The Katherine Swynford Society - Dedicated To Lady Katherine, The Duchess of Lancaster

Forthcoming Events
Home
About Katherine In Brief
The Duke and Duchess of Lancaster's Tomb In St Paul's Cathedral
Katherine Wheel Journal Issue Contents Pages
Marie Stuart Society Commemoration, 5th December 2009
Forthcoming Events
Winchester Cathedral Photos By Rose Amb
Katherine Swynford 2009 Study Day & AGM Photos By Susan Wakefield
Thames London
Membership Options
Committee Members And Contact Details
Privacy statement and other legal statements
Members Area (not yet live)

A listing of planned and provisional forthcoming visits, meetings, talks, lectures and study days. Past events towards the bottom of the page.

Study Day Announced

There is now a provisional date for the next Study Day and AGM of the Society, though these still have to be approved by a Committee of the Cathedral.  See further possible details in the list below.  Should any members of the Society who live in Lincolnshire wish to form a second Local Members Group and assist in the arrangements for the Study Day would you contact Roger Joy.
 
Turning now to the other meetings the following dates, dates after March are provisional and are subject to confirmation.  To book a place for any of these visits, contact Roger Joy (excepted where noted otherwise). If no-one has booked by noon of the preceding day, the visit may be cancelled.  All meetings start at 1 p.m. unless specified otherwise.


Saturday, March 6th , at 2 p.m.: Leicester Castle Tour.

Leicester Castle was one of John of Gaunt's main residences. It is the scene for the fictional Christmas celebrations in the Anya Seton novel when John becomes jealous. The castle is also where John of Gaunt's father-in-law Henry (The Duke of Lancaster) died, and where John himself passed away.
Book tickets in advance on 0116 299 4444.

Leicester City Council pages on Leicester Castle

Further Future Meetings

  • Sunday, April 11th, 2010:   Winchester Cathedral (Cardinal Beaufort’s Monument) and St. Cross Hospital Gateway:
    http://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/

  • April 28 Frederick Bailey: "John of Gaunt And Katherine Swynford"

    Frederick's interest in Katherine started with the Anya Seton novel in the 50's. He moved to Hungerford in 1969. John of Gaunt is very much associated with the Town as tradition has it that he granted fishing rights to Hungerford along with other benefits, and the Town coffer contains a horn which he is reputed to have given as confirmation of these rights, although it is believed that the horn has actually been dated about 100 years later.
     
    Frederick is a former Chairman of the Association and lectured on John of Gaunt about 12 years ago. He agreed when he retired as Archivist last year that he would give the talk on John and Katherine on April 28th this year.

    Roger has sent Frederick an image of Katherine's coat of arms to Frederick to show at the talk.

    The talk is open to members of the public at a cost of £2 per person and is held in the Hungerford Town Hall.

    Full details of the HHA can be obtained from the Association's web site:
     
    http://www.hungerfordhistorical.org.uk/Events/events.html

  • Saturday, May 8th:  Annual Katherine Swynford Study Day and Coach Trip to Kettlethorpe (date to be confirmed). Lecture in the morning by Dr. David Marcombe followed by the AGM of the Katherine Swynford Society. Details for the afternoon are still being discussed but are likely to include a coach trip to Kettlethorpe and other places of interest.

  • May 10th. Anniversary of Lady Katherine's death. Commemorated by the study day above.

  • Saturday May 15th. Blithfield Hall, Staffordshire.

  • Another date in May or June (to be confirmed): The London Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons to view the preserved hands, reputed to be those of Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter. For any members who consider this too ghoulish a visit, you may join us at the second destination of the visit, The Temple Church at a time to be notified later.

  • Sunday, June 20th, 2010:  Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland.  Park at Craster Car Park and walk one mile north along the coast.
     
  • Feast of St John the Baptist. John's Feast Day. This would have been an important day for John, there would have been religious services, and most likely other celebrations when practical, depending on where he was at the time. There is no Society event on this day, it is marked by the 'Walk for Katherine and John' on 26th June (see below).

  • Saturday June 26th - A Walk For Katherine And John, being held on the nearest Saturday to the Vigil of St John the Baptist (23rd June) and the Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist (24th June) - the beheading of John the Baptist is marked on 29th August in the Catholic Liturgy. The walk will start outside the Bookshop at Westminster Abbey then progress via King Edward III's Jewel Tower; Palace of Westminster; site of Savoy Palace; St Clement Danes; Temple Church (Knights Templar); Southwark Cathedral; St Paul's Cathedral; Billingsgate Fish Market; Tower of London; St Katharine's Dock (the site of St Katharine's hospital where John Beaufort died). To be confirmed and subject to weather. Booking information will be published once details are finalised (organiser for this activity is Graham Coult).

    Further information on St John the Baptist in the Catholic Liturgy: http://www.catholictradition.org/Passion/john-baptist4.htm


  • Sunday, July 4th, 2010:   The Chetwynd Fair, organised by Joanna and Robin Spencer, Wellbank Farm, Pickstock, Newport, Shropshire.  (http://www.shropshirelavender.co.uk/chetwynd%20_fair.html). 

  • Sunday, August 8th, 2010:  Tutbury Castle.
    http://www.tutburycastle.com/

  • August 22nd - Kenilworth Castle
    http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.16873

  • Monday, September 6th , at 12 Noon: The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance at Blithfield Hall, Staffordshire.

  • Another possible date in September: The Parker Library of Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, a visit to view  the MS  of Troilus and Criseyde, with its frontispiece showing presumably Chaucer reading to an audience containing various members of the nobility, including possibly Katherine. For a general survey of the Library history and holdings (but nothing on the Chaucer MS) see http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/parker-library .

  • Sunday, October 17th, 2010:  St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St. Edmunds, and possibly churches at Thorpe Morieux and Sudbury. Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter was laid to rest in the Abbey church here (the present Cathedral is part of the former abbey complex):
    http://www.stedscathedral.co.uk/

  • Sunday, November 14th, 2010:  Exeter Cathedral.

    Founded in 1050, the Cathedral was established to provide support for the Bishop of Exeter in his ministry and mission across Devon, and to be a community of prayer, and christian worship. The first Cathedral in Devon was at Crediton, a few miles away.

    The Cathedral building, dedicated to Peter, one of Jesus' earliest followers and the model for all subsequent bishops, is said to be the finest example of Decorated Gothic architecture in any Cathedral.

    Items of interest include the monument to the Earl and Countess of Devon (the latter being Margaret de Bohun who died in 1391). Thomas Beaufort was of course the Duke of Exeter. Also (according to 'Exeter Cathedral: A Short History and Description' by Audrey Erskine, Vyvyan Hope and John Lloyd pp104-5) the tomb of Bishop Edmund Stafford (in office 1395 to 1419) is a typical piece of fifteenth and sixteenth century alabaster work and was almost certainly made in one of the workshops set up near the quaries at Chellaston in Derbyshire and Tutbury in Stafforshire. This may well be in the same material and style as the lost tomb of John and Blanche in St Paul's Cathedral, London.
    http://www.exeter-cathedral.org.uk/


  • Thursday November 25th: St Catherine's Day. Provisional: Katherine, Duchess of Lancaster Saint's Day Lecture - most likely to be held at the Roundhouse or Christ Church meeting rooms in Highbury - accessible via the Great Northern Electrics (First Capital Connect) Moorgate to Finsbury Park line, the North London Line (Richmond and Clapham Junction to Stratford via Highbury & Islington run by London Overground), and the Victoria  tube line.

  • Saturday, December 4th, at 11:45 a.m: Westminster Abbey, with the Marie Stuart Society - ceremony to mark the birthday of Mary Queen of Scots.
    http://www.marie-stuart.co.uk/

Further information on Blithfield Hall on the official website

Abbots Bromley

Multimap page showing location of Abbots Bromley

Past Events

Sunday, February 7th, 2010:  Norwich Cathedral and St. Julian’s Church
Norwich Cathedral has a nine hundred year history. Notable figures include Bishop Despenser who led a fierce response to the rebels in the Peasnat's Revolt. St Julian's Church is the site of Mother Julian's cell. St Julian features in the Anya Seton after the Peasant's Revolt when Katherine has gone on pilgrimage to Walsingham for the safe return of her daughter Blanchette. Mother Julian certainly existed but this episode in the novel seems to be fictional - there is no evidence as far as we know for Katherine visiting Walsingham and subsequently Mother Julian's cell. Anya Seton did visit St Julian's cell, and we recommend this visit to Norwich to all those with an interest in Katherine and this period in history.

Photo courtesy of Morguefile
webassets/NorwichCathedral.JPG
Norwich Cathedral

Norwich Cathedral website

Link to Norwich Cathedral's web pages about Bishop Despenser

Link to Norwich Cathedral's web pages about St Julian.

Link to Multimap showing position of Norwich Cathedral

Your contact information:
Full name:
Email address:
Telephone number:
Your interests:
Please send me information  about:
  
Type the event(s) you are interested in here:
Refer a friend:
Give the email address (es) of anyone else you think might be interested in our events:
 

All rights reserved. All material is copyright of the Katherine Swynford Society and/or the author/creator. Single copies of the content may be made by Society members for their own recreational and educational use. Multiple copies and copies for commercial use must not be made without permission, except as the law permits.

Images are by Dr Roger Joy unless otherwise stated.