Sheila Sweetinburgh

Lecturer in Medieval & Early Modern Studies; Co-Director of the Centre for Kent History & Heritage

I have taught at Canterbury Christ Church University at undergraduate and postgraduate levels for over fifteen years. As Co-Director of CKHH, I organise the annual History Weekends as well as other public engagement events showcasing new research in history and allied fields. I have been involved in several funded research projects since 2000 and currently, among other projects, I am working on a 3-year funded project on Kent's Maritime Communities with Dr Craig Lambert (University of Southampton).

I began lecturing in medieval and early modern history at the University of Kent in 1995, and continue to offer a postgraduate option module in the MEMS Taught MA there. In the early 2010s, I taught at the University of Huddersfield. I have been lecturing at Canterbury Christ Church University for well over fifteen years to undergraduates and postgraduates, including supervising doctoral students.

My main research interests focus on medieval and early Tudor urban society, especially the period c.1350 to c.1550. Using microhistory and theoretical approaches from social anthropology and historical geography, I have undertaken a wide variety of thematic investigations relating to those below the elite. These studies have involved research into areas such as material culture, migration, pragmatic literacy and affective piety employing the exceptionally rich archival sources for Canterbury and the Cinque Ports. I have also undertaken studies on medieval peasant society, the agrarian strategies of the great monastic landlords and maritime communities.Among the research projects I am currently involved in are the Leverhulme-funded Gough Map project, the Lossenham Project and the 3-year funded 'Kent's Maritime Communities' project, the latter involving the allied supervision of two doctoral research students, one full-time and one part-time.

Research Projects

'The place and role of women in medieval Canterbury and its hinterland, c.1150-c.1300'. Researcher(s): Ms Tracey Dessoy. Supervisor(s): Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Dr Astrid Stilma, Professor Thomas Hennessey. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Civilisation, Power and Knowledge in early modern East Kent: an analysis of discourse and transgression of social and cultural practice in the Cinque Ports c.1600-c.1640. Researcher(s): Mr Jason Mazzocchi. Supervisor(s): Dr Dave Hitchcock, Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Different Voices: Parochial Charity in the Medway Valley 1660 - 1840. Researcher(s): Mr Peter Joyce. Supervisor(s): Dr Dave Hitchcock, Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Doctoral Research Project. Researcher(s): Dr Lily Hawker-Yates. Supervisor(s): Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Dr Lesley Hardy. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
Off the ration: Exploring the alternative food sources available to families in Kent during the Second World War.. Researcher(s): Mrs JACIE COLE. Supervisor(s): Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Dr Simon Prince. [Postgraduate Research Project]
St Thomas Becket in Late Medieval England: Laurence Wade’s ‘Life of Becket’ and its place in English History and Literature, 1450-1530. Researcher(s): Mr Michael Byrne. Supervisor(s): Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Dr Claire Bartram. [Postgraduate Research Project]
The Emotional Life of the Poor in England between 1600 and 1800: How did the poor cope with poverty?. Researcher(s): Mrs Elizabeth Burton. Supervisor(s): Dr Dave Hitchcock, Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh. [Postgraduate Research Project]
The suppression of several of Kent’s monastic houses during Cardinal Wolsey’s asset-stripping ‘Little Dissolution’ (1520s). A critical study of three religious houses: Tonbridge, Bayham and Lesnes.. Researcher(s): Mrs Jane Richardson. Supervisor(s): Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Dr Claire Bartram. [Postgraduate Research Project]
The use and development of the Maison Dieu, Dover and its significance to the crown, port and local community 1450-1606.. Researcher(s): Ms Kieron Hoyle. Supervisor(s): Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Dr Claire Bartram. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Tonbridge: the evolution of a town 1250 to 1700. Researcher(s): Mrs Maureen McLeod. Supervisor(s): Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Dr Claire Bartram. [Postgraduate Research Project]

As a consequence of my research interests and knowledge of medieval and early modern Kent, as well as my consultancy work for various archaeological and other bodies, I am on the Advisory Council for Kent Archaeological Society. I am also a Trustee of the Wye Rural Museum Trust and the Oxus Foundation. Such appointments have offered opportunities to engage in organisational activities, including the provision of outreach activities and the provision of research skills to members of KAS and the general public. This experience has been valuable for my recent work for the Centre for Kent History and Heritage that has also involved the creation and organisation of History Weekends, Study Days, Workshops, Conferences and Lectures.
Additionally, I edited two volumes in the Kent History Project: Early Medieval Kent, 800-1220 (2016) and Later Medieval Kent, 1220-1540 (2010), as well as being one of the editors of Maritime Kent through the Ages (2020).
Since 2005 I have been a reviewer for the following history journals: Age of Chaucer Studies, Agricultural History Review, Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies, Journal of British Studies, Social History, Social History of Medicine and Southern History.
Since 2015 I have been a reader for Boydell, Routledge, Manchester University Press and Nottingham Medieval Studies.
I contributed to several projects organised by the 'Christianity and Culture' group, University of York.

Topics of lectures and talks given recently

'Canterbury's Medieval Hospitals and Almshouses'
'Looking to the Past: the St Thomas Pageant in Early Tudor Canterbury'
''Going to Visit': an Imaginary Tour of Sir Peter Buck's House in Seventeenth-Century Rochester'
'Medieval Hospitals in Hythe and in the Kentish Cinque Ports'
'Agricultural Practice in the Medieval Kentish Marshlands'
'Neighbours across the Religious Divide in Henrician Kent'
‘Mayor-making and other civic ceremonies at the Kentish Cinque Ports’
‘Religious women in the landscape: their roles in medieval Canterbury and its hinterland’
‘The pilgrimage experience in late medieval Canterbury’
‘Starting a new life in Ricardian and Henrician Canterbury’
‘Crossing the Channel: immigrant artisans and traders in 15^th-century Canterbury’
‘Pigs in medieval Kent’
‘Pigs, naming practices and symbolic meanings’
‘Seasonal settlers: pig herders in the medieval Kentish dens’

Starting a new life as artisans and traders in Ricardian and Henrician Canterbury (c.1400 and c.1500) Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (30 Jun 2022): Archaeologia Cantiana. [Journal article]
"Ready for to go to the sea": maintaining fishing families in Late Medieval Hythe Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (Oct 2021), Maritime Kent Through The Ages. Woodbridge. [Book chapter]
‘Fat persons bathing whose appearance was most disgusting’: Entertaining Thanet in the Age of Steam Professor Carolyn Oulton, (Oct 2021), Maritime Kent Through the Ages: Gateway to the Sea. [Book chapter]
More continuity than change: Kent's Tudor almshouses Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2021): Southern History. [Journal article]
Parish Clergy Wives in Elizabethan England, by Anne Thompson Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (27 Feb 2021, 17 Jun 2021): The English Historical Review. [Journal article]
Community care: civic charitable institutions in the Kentish Cinque Ports, c.1300-c.1500 Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (Jun 2020): Archaeologia Cantiana. [Journal article]
'Writing the town in mid-fifteenth-century Sandwich: the contribution of John Serle, common clerk' Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, Kentish Book Culture: Writing and reading in the Provinces 1400-1660. [Book chapter]
Fishermen and their families in late medieval and Tudor Kent Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, The Routledge Research Companion to Marine and Maritime Worlds, 1400-1800: Oceans in Global History and Culture. [Book chapter]
Neighbours across the religious divide: coping with difference in Henrician Kent Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, The Experience of Neighbourliness in Europe, c.1000-1600. [Book chapter]
Religious women in the landscape: their roles in medieval Canterbury and its hinterland Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (15 Nov 2018), Gender: Places, Spaces and Thresholds. London. [Book chapter]
Shepsters, Hucksters and other Businesswomen: female involvement in Canterbury's fifteenth-century economy Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (01 Jul 2017): Archaeologia Cantiana. [Journal article]
Those who marched with Faunt: reconstructing the Canterbury rebels of 1471 Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (Dec 2017). [Journal article]
Early medieval Kent, 800-1220, (2016). Woodbridge. [Book]
Farming the Kentish marshlands: continuity and change in the late Middle Ages Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (Feb 2016), Custom and Commercialisation in English Rural Society: Revisiting Tawney and Postan. Hatfield. [Book chapter]
Looking to the past: the St Thomas Pageant in early Tudor Canterbury Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (Jun 2016): Archaeologia Cantiana. [Journal article]
A tale of two mazers: negotiating relationships at Kentish medieval hospitals' Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (Jun 2015): Archaeologia Cantiana. [Journal article]
The economic impact of the Reformation on two Canterbury parishes Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2015), Views from the Parish: Churchwardens' Accounts c.1500-c.1800. Newcastle. [Book chapter]
Placing the hospital: the production of St Lawrence's hospital registers in fifteenth-century Canterbury Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2014), The Fifteenth Century XIII: Exploring the Evidence: Commemoration, Administration and the Economy. Woodbridge. [Book chapter]
To move the mind: scenes from Christ's life on Faversham's painted pillar Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2014), Devotional Culture in Late Medieval England and Europe. Turnhout. [Book chapter]
What's in a name? Exploring the use of 'Creature' as a Christian name in early modern Kent Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2014): Archaeologia Cantiana. [Journal article]
''With the consent of the towne, and other skillfull marryners and gentlemen': An examination of textual negotiations in the Elizabethan restoration of Dover Harbour 1582-1605. Dr Claire Bartram, Negotiating the Political in Northern European Urban Society, c.1400-1600. [Book chapter]
'With the consent of the towne, and other skillfull marryners and gentlemen': an examination of textual negotiations in the Elizabethan restoration of Dover Harbour 1582-1605, (2013), Negotiating the Political in Northern European Urban Society, c.1400-1600. Tempe, Arizona, USA. [Book chapter]
Canterbury's martyred archbishop: the 'cult' of Simon Sudbury and relations between city and cathedral Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2013), Monuments and Monumentality across Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Donington. [Book chapter]
Discord in the public arena: processes and meanings of the St Bartholomew's day festivities in early sixteenth-century Sandwich Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2013), Negotiating the Political in Northern European Urban Society, c.1400-c.1600. Tempe, Arizona. [Book chapter]
Pilgrimage in 'an Age of Plague': Seeking Canterbury's 'hooly blisful martir' in 1420 and 1470 Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2013), The Fifteenth Century XII: Society in an Age of Plague. Woodbridge. [Book chapter]
Anglo-Saxon saints and a Norman archbishop: 'imaginative memory' and institutional identity at St Gregory's Priory, Canterbury Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2012), The Regular Canons in the Medieval British Isles. Turnhout. [Book chapter]
Caught in the cross-fire: patronage and institutional politics in late twelfth-century Canterbury Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2011), Cathedrals, Communities and Conflict in the Anglo-Norman World. Woodbridge. [Book chapter]
Hythe's butcher-graziers: townsmen in the late medieval English countryside Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2011), New Directions in Local History since Hoskins. Hatfield. [Book chapter]
The social structure of New Romney as revealed in the 1381 Poll Tax returns Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2011): Archaeologia Cantiana. [Journal article]
'My painted chamber' and other rooms: Stephen Hulkes and the history of Calico House, Newnham Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2010): Archaeologia Cantiana. [Journal article]
Kentish hospitals during the late Middle Ages Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2010), Later Medieval Kent, 1220-1540. Woodbridge. [Book chapter]
Kentish towns: urban culture and the parish in later medieval Kent Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2010), Later Medieval Kent, 1220-1540. Woodbridge. [Book chapter]
Overcoming disaster? Farming practices on Christ Church Priory's marshland manors in the early 14th century Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2010), Romney Marsh: Persistence and Change in a Coastal Lowland. Sevenoaks. [Book chapter]
Remembering the dead at dinner-time Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2010), Everyday Objects: Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture and its Meanings. Aldershot. [Book chapter]
Eternal town servants: civic elections and the Stuppeny tombs of New Romney and Lydd Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2009), Negotiating Heritage: Memories of the Middle Ages. Turnhout. [Book chapter]
The Austin Friars in late medieval Canterbury: negotiating spaces Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2008), Monasteries and Society in the British Isles in the Later Middle Ages. Woodbridge. [Book chapter]
Royal patrons and local benefactors: the experiences of the hospitals of St Mary at Ospringe and Dover in the thirteenth century Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2007), Religious and Laity in Western Europe 1000-1400: Interaction, Negotiation, and Power. Turnhout. [Book chapter]
The poor, hospitals and charity in sixteenth-century Canterbury Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2007), Pieties in Transition: Religious Practices and Experiences c.1400-1640. Aldershot. [Book chapter]
Mayor-making and other ceremonies: shared uses of sacred space among the Kentish Cinque Ports Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2006), The Use and Abuse of Sacred Places in Late Medieval Towns. Leuvan. [Book chapter]
Strategies of inheritance among Kentish fishing communities in the later Middle Ages Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2006, Jan 2012): The History of the Family. [Journal article]
The Archangel Gabriel's stone and other relics: William Haute's serach for salvation in fifteenth-century Kent Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2006): Archaeologia Cantiana. [Journal article]
Clothing the naked in late medieval Kent Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2004), Clothing Culture, 1300-1600. Aldershot. [Book chapter]
The role of the hospital in medieval England: gift-giving and the spiritual economy Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2004). Dublin. [Book]
Wax, stone and iron: Dover's town defences in the later Middle Ages Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2004): Archaeologia Cantiana. [Journal article]
Joining the sisters: female inmates in the late medieval hospitals of east Kent Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2003): Archaeologia Cantiana. [Journal article]
Supporting the Canterbury hospitals: benefaction and the language of charity in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, (2002): Archaeologia Cantiana. [Journal article]

People search

Contact me

sheila.sweetinburgh@canterbury.ac.uk

01227921690

Based in

Faculty of Arts Humanities and Education

School of Humanities and Educational Studies

Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh

Research Projects

Topics of lectures and talks given recently

Contact me

Based in

Applicants and Students

General

Legal