During the late mediaeval period England witnessed the innovative introduction of brick as a high status building material. Used almost exclusively by elite patrons, much inspiration was gathered from brick buildings in mainland Europe. These architectural ideas were driven by widespread networks connected to itinerant brickmakers, the Teutonic Order and, especially, the Hanseatic League. On encountering these radical new ideas in building from the German, Dutch and Baltic states, English architecture was never quite the same again…
The speaker, James Wright (Triskele Heritage), is an award winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period.
This recording is a memorial lecture in honour of Mike Stillman-Lowe.
The event originally took place via Zoom on Wednesday 6 October 2021 .
Errata: During this talk the speaker incorrectly notes that Eton is in Surrey – it is, of course, in Berkshire 🙂
With the onset of Britain’s third covid-19 lockdown within a year, Triskele Heritage will be stepping up to try and provide some (hopefully) entertaining and informative free public talks. The weekly lockdown lectures will feature the fruits of our research so you can be sure that the content will all be bang up to date!
Each week we will host a lockdown lecture freely accessible to anyone with a web connection via Zoom. All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.
This will be the very last talk in the series. Please note that it takes place on a Wednesday rather than our usual Thursday. This is to avoid a clash with another client event.
Due to our licensing agreement with Zoom tickets for each event will be limited to 495 places. If you cannot make it after booking, please do return your ticket so that someone else can enjoy the talk instead.
Please note that this is a live event only and there will not be a recording of the talk available afterwards.
If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.
More information on the talk
An assessment and analysis of how stonemasons worked with their patrons to create meaningful imagery upon buildings which can give us a unique insight into the mediaeval mind. By looking at both sacred and secular architecture we can begin to understand the fascinating, disturbing and sometimes comedic messages imparted to the viewer. Ideas connected to religious texts, morality, lordship, politics and personal identity are covered as we explore how one simple image may have many complex meanings…
The speaker, James Wright (Triskele Heritage) is an award winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period.
*** If you are having any problems accessing the lecture then please email james@triskeleheritage.com and we will aim to resolve any issues 🙂 ***
Going to the toilet is an everyday event for literally everyone that has ever lived. However, there has been a prudish reticence among architectural specialists to research and present the archaeology of this apparently ordinary practice. Despite this, there is a wealth of data which can be drawn upon to explain the latrinal habits of people in the mediaeval period.
This data is not just limited to the functional – Where in the building were the privies located? What did they look like? How they were kept clean? There are a whole host of other considerations: What were the mediaeval attitudes towards going to the toilet? Who was allowed to access the garderobe? What were the social implications of doing so? How were privies used to promote notions of elite prestige? This talk will plumb all of these depths…
The lecture is a brand new presentation given as as an addendum to the Triskele Heritage Lockdown Lectures which ran from January-May 2021. As it is a bespoke piece written especially for this event we will be asking for crowd-funded donations to help cover the time spent in writing the talk 🙂
All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.
The event will take place at 17:00BST on Thursday 17 June 2021 .
Due to our licensing agreement with Zoom tickets for each event will be limited to 495 places. If you cannot make it after booking, please do return your ticket so that someone else can enjoy the talk instead.
Please note that this is a live event only and there will not be a recording of the talk available afterwards.
If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.
With the onset of Britain’s third covid-19 lockdown within a year, Triskele Heritage will be stepping up to try and provide some (hopefully) entertaining and informative free public talks. The weekly lockdown lectures will feature the fruits of our research so you can be sure that the content will all be bang up to date!
Each week we will host a lockdown lecture freely accessible to anyone with a web connection via Zoom. All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.
Due to our licensing agreement with Zoom tickets for each event will be limited to 495 places. If you cannot make it after booking, please do return your ticket so that someone else can enjoy the talk instead.
Please note that this is a live event only and there will not be a recording of the talk available afterwards.
If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.
More information on the talk
We think of open fires as simple and practical areas of buildings – intended to provide heat, light and something to cook food on. However, in the late mediaeval period the carved sculpture of fireplaces offered an opportunity to demonstrate family connections, sacred messages and political allegiances at a time of growing civil unrest. Using examples from a variety of castles, houses and religious buildings, this talk builds up to a discussion on the use of fireplaces as a vehicle for showing partisan loyalties during the Wars of the Roses.
The speaker, James Wright (Triskele Heritage) is an award winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period.
With the onset of Britain’s third covid-19 lockdown within a year, Triskele Heritage will be stepping up to try and provide some (hopefully) entertaining and informative free public talks. The weekly lockdown lectures will feature the fruits of our research so you can be sure that the content will all be bang up to date!
Each week we will host a lockdown lecture freely accessible to anyone with a web connection via Zoom. All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.
Due to our licensing agreement with Zoom tickets for each event will be limited to 495 places. If you cannot make it after booking, please do return your ticket so that someone else can enjoy the talk instead.
Please note that this is a live event only and there will not be a recording of the talk available afterwards.
If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.
More information on the talk
The study of buildings archaeology involves the forensic application of techniques to observe, record and analyse the standing remains of historic structures found above-ground. Unpicking the history, functions and phasing of the built environment has been a relatively recent addition to the archaeologist’s toolkit.
Using case studies from across a career spanning over two decades, our speaker James Wright (Triskele Heritage) is an award winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval and early modern periods.
With the onset of Britain’s third covid-19 lockdown within a year, Triskele Heritage will be stepping up to try and provide some (hopefully) entertaining and informative free public talks. The weekly lockdown lectures will feature the fruits of our research so you can be sure that the content will all be bang up to date!
Each week we will host a lockdown lecture freely accessible to anyone with a web connection via Zoom. All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.
Due to our licensing agreement with Zoom tickets for each event will be limited to 495 places. If you cannot make it after booking, please do return your ticket so that someone else can enjoy the talk instead.
Please note that this is a live event only and there will not be a recording of the talk available afterwards.
If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.
More information on the talk
The study of mediaeval castles offers a superb opportunity to utilise the full range of modern archaeological fieldwork techniques. In recent years, many of these incredible buildings have been the subject of widespread research by numerous organisations who have used tactics such as building recording, landscape survey, remote-sensing, fieldwalking, archival research, map regression and excavation to try and understand the archaeology of castles.
Our speaker, James Wright of Triskele Heritage is a an award winning archaeologist has been active in the field of castle studies for over two decades. With experience of fieldwork at sites including Nottingham Castle, Tattershall Castle and the Tower of London, he will use his practical experience to explain how we can approach research into castles during the Anglo-Norman period, late mediaeval age and what happened to these buildings in the post-mediaeval era.
With the onset of Britain’s third covid-19 lockdown within a year, Triskele Heritage will be stepping up to try and provide some (hopefully) entertaining and informative free public talks. The weekly lockdown lectures will feature the fruits of our research so you can be sure that the content will all be bang up to date!
Each week we will host a lockdown lecture freely accessible to anyone with a web connection via Zoom. All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.
Due to our licensing agreement with Zoom tickets for each event will be limited to 495 places. If you cannot make it after booking, please do return your ticket so that someone else can enjoy the talk instead.
Please note that this is a live event only and there will not be a recording of the talk available afterwards.
If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.
More information on the talk
The vast majority of archaeological fieldwork and research in Britain takes place behind the hoardings of commercial development or infrastructure sites and in private offices. It is rare for the public to get a glimpse of the work of the commercial field archaeologists. In this one-off panel session, three professional archaeologists will explain how archaeology works in Britain, what the processes of archaeological excavation are and what happens to the finds once they are taken off for analysis. We will hear from Senior Archaeologists Jessica Bryan (MOLA) and Natasha Billson (Pre-Construct Archaeology) alongside osteoarchaeologist Dr Lauren McIntyre (Oxford Archaeology).
The event will be hosted by James Wright (Triskele Heritage) who is an award winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period.
With the onset of Britain’s third covid-19 lockdown within a year, Triskele Heritage will be stepping up to try and provide some (hopefully) entertaining and informative free public talks. The weekly lockdown lectures will feature the fruits of our research so you can be sure that the content will all be bang up to date!
Each week we will host a lockdown lecture freely accessible to anyone with a web connection via Zoom. All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.
Due to our licensing agreement with Zoom tickets for each event will be limited to 495 places. If you cannot make it after booking, please do return your ticket so that someone else can enjoy the talk instead.
Please note that this is a live event only and there will not be a recording of the talk available afterwards.
If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.
More information on the talk
Using contemporary art and poetry alongside documentary sources and archaeology this lecture unpicks the world of high status parks and gardens in the Mediaeval & Early Modern periods. Whilst ostensibly providing food for the tables of castles and great houses, parks and gardens also had a highly symbolic and ritual element to play in Mediaeval life. This related to a careful stage-management of the natural world to establish landscapes of lordship projecting status and power over the kingdom.
The speaker, James Wright is an award winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period.
With the onset of Britain’s third covid-19 lockdown within a year, Triskele Heritage will be stepping up to try and provide some (hopefully) entertaining and informative free public talks. The weekly lockdown lectures will feature the fruits of our research so you can be sure that the content will all be bang up to date!
Each week we will host a lockdown lecture freely accessible to anyone with a web connection via Zoom. All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.
Due to our licensing agreement with Zoom tickets for each event will be limited to 495 places. If you cannot make it after booking, please do return your ticket so that someone else can enjoy the talk instead.
Please note that this is a live event only and there will not be a recording of the talk available afterwards.
If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.
More information on the talk
Historic buildings specialists often meet folk who are eager to talk about their properties and their enthusiasm is genuinely infectious. We can learn so much of value about a society by what it builds.
However, romanticised and elaborated stories often grow up around certain mysterious features in mediaeval buildings – houses built of ship timbers, crusader graffiti, swordsmen fighting on spiral staircases, leper squints and secret passages – it is surprising how often these get repeated all across the country in so many different structures.
This panel discussion will look at some of the most common misconceptions surrounding historic buildings. The legends will be outlined, the origins of the myths explained and the underlying truth behind each story will be revealed. We hope that the event will help to give a broader and deeper understanding of mediaeval buildings that will bring us just that little bit closer to their former occupants.
Dr Jonathan Foyle is quite obsessed by historic buildings. From an immersive career in conservation, research and curating, he is fortunate to have found ways to share many discoveries and insights into our ancestors’ experiences. He is an award-winning BBC broadcaster, Visiting Professor in Conservation at the University of Lincoln and author of well-received monographs on cathedrals – including Canterbury and Lincoln – he also draws a bit.
Dr Emma Wells defines herself as an academic, author, and broadcaster. She is an ecclesiastical and architectural historian as well as public historian, specialising in the late medieval/early modern English parish church/cathedral, pilgrimage, the cult of saints, and the ‘senses’, as well as built heritage more generally.
Dr Rachel Swallow is focused on interdisciplinary and cross-period research into British fortifications and their landscapes. She has a particular interest in the form and siting of castles of the Irish Sea Region.
James Wright FSA is an award winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period.
With the onset of Britain’s third covid-19 lockdown within a year, Triskele Heritage will be stepping up to try and provide some (hopefully) entertaining and informative free public talks. The weekly lockdown lectures will feature the fruits of our research so you can be sure that the content will all be bang up to date!
Each week we will host a lockdown lecture freely accessible to anyone with a web connection via Zoom. All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.
Due to our licensing agreement with Zoom tickets for each event will be limited to 495 places. If you cannot make it after booking, please do return your ticket so that someone else can enjoy the talk instead.
Please note that this is a live event only and there will not be a recording of the talk available afterwards.
If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.
More information on the talk
This lecture offers a little-regarded alternative viewpoint of life in English mediaeval castles: that of the ordinary folk. Using archaeological evidence gleaned from historic building survey, contemporary literature, artistic representations, and architectural history this talk presents the story of the cooks, clerks, servants, stable-hands and lower status visitors to great castles. Instead of studying towers, gatehouses and great halls here we delve into the kitchens, stables, staircases, cellars and garderobes to uncover evidence of the mediaeval household.
James Wright is an award winning buildings archaeologist who runs the weekly Triskele Heritage Lockdown Lectures. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period.
