It looks increasingly as though Vindolanda was the centre of intense Christian activity in the 5th century.

The Book in the Cathedral By Christopher de Hamel Penguin, £9.99 The year 2020 marks the 850th anniversary of the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, but all events planned for the year – including the loan of the martyr’s bloodstained shirt by the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore to Canterbury Cathedral –

Until it ceased to be a communal event with the advent of mechanised agriculture in the 20th century, harvest was central to the month of September. Harvesters demanded “largesse”, a customary payment that could be exacted from the farmer or anyone else who stepped onto land being harvested. Colourful customs attended the harvesting of the

July’s weather made it a popular time for fairs until the late 19th century, when the home secretary suppressed most traditional local fairs on the grounds of disorder, drunkenness and immorality. But fairs had suffered a setback in the previous century: after the imposition of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752, their fixed days no longer

Easter 2020 will be the first Easter in the history of the Church when Catholics in most parts of the world will not be able to attend Mass. The situation is unprecedented. It is not, however, entirely unprecedented in England. Even during the dark days of Elizabethan persecution, there was always somewhere the faithful could

One of the most remarkable survivals in St Paul’s Church in Jarrow – itself a remarkable survivor of Anglo-Saxon architecture – is a dedication stone inscribed on April 23 685, which was laid by the first Abbot of Jarrow, Ceolfrith. Among the monks who witnessed the consecration of the new monastery that day was a

Before this week even people with an active interest in Anglo-Saxon Christianity may never have heard of St Eanswythe, the patron saint of Folkestone. But since last Friday, this hitherto obscure 7th-century abbess holds a special place in English Catholicism: her relics are, we can now say with confidence, the earliest known remains of an English saint.