My-Parish » Forum - Parish News

CALL FOR PAPERS: The urban parish in the pre-industrial era

Beat Kümin — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 19:02:51 GMT

We are seeking contributions of high academic quality for the forthcoming 2027 issue of Fascicle 2 of Roczniki Humanistyczne – History: The urban parish in the pre-industrial era. The thematic scope mainly covers the following issues:

Identity of the urban community: the relationship of the foundation of the city or town and of the parish, the accompanying reorganisation of parish structures, the role of the parish in building the urban commune and in maintaining the urban status of the weakest centres, the extent of the parish district and the city, the main parish and religion civique, the Corpus Christi procession.
The community around the parish: the parish priest and the matter of his residence, vicars and commissaries, sacristan, school rector, cantor, organist, bellringer; vitrici ecclasiae - their origins, education, ties to the city/town; the extent of the social influence of the city/town through the parish: suburbs and villages in the urban parish district, school and hospital.
The parish: the church building and its immediate surroundings, its care, fabbrica ecclesiae, the administration, legations and foundations shaping the sacred space, burials in the parish and the parish cemetery.
The parish in municipal law and the city in canon law, tensions and disputes of competence between municipal and ecclesiastical authorities; patronage (especially bourgeois and communal).
Parish structures of a multi-faith city, spatial relationships and their dynamics, the change of denomination of the parish, its continuity and relationship with the city/town.

We accept only unpublished papers of high academic quality, reserving the right to preselect articles in terms of both subject matter and editorial content. Contributions, which should follow the Chicago citation style (with footnotes) and not exceed 30,000 characters in length (including abstract and references), should be submitted via the Open Journal System.

Languages: English or Polish.
Deadline for submission: 31 January 2026.
Address for correspondence: Dr. Habil. Marek Słoń, Associate Professor; marek.slon@kul.pl

Publication of the Deposition Books of the Archdeaconry of Chichester

Beat Kümin — Mon, 19 May 2025 07:39:32 GMT

The Sussex Record Society is proud to announce that its project to publish material from the Deposition Books of the Archdeaconry of Chichester (Ep. I/11) for the period 1557 to 1694, (some 22 volumes), together with associated material for the peculiars of Chichester (Ep. III/5 - 3 volumes covering 1607-77), and Pagham and Tarring (Ep. IV/3 -2 volumes covering 1611-1661), to be supplemented by stray depositions to be found in Ep. I/15 and elsewhere is now nearing completion.

Our excellent volunteers, Linda Robertson and Kim Fleming, have transcribed the material in full and there are currently 22 volumes available online on the Sussex Record Society website under SRS Digital Editions: the Depositions series (https://www.sussexrecordsociety.org/chichester-archdeaconry-depositions/).

The material consists of witness statements drawn up for use in instance cases brought before the Chichester diocesan Consistory Court over the period in question. These provide rich data on economic, social and cultural history, cover all the parishes of the archdeaconry, and yet have been relatively neglected by local historians owing to difficulties in reading the script and the mixture of Latin and English employed by the scribes. The cases cover testamentary business, tithe disputes, matrimonial problems, and defamation – a wonderful spread for family historians – and they cover a long time period.

This project highlights the strength of the diocesan collection held at the West Sussex Record Office, and the Sussex Record Society is to be congratulated on becoming the first county record society to publish such a complete set of material for the use of local historians everywhere and those interested in the work of the church courts. We hope that making this material available online will encourage research on topics raised and the society would appreciate comments on the project from all users.

Statement supplied by Dr Andrew Foster on behalf of the SRS, May 2025

Stanford in the Vale Churchwardens' Accounts 1552-1705

Joseph Chick — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 19:46:23 GMT

Berkshire Record Society is pleased to announce its latest publication, Stanford in the Vale Churchwardens' Accounts 1552-1705, edited by Joan Diles, and to offer to members of this group the volume at £22.50 post included, a saving of £5 on the usual price including postage. Further details are in the attached flyer. Please contact the General Editor, Prof Anne Curry, to place an order (a.e.curry@soton.ac.uk).

Attachments (follow link to download)

stanford_in_the_vale_churchwardens_accounts_1552-1705.pdf (1.1 MB)

Berkswell Beer Festival

Beat Kümin — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 08:54:18 GMT

Friday 1 December 2023 from 7pm at the Jordan Room of St John the Baptist church in Berkswell (Warwickshire), CV7 7BJ.

For details see the attached flyer

ALL WELCOME

Attachments (follow link to download)

berkswell_beer_festival_detail_notice_23_10_19.pdf (294 KB)

St Saviour, Southwark

Beat Kümin — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 13:45:05 GMT

Many My-Parish members will be interested in webpages dedicated to St Saviour parish at Southwark we have just been alerted to. They feature transcriptions and commentary on a wide range of records, including overseers reports, token books, vestry minutes etc: https://stsaviour.folger.edu/index.html.

The site contacts Alan H Nelson (ahnelson@berkeley.edu) or William Ingram (ingram@umich.edu) welcome any comments and suggestions.

Call for papers - University of Coimbra, 10-12 July 2023

Joseph Chick — Sat, 28 Jan 2023 21:24:43 GMT

International Conference

What survives after death? Parish Communities and Death Commemoration Strategies in the Medieval City

University of Coimbra, 10-12 July 2023

CALL FOR PAPERS OPEN UNTIL JANUARY 31

read all the details here

Attachments (follow link to download)

cfp_commemortis_conference2023_eng.docx (98 KB)
commemortis_cartaza1-congresso-digital.jpg (2.8 MB)

Late 16 / 17thC Communion Table at SS Simon & Jude, Bramdean, Hampshire

Beat Kümin — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 17:39:11 GMT

While ‘church crawling’ on September 30, 2022, My-Parish member Hàìghlèàgh Winslade (School of History & Archaeology, University of Winchester) came across what appears to be a late sixteenth, or seventeenth century Communion table placed against the east wall of the south transept of SS Simon & Jude in Bramdean, Hampshire. Pevsner Hampshire Winchester and the North considers this table to be a “Credence Table made up with parts of the former C17 communion rails” (Bullen et al 2010:190). Hàìghlèàgh Winslade, believes that this table is most likely a genuine Communion table either late sixteenth century or seventeenth century rather than a Credence Table constructed at a later date from seventeenth century altar rails, and is looking to build a typology of late sixteenth century / seventeenth century Communion Tables to help her with her research about this table and would be happy to hear of examples of early modern Communion Tables from forum members.

Bullen, Michael, et al, The Buildings of England Hampshire Winchester & the North, Yale University Press (London, 2010)

Attachments (follow link to download)

ct_1.jpg (45 KB)
ct_2.jpg (143 KB)

Video of Tamara Scheer Paper on 'Language Diversity'

Beat Kümin — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 14:11:58 GMT

Please find a video recording of Tamara's paper 'Language Diversity and Roman Catholic Dioceses in k.k. Austria (1867-1914)' online at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIZKUzc1JX8&list=PL6LVANs14jdcMFlU_cFN9B2yqB6zAabaG

It was presented at the international conference "The theory and practice of non-territorial autonomy in Europe: a historical perspective", University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 15-17 September 2022.

PhD Studentship Opportunity - The Lord Leycester Hospital

Beat Kümin — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 13:45:37 GMT

Applications now open for fully-funded PhD Studentship (fees and maintenance) with the Lord Leycester Hospital

Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD studentship (fees and maintenance) to be held at the Department of History, University of Warwick and the Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick. The studentship is funded through the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership and will start in October 2023. The Department of History has partnered with the Lord Leycester Hospital to offer a project on ‘Almshouse, Guild and Town Community: The Lord Leycester Hospital in its Urban Setting’. In addition to the PhD research the successful candidate will also gain experience and training in contributing to outreach and public engagement activities, including developing an exhibition.

In 2020, the Hospital secured a 3.8 million National Lottery Grant for restoration of the Grade I and II listed buildings, along with other improvements and engagement activities. This will include the creation of four new museum and exhibition spaces exploring and showcasing the Hospital’s 700-year history.

The project will be supervised jointly by Dr Naomi Pullin (Warwick), Professor Beat Kümin (Warwick), and Dr Heidi Meyer (Master of the Lord Leycester Hospital). For more information about the project please contact Naomi Pullin (naomi.pullin@warwick.ac.uk) or Beat Kümin (b.kumin@warwick.ac.uk) and visit: https://www.midlands4cities.ac.uk/find-a-project/. Applications need to reach the University of Warwick by 11 January 2023: https://www.midlands4cities.ac.uk/apply/.

Leicestershire Wills

Beat Kümin — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 08:18:49 GMT

A guest user has alerted us to the fact that all Leicestershire testaments/last wills before 1520 are currently being transcribed at:

http://www.historicalresources.myzen.co.uk/medleicsdocs.pdf

You can find the source texts in the second part of the document.

This is work in progress and new items will be added frequently for 1516-20.

Re: WELCOME TO MY-PARISH !

A guest user — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 17:15:38 GMT

This post has been deleted.

Re: WELCOME TO MY-PARISH !

A guest user — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 17:13:06 GMT

This post has been deleted.

Lecture & Masterclass on Memory (Brussels 10-11 November 2022)

Beat Kümin — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 08:58:43 GMT

Are you interested in pre-modern memory and able to come to Brussels? Join Beat Kümin for a lecture (Thursday 10 November 2022 at 11 am) and masterclass (Friday 11 November, 12-4.30 pm) at the Vrije Universiteit. The former is open to all, the latter intended for postgraduate students or early career researchers who would like to discuss their ongoing work in an informal atmosphere. These events are co-organized by the VUB research group Historical Research into Urban Transformation Processes (HOST) with the N.W. Posthumus Institute and the Fernandes Fellowship scheme of the University of Warwick. For further details please see the attachments. Hope to see you there!

Attachments (follow link to download)

masterclass_call_for_participation_final.docx (1011 KB)
public_lecture_brussels_final.docx (286 KB)

Coventry Medieval Treasures Self-Guided Tour

Joseph Chick — Tue, 17 May 2022 07:16:34 GMT

Medieval Coventry has just released Coventry’s Medieval Treasures, a free self-guided tour of the city.

The tour:

• presents ‘then’ and ‘now’ images to reveal the medieval streets and buildings as depicted by artists and engravers
• introduces the people associated with the city – from townsfolk and merchants to nobility and royalty, and everyone in between
• unearths some of the medieval artefacts recently discovered by archaeologists
• tells the story of how Coventry became an important royal residence for King Henry VI and Queen Margaret of Anjou in the 1450s
• reveals exquisite documents that provide a fascinating insight into the social, working, religious and administrative life of the city’s inhabitants.

Accessing the tour:

• Download the tour on to a smartphone or tablet:

https://tours.medievalcoventry.co.uk/

It will run offline without the need for Internet access.
• Find your way to the Metropolis Restaurant on Earl Street to begin.
• Use the attached map or the one online, following the route and pausing at the Stopping Points.

The tour can also be used remotely on a computer PC.

Attachments (follow link to download)

tours-medieval-treasures-map.pdf (887 KB)
coventry_medieval_treasures_side_1.pdf (1.9 MB)
coventry_medieval_treasures_side_2.pdf (1.3 MB)

Re: Database on Pluckley

A guest user — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 11:10:25 GMT

Hi Kaye,

The suggestions other users have made are terrific. I wonder if you've considered using Wikidata to help manage your information and then build a custom website for your public-facing resource?

We've developed a workflow on how to do this on the Mapping the Scottish Reformation project. I've also been playing with the idea of a platform that aggregates parish records across mainland Britain.

I've created the following demos to show what's possible:

Data exported from Wikidata and then formatted automatically into a basic table:

http://earlymoderndigital.atwebpages.com/blob.html

Data exported from Wikidata and then formatted into a custom map using Leaflet:

http://earlymoderndigital.atwebpages.com/Wales.html

Data queried and visualised in Wikidata:

https://w.wiki/4qyv

The technical innovation here is that Wikidata does the heavy lifting (data management etc) and you build the (often lightweight) UI.

I look forward to seeing how your project develops!

All the best,

Chris R. Langley

Re: Database on Pluckley

A guest user — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 22:14:45 GMT

This is our database on our website www.pirtonhistory.org.uk. We have a people database which we have linked to our houses. We have put our 18c overseer’s accounts into excel but they are not in the database yet

http://search.pirtonhistory.org.uk/results.aspx

Thistleton in Rutland

A guest user — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 08:14:19 GMT

Hi, my name is Sue Hughes and I am a new member. I live in lovely Rutand and am a keen local historian currently studying for an MA at Leicester University.

During lockdown, I started writing the Thistleton Stories recording the village's history, everything from the 1811 Cribbs/ Molineux Boxing Match to the consequences of the Hearth Tax. Tiny Thistleton is lucky to have a lot of history, including the site of a Roman Temple!

My special interest is how and why religious nonconformity spread in Rutland during the period 1547 - 1665 and I would welcome any thoughts or comments from members who have looked at this subject within there own areas.

Finally, the Thistleton Stories are available to read/pick up in St Nicholas Church Thistleton, which is in itself well worth a visit if your visiting Rutland. Coffee and homemade cake is served every Saturday from 11am.

Re: Index of Parish Registers

A guest user — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 13:04:43 GMT

Thanks for this, Joe. Interestingly, the parish lists on Valerie's CW page are actually provided by Wikidata: the connected service I've been using to capture a lot of this data. It should mean that the CW data can be added to this dataset without much trouble.

It could then be visualised in various ways.

To quote the film "Jaws": we may need a bigger boat...

Re: Index of Parish Registers

Joseph Chick — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 10:06:02 GMT

Thanks, Chris. This is looking like a really useful project. Perhaps it could be combined with Valerie Hitchman's churchwardens' accounts database at some point so that it could map both parish registers and churchwardens' accounts:

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/myparish/projects/cwa/#Using

Index of Parish Registers

A guest user — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 14:21:10 GMT

Hello all,

I am a longtime lurker on the MyParish forum, but first-time poster. I have been working on a digital version of Phillimore's Atlas of parish registers. As a test, I have entered all of Phillimore's data on indexes for parishes in Wales into a service called Wikidata (an open repository for linked data), exported the results and built a custom map showing the locations of, and dates covered by, the parish registers.

You can find the very first demo of this website at this link:

http://earlymoderndigital.atwebpages.com/Records.html

There are several ideas behind this project:

1. To establish a fully searchable index of parish records in mainland Britain

2. To visualise the data found in sources like Phillimore and perhaps local archive catalogues

3. To make use of Wikidata as an open repository for parish-based information: allowing for spin-off projects that can use data collected by others

Ideally, I'd like to extend this project by entering all of Phillimore's data into Wikidata and then moving on to include more detailed information from local archival catalogues.

If members of the forum have any ideas on what features might be useful in this project, or if you'd like to get involved in a spinoff project that use the same techniques, please reply. I hope this website, and the data structures I am using, can be the basis for a number of projects that might be of interest to members.

I hope members of the forum see the value in these first baby steps!

All the best,

Chris R. Langley

Newman University, Birmingham