Steyning’s ‘Lost’ and ‘Found’ Vicars
Sunday 13th October - 17:30 - 19:45The Friends of Steyning Parish ChurchSteyning Parish ChurchVicarage Lane
Steyning BN44 3YQSteyning’s ‘Lost’ and ‘Found’ Vicars
Discover the intriguing stories and historical context that led to a revision of local history
5:30 pm to c. 7:45pm including half hour interval with drinks and nibbles.
A dedicated team of researchers, including Sarah Leigh, Brian Hanson, Chris Tod and Christopher Whittick, together with the Revd Mark Heather, will present the surprising results of their extensive work into local history.
A board in Steyning Parish Church has, for approximately the last century, displayed the names of Steyning’s vicars. But a few years ago, doubt about the accuracy of this board crept in.
And so began the idea of a local history project.
What began as a quick and easy bit of fact-checking grew into a painstaking analysis of many hundreds of local records going back to the thirteenth century and covering Steyning and the whole county.
The team pored over documents spanning Victorian years, the Reformation, the Black Death and much more.
“We found that eight of the previously listed vicars had never actually been vicars of Steyning and will explain why we ‘expelled’ them - (we hope people will not be too shocked by what we tell them!).
We also identified five new names and substantiated our findings with robust historical evidence,” says Sarah.
“As part of the presentation, we will outline our path of discovery and fact-checking so it should be of interest to history students, all those who enjoy local history and anyone intrigued by the research process.”
So come along to discover the fascinating stories and historical context behind this re-evaluation of Steyning’s Vicars’ Board.
The presentation will be preceded by a brief AGM of the Friends of Steyning Parish Church which will start at 5pm with a short break before the presentation begins at 5.30pm.
Drinks and nibbles will be available during a half hour interval.
The evening should finish around 7.45pm including Q&As.
No charge and no tickets for this event, although donations to the upkeep of the church will be welcome.
Everyone from the community is welcome to hear about Steyning’s local history
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