Winter Seminar and AGM 2026
Medieval Agriculture: animals, crops and land
Saturday 5th December 2026, 10.30–4.30, Attenborough Lecture Theatre 1, Main Campus, University of Leicester
Programme
Also available to download as a PDF.
| 10:30 | Registration, tea and coffee |
| 11:00 | John Hurst Prize Competition Student papers |
| Judith Mobbs, University of East Anglia ‘Problems and Possibilities: The Landscape of Medieval Moated Farmsteads in northeast Suffolk’ | |
| George Keeping, University of Leicester ‘Ridges, Rivers and Roads: Medieval and Early Modern Communication Networks in the Upper Welland Valley, in Southern Leicestershire’ | |
| Followed by questions (from MSRG judging panel only) | |
| 11:30 | Launch of new books sponsored by the Medieval Settlement Research Group: |
| Medieval Rural Settlement and Infrastructure Archaeology Across Europe (eds. Carenza Lewis, Neil Christie, Gareth Davies, Aidan O’Sullivan) | |
| Medieval Rural Settlement, Britain and Ireland, AD 800–1600 (2nd edn) (eds. Neil Christie, Paul Stamper and Stuart Wrathmell) | |
| 11:40 | Annual General Meeting (agenda to be circulated at the meeting) |
| 12:15 | Lunch (and opportunity to browse the bookstalls) |
| Winter Seminar: Medieval Agriculture: animals, crops and land | |
| 13:00 | Jordan Claridge, London School of Economics ‘Draught Animals, Agricultural Productivity and Economic Growth in Pre-Industrial Europe’ |
| 13:40 | Matilda Holmes, University of Leicester ‘Meat, Milk, Wool and Grain: the animal economy of medieval England’ |
| 14:10 | Tea and coffee |
| 14:45 | Ronan O’Donnell, University of Durham ‘Peasant tenurial innovation before and after the Black Death and its impact on agricultural practices’ |
| 15:25 | Eugene Costello, University College Cork ‘Irish and Scottish cattle farming and late medieval networks of trade: making the connection’ |
| 16:05 | DIscussion |
| 16:30 | End of the seminar |
Conference Fee
Seminar fee: members £25.00 (with lunch), £18.00 (without lunch) (non-members £30.00/£25.00). Online only £15.00 (email address required). REGISTRATION will be via the link at the top of the page.
Previous events
For information on our previous events, visit the Past Events page.
Papers from our seminars, featuring current work in the UK and Ireland and northern and central Europe, are available to view on our YouTube channel.
