Wednesday, 22 February 2012, 6.15-7.30 pm
Boardroom, Caerleon Campus
Adam Coward,
“Gardening with God”: Edmund Jones and eighteenth-century herbalism (in conjunction with the MA in Regional History)
The South Wales Centre for Historical and Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Wales, Newport, continues its series of public research lectures with an intriguing study of a local religious leader and folklorist.
The Rev. Edmund Jones of the Tranch, near Pontypool, was a leading Dissenting minister, the founder of Ebenezer Chapel. He was nicknamed Yr Hen Broffwyd (“the Old Prophet”), because of his deep interest in astrology and his seemingly genuine gift of prophecy. This lecture explores his interest in another aspect of eighteenth-century folklore, the study of herbs and healing plants.
Adam Coward is working on a PhD thesis on the intersection of popular superstition and enlightenment intellectualism in the works of Edmund Jones. This attempts to situate Jones in the broader history of the study of folklore, especially Welsh folklore, and explore the ways in which belief in the supernatural was accommodated in the shifting worldviews of the eighteenth century.
Tea and coffee will be available afterwards. It will help with numbers if you book your place – email angharad.farley2@newport.ac.uk
For updates and last-minute changes visit our web site at
http://www.newport.ac.uk/swchir
For more information contact Ray Howell, Director of SWCHIR -
ray.howell@newport.ac.uk