaeologists 2010 committee.

Also, I was the 2010 Panel of the Month author for vidimus.org showcasing my specialism in medieval stained glass.

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