Sacred and Secular: The many uses of Church Buildings in the Middle Ages

What was a church actually used for in the middle ages? Although we tend to think of churches primarily as places of worship, in some cases medieval church buildings were remarkably versatile spaces. People sometimes slept in them, ate and drank, traded goods, held meetings and conducted legal proceedings, and on occasion even played games and danced. Drawing on evidence from medieval England, this talk explores the surprisingly varied ways in which church buildings were experienced and used, and asks how these activities related to the buildings' primary religious functions. From pilgrims sleeping beside saints' shrines to church ales, market stalls and occasionally unruly congregations, the evidence reveals a world in which the boundary between sacred and secular was far less clear-cut than some might imagine. Along the way, we will consider how the architecture of a church shaped different kinds of activity, and how the everyday experiences of medieval worshippers sometimes collided with the conception of the church as a sacred space.

Dr Oliver Coulson is Head of Heritage, Conservation and Operations at Norwich Historic Churches Trust.