Back to Life Festival

We’ve been planning this festival day for some months and have borrowed exhibits from the Thackray Museum in Leeds to help us bring our 1800s characters Back to Life. Our intern, Tom, has devised activities to go along with the exhibits, so you’ll be able to construct a skeleton, make some beads, or dig up your own treasures. We’re pleased to be working with Shift Key Theatre Company, poet, Dave Osgerby, The Hull Regency Dance Group, and Whitefriargate HAZ team, to bring this event to Hull this summer.

You’ll be able to find out what Dr John Alderson did and what he used to do it, how he was linked to the burial ground, and who else was buried there. Spoiler alert - it’s Frank Appleyard! In the 1820’s restoration, a stone effigy of a lady was discovered inside a bricked up chapel - she too springs back to life during the festival to tell her tale.

Travel back in time as actors portray the people of our monuments, telling their amazing and quirky stories throughout the day. With stories for all ages, there will be something to learn for all the family! Say hello to John Alderson, Agnes Bedford, and Frank Appleyard through poetry, plays, stories, and song, all performed as you wander around!

We’re recreating the scene of a medieval chapel where you can experience what it would have been like in 1458 when Agnes Bedford was laid to rest. We’ll explore the story of her life, death and later discovery in the 1800’s and the search to find her identity in 2020.

You’ll be able to see some of the archaeology from Castle Street Burial Ground which link Appleyard and Alderson and find out what city life was like for them when they were alive in the 1800’s.

• See some of our graveyard archaeology! 

• Find out about historical medical implements.

• Try your hand at some free crafts to take home – including sewing, stained glass window designing and pottery.

• Enjoy medieval fayre in our Trinity Room Café. 

This event is put on with support from the Heritage Fund.

What’s it been like working on this project?

Our intern, Tom, is not the usual applicant for a heritage project. But as a medical student with a keen interest in history, music, and churches, he came forward to help devise an activity day for all ages. He’s learnt how to write scope documents, contracts, loan agreements, done some cataloguing, worked with suppliers, planned events, written advertising content, and designed print and digital marketing material. He’ll also be heling to evaluate the event. All of these, pretty vital skills in a professional career. Here’s what he had to say about working for a church.

Hello, my name is Thomas and I am a student intern working with Hull Minster. Over the past few months, I have been working with Jane to plan an event on the 29th July - out Back To Life Festival! I have really enjoyed my time on this project so far, and will be sharing with you some of the most exciting things I have been working on!

The most rewarding thing I have worked on in the last few months has had to be the recording project we created in partnership with the Hull Minster Choir. With guidance from the heritage team, the choir have been able to professionally record a set of musical works. In terms of the Heritage project, this music will be used to transport you back to the times of Agnes Bedford during our Immersive Chantry Chapel display on the 29th July!

It was wonderful to have been able to involve a whole new group of people who are involved with Hull Minster in the heritage of the building and music from different historical periods. On the day of the recording, we had people ranging from ages 8 all the way up to 70!

I have learnt so much from working on the heritage project - spanning everything from designing maps to writing contracts! The skills I have developed on this journey will have uses in all aspects of my life and I am thankful to Jane and the team for the opportunity. For any students who are interested in getting involved in Heritage, I could not recommend it more!

A YEAR OF PUBLIC TALKS - spring and summer talk series

Our speakers have been a mix of professionals and volunteers with a keen interest in local and regional history. We have an exciting and varied series planned for the autumn. You can catch up with talks that happened in the spring by clicking below. If you would like to give a talk or recommend someone to do so, please get in touch with jane@hullminster.org

Our talks are for EVERYONE, of any age and you really don’t have to be an expert to enjoy them!

Six talks took place in May and June with topics ranging from Jewish migration to witches and widows. We were delighted to find out more about the archaeology beneath the Minster and the work of William Morris in Yorkshire. Thanks to the Heritage Fund, all our talks are free to attend and some of them can be viewed online afterwards.

We finish this summer with an evening talk by Professor Harold Mytum, of the University of Liverpool, who has been a consultant to the archaeologists working at the Trinity Burial Ground, Castle Street, Hull. For his talk, entitled The 1800's graveyard, what it tells us about Hull and why it changed. Hull as a trendsetter! he will be joined by local poet, Dave Osgerby. Dave has been commissioned to write poetry using our burial records and Sextons’ books as inspiration.

Education, education, education!

Education is a lifelong process, so this project is attempting reach people of all ages and abilities to offer quality experiences which offer knowledge, insight and skills to those participating. Whether you are a volunteer learning about customer service, a visitor learning about monuments and restoration, or a young person learning about historic Hull for the first time, there is plenty to engage with at Hull Minster.

This autumn we will launch a range of skilled craft workshops led by professional artists. We will also have workshops for young people and schools. You can find out about opportunities on our web calendar. We’re excited to be working with Stephen Lee Hodgkins again to supply art and doodling workshops to school age groups.

Our replica handling collection is on regular display and can be borrowed by schools too. The archaeology team recently took the the replicas to a STEM day at the Craven Park stadium, where over 500 young students had a chance to handle them. Lauren writes

I really enjoyed engaging with the pupils, first getting an idea of what they already knew about the subject and then, through games and finds handling, helping them to understand aspects of what Archaeologists do and, more specifically, what we have been doing in their own city at Trinity Burial Ground. It was really encouraging when, after the games, they engaged with the subject and wanted to learn more. There were definitely a couple of budding scientists in the group, if not a couple of future archaeologists. Fingers-crossed!"

Emma, Assistant Supervisor 

As well as having some fun with the PPE dig box game, we discussed what types of materials survive over time and the scientific processes archaeologists use to learn more about them, such as x-rays. We also explored how DNA is helping archaeologists working on Trinity Burial Ground to identify family groups. A special mention and thank you to the Hull Minster who loaned us replicas of finds discovered during our excavations to share with the students. You can find out more about the work Hull Minster are doing to share the archaeology here: Homepage | Hull Minster Heritage

Thank you to everyone who came and visited us. It really brought home how there is an aspect of archaeology for every budding scientist!