Building a Church out of Herring: A 15th-Century Fishing Village.
Wednesday 14th, May 2025.
5:00pm – 6:00pm.
Rewley House,1 Wellington Square,Oxford,OX1 2JA.
FREE.
Join online or in Oxford for this lecture by Dr Tom Johnson, convened by Professor Elizabeth Gemmill and Dr Stephen Mileson.
The fifteenth-century church of Walberswick, a Suffolk fishing village, stands in ruins. Most of it was taken down in the late seventeenth century because it was too big — the nave was said to have enough room for a thousand parishioners — and by this time the village had diminished into poverty. But its size speaks of the wealthy, ambitious herring-fishing community that built it when the village was at its peak. The church was financed largely through a system of “doles”, voluntary payments made by the fishermen, taken from a share of the catch. The dole system was used widely in the east coast fishery, but it is poorly-documented and little understood. But from Walberswick there survives a book kept by the churchwardens, which records the annual “reckoning of the doles”, when the masters of the herring fleet accounted to the parish for their contributions. Drawing on this extraordinary record, this paper explores how the dole system worked and its effects on maritime community in late-medieval England.
This series will be a showcase for the intellectual excitement of the history and archaeology of the medieval period, with a focus on societies, economies and landscapes. It is intended as a venue for friendly and collaborative discussion of research in progress, of sources and methodologies, and of the interface between academic research and local and community history and archaeology. The Middle Ages has sometimes been unfairly dismissed as arcane and unapproachable, yet its sources speak to scholars across academic disciplines who are interested in our rich heritage of documents, material culture, and the landscape. The seminar is aimed at staff and students across the university and interested individuals in the wider community in Oxford, the UK and worldwide.
These talks are open to staff, students, and anyone interested in medieval history and archaeology — locally and globally. Sessions will include a mix of papers by established scholars and practitioners, and shorter presentations and discussions by undergraduate and postgraduate students.
These talks are FREE and accessible either in person at Rewley House or on-line. Please book in advance via Eventbrite.
