Folkestone Museum and St Mary’s & St Eanswythe’s Church will jointly be presenting ‘Eanswythe and the AngloSaxons’ on the 11th & 12th September.
The weekend, which is hoped to become an annual event, is a celebration of Folkestone’s Anglo-Saxon (410-1066AD) heritage, including its patron Saint St Eanswythe.
It is timed to coincide with St Eanswythe’s feast day, which falls on the 12th September every year.
St Eanswythe is one of England’s earliest indigenous saints, a member of the Kentish Royal Dynasty, who helped introduce Christianity into the country by welcoming the Augustinian mission in the 5th Century.
Eanswythe herself, born some forty years later was to figure in the establishment of Folkestone’ Anglo-Saxon minster and her remains, exceptionally, have stayed in the church dedicated to her, surviving Henry VIII’s Reformation and the break from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s.
It is the focus for the historical aspects of the event, which will take place in both the Museum and St Mary’s & St Eanswythe’s Church.
Saturday 11th
The locations and times are as follows (subject to availability):
11.00 (Church) Welcome by Father John Walker
From 11.00 (Museum) Anglo-Saxon storytelling
11.15 (Church) Coffee and cake
11.30 (Church) Father John Walker – ‘St Eanswythe’s meditation practices’
12.15 (Church) Craft stalls
Re-enactment by local groups taking place throughout the day in and around the Museum and Church
15.00 (Museum) Dr Andrew Richardson – ‘St Eanswythe and Kentish Royal Burials’*
19:00 (church) Lunatraktors ‘broken folk’ concert**
*This is a pay to enter lecture with tickets a £5.00 per person, please go to the Folkestone Museum Billetto webpage
**The Lunatrakors concert is free but donations will be gratefully accepted
Sunday 12th September – St Eanswythe’s Day
A solemn Eucharist for St Eanswythe Day followed by coffee, wine and cake, given by Father John Walker in St Mary’s & St Eanswythe’s Church at 10.30am.
Detailed events information and changes to the programme will be posted on the Museum’s news
webpage https://folkestonemuseum.co.uk/news/
General Visitor Information:
Admission: FREE Email: museum@folkestone-tc.gov.uk
Opening Times: 10am – 4pm Phone: (01303) 257946
Address: Folkestone Museum Website: www.folkestonemuseum.co.uk
Town Hall
1-2 Guildhall Street
Folkestone CT20 1DY