Stone by Stone: Beyond the Ruins of Sawley Abbey
Member Exclusive Lectures
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1h 20m
Michael Carter is a historian and art historian who specialises in monasticism, especially in the late Middle Ages. His primary areas of interest are monastic art and architecture, relics and their veneration, and monastic books and libraries. Michael has lectured and published widely and since joining English Heritage in 2015 has worked on major projects at Battle, Hailes, Rievaulx and Whitby abbeys.
Located on the Yorkshire-Lancashire border, between 1148 and 1536, Sawley Abbey was home to a community of a community of Cistercian monks. Always a mid-ranking house, its ruins lack the fame and beauty of monasteries elsewhere in northern England. However, as Michael will explain, it is possible to read in its architectural, archaeological and artefactual remains how monastic life evolved between the mid 12th and early 16th century, arguably making Sawley one of the most important monastic sites now cared for by English Heritage.
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