2018 participants
Ellen Wiltshire
This project aimed to research attitudes towards death and commemoration in Early Modern Newcastle (1500-1800), and to explore how attitudes were affected by forces such as religious change and local events. My research centred on St. Nicholas’ Cathedral, looking specifically at the Ellison family, and contributed to an ongoing Lottery Funded project to uncover the genealogical history of those commemorated in the Cathedral on ledger stones and memorials.
Through my research, I found that attitudes towards death and commemoration in Newcastle largely followed the pattern of change in the rest of England, as Newcastle was affected similarly by the Reformation; the biggest single factor in changing practices towards death and commemoration in this period. However, there were elements of resistance to this change in Newcastle, as Reformation ideas did not seem to be taken up as quickly by those buried in the Cathedral as in other areas of England.
Funding Source: Newcastle University
Supervisor: Dr. Jane Webster