Medieval Myth Busting

Go to any ancient building and there will often be exciting and romantic stories of secret passages to distant places, hidden rooms and staircases, ship timbers used in buildings, blocked doors in churches to keep the Devil out and claims to be the oldest pub in the country.

In this talk, archaeologist James Wright will explain the development of such myths and investigate the underlying truths behind them. The folklore, history and archaeology which help to unravel these tales can often be more interesting than the myth itself.

James Wright graduated from the Department of Archaeology at University of Nottingham and began his career working for Trent & Peak Archaeology prior to retraining as a conservation stonemason. He then moved on to work as a buildings archaeologist and historic stone specialist for Museum of London Archaeology before returning to the University of Nottingham as a doctoral researcher. He has led major projects at sites including the Tower of London, Palace of Westminster, Southwark Cathedral and Knole.

In 2020, James began writing the Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog which seeks to investigate and debunk commonly believed and repeated stories about ancient buildings and has this year published a book on the subject, Historic Building Mythbusting: Uncovering Folklore, History and Archaeology.