Saturday 1st October 2022

The Church Monuments Society and the Ecclesiological Society are holding a joint conference this year which will explore funerals and funeral monuments in the medieval, early modern, and Victorian periods. The distinguished line-up of speakers are all expert in their fields, and much of what is presented at this conference represents new or recent scholarship. Monuments have already received much attention, especially since the establishment of the Church Monuments Society in 1979, but new studies and fresh perspectives nonetheless abound. In contrast, the changing form of funerals through the ages has not received the attention that it deserves. This event will thus play an important role in rectifying this lacuna.

The provisional agenda for the day is as follows:

10.00           Welcome

10.10           Sally Badham: Heraldic Funerals

11.00           Adam White: Funereal Monuments and Monumental Funerals: England in the Early Modern Period

11.50           Coffee break

12.10           Nicholas Orme: Medieval Funerals

13.00           Lunch

14.00           Brian & Moira Gittos: Effigial Commemoration in the Medieval Churchyard.

14.50           Brian Parsons: The Victorian Funeral

15.40           Tea

16.00           Roger Bowdler: Funereal Monuments in the 19th century: echoes of interment in the cemetery tomb

16.50           Close

We hope that you will stay for a glass of wine after the conference.

The conference will be held both in person and live-streamed via Zoom. For those attending in person, the venue will be The St Alban’s Centre, Baldwin’s Gardens, London EC1N 7AB. (The venue can provide disabled access.)

Ticket prices are:

£65 for members of either the Church Monuments Society or the Ecclesiological Society attending in person;

£75 for non-members attending in person;

£35 for those attending via Zoom. (A link for the conference will be circulated shortly before the day of the conference.)

Ticker prices for those attending in person include a cold buffet lunch.

All bookings should be made through the Ecclesiological Society’s Eventbrite page here

The Eventbrite page will be updated with abstracts from the speakers in due course.

The conference will be followed by a short Extraordinary General Meeting of the Ecclesiological Society, members of which will be informed about this separately.