The Place of the Late Medieval Church in Ulster
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen's University Belfast
Department Name: Sch of Natural and Built Environment
Abstract
This PhD seeks to ask how local parish churches were used as a means of displaying power and identity
across both the Anglo-Norman and Gaelic-Irish cultures of late medieval Ireland. Adopting a landscape
methodology and taking the archdiocese of Armagh as a case study, it will undertake buildings survey of
surviving parish churches and carry out spatial analyses through Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to assess how communities and lords invested in church building and related to it within the landscape, comparing the Anglo-Norman and Gaelic-Irish territories to analyse the similarities and differences of approach to display power and cultural identity.
across both the Anglo-Norman and Gaelic-Irish cultures of late medieval Ireland. Adopting a landscape
methodology and taking the archdiocese of Armagh as a case study, it will undertake buildings survey of
surviving parish churches and carry out spatial analyses through Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to assess how communities and lords invested in church building and related to it within the landscape, comparing the Anglo-Norman and Gaelic-Irish territories to analyse the similarities and differences of approach to display power and cultural identity.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Fiona Moffett (Student) |
| Description | Placement with Historic Environment Division |
| Organisation | Government of Northern Ireland |
| Department | Department for Communities |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Worked on placement with the Historic Environment Division (HED) to begin a project analysing, recording and cataloguing architectural stone held in HED storage. I also sorted through an archive of records and photographs made by a notable archaeologist, Ann Hamlin, in the 1960s and 70s and created a digital record of these. Furthermore, I assisted with research into a medieval friary site in advance of a publication on its excavation and significance. |
| Collaborator Contribution | HED gave me a great opportunity to develop my skills in architectural analysis and research, and acquire new skills in dealing with archives. They have also given me access to their architectural stone collection, some of which is from ecclesiastical sites that I am studying, to the benefit of my research. |
| Impact | Digital archive of Ann Hamlin's records of archaeological sites (which will eventually be made available to the public). Other outputs are not yet finalised, but will include publication of the excavations of Massereene Friary, and an on-line stone catalogue of architectural stone for Northern Ireland. |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | Conference Paper at Medieval Archaeology Student Colloquium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presented a paper about some of the findings of my research at the Society for Medieval Archaeology's Student Colloquium, which was attended by postgraduates from the UK and elsewhere in Europe. It highlighted archaeological research in Ireland to them (as most were based in England), and demonstrated the value of interdisciplinary research. There was discussion with some afterwards about my work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Conference Paper at Ulster Archaeological Society's Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presented a paper on my research at the Ulster Archaeological Society's annual Discovery Conference, which was attented by academics, professional archaeologists (working for fieldwork units), and the general public. The paper was followed by a number of questions from both the public and academics, and many expressed an interest to hear more about the research, and encouraged me to present again at another conference. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Seminar in Theological College |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presented a seminar to staff and postgraduate students (both UK-based and international) at Union Theological College about my research, which raised interest in the history of churches before the Reformation, and sparked good questions and discussion afterwards about different aspects of this. Some staff have since been in contact with further questions, so it has ignited an interest in the older history of the Church. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |