Project Background

‘Old Wives Tales’ is currently an independent research project that records & evaluates material traces of beliefs and rituals – particularly those relating to the supernatural & magical practices; & including funerary contexts. This material is examined & interpreted in conjunction with a range of other evidence, including written sources, illustrations, place names, images & oral history.

The project in general focuses on the Midlands region of England, specifically in and around the county of Derbyshire, especially Derby and District, during the late 15^th – mid-19^th centuries (incorporating wider & earlier / later material for comparison). OWT examines housing, religious buildings, graves, and additional prospective sites within the wider landscape, surveying both concealed and exposed deposits, burials, and other potential evidence, & integrating archaeological evidence.

The project title has changed over the last few years (in order to encompass the wider range of both studies & public history resources & events); some old titles may remain within previous posts & pages while editing is in progress.

Project Director Background

The project is run by myself – archaeologist, Dr Kirsten Jarrett; and incorporates data obtained through archaeological building investigations carried out as part of Living in the Past Community Archaeology Project (LIPCAP), which I direct (and is currently ticking-over while completing analysis of an interesting local building); and draws upon my research into late- / post-medieval death, burial, ritual and religion within the study areas. OWT project findings may feed into other community project that I direct and have co-directed (e.g. Marton Hall; & ‘Past Sense Project’: ‘PSP’; respectively – the latter on hold for health reasons). More information on the background of OWT and on my research, is available through a formerly-active blog, Notes of an Antiquary; & on my Academia research profile (updated as and when possible).

Academic & professional background

I hold a BA (Hons.) Archaeology & MA Archaeological Research (1997 & 1999, respectively, both from the University of Nottingham); and a PhD (2010, from the Dept. Archaeology, University of Sheffield). During undergraduate & post-graduate studies, my particular interests included medieval & post-Medieval ecclesiastical and vernacular architecture; death & burial; ritual & religion; magic & ‘superstition’; mythology & folklore; & material worlds of literature. Archaeological & material culture studies & approaches integrated & were combined with those of historical, architectural, art historical, literary, geographical & geological, anthropological, sociological, psychological, philosophical & philological studies. My doctoral research examined the intersection of social, cultural & ethnic identity, in particular considering death & burial; communal & everyday ritual & magic (examining domestic, ritual & burial sites); and the significance of myth, memory, identity & the past in the past.

For the twenty-five years or so since graduating, I have continued research and fieldwork as an historical archaeologist, examining material culture alongside a range of sources. My work tends to take detailed ‘deep-dives’, exploring a range of evidence from a variety of site types, permitting more integrated studies that potentially more readily permit the examination of lived experience, perception, emotion and sensation. By transcending traditional analytical categories (bringing together domestic, burial, and ritual contexts, examined within local, regional and national landscapes), I approach questions surrounding relationships between the beliefs and practices of those in authority, and those held and enacted within wider society, formed and re-formed through popular culture.

After receiving Adult Education teacher training & qualification in 2000, I have taught for the Continuing Education and Professional Development departments at the University of Nottingham, Keele University, University of Oxford, and the WEA. I now teach on a freelance basis, which has allowed me to develop my work as a Creative Archaeologist, integrating digital art; crafts (principally employing textiles; but also other media, including clay and paper); and storytelling.

I have curated (& in some cases hosted) several community exhibitions over the last decade (most recently in partnership with Derby Parks), specialising in producing quality low- budget ‘pop-up’ displays. When time permits, I present research at and through academic conferences and publications; I am an affiliated Associate of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists.