{"id":6379,"date":"2026-03-20T16:08:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T16:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=6379"},"modified":"2026-03-20T16:08:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T16:08:04","slug":"study-day-ann-radcliffes-st-albans-abbey-at-200","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=6379","title":{"rendered":"Study Day: Ann Radcliffe\u2019s \u2018St Alban\u2019s Abbey\u2019 at 200"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

St Alban\u2019s Cathedral welcomes Dr. Elizabeth Bobbitt, Professor Dale Townshend, and award-winning writer Rosie Garland for a study day to mark the 200th anniversary of Radcliffe\u2019s poem \u2018St Alban\u2019s Abbey; A Metrical Romance\u2019. Get your tickets here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the event<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow in the footsteps of Romantic-era poet and Gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe (1764\u20131823), whose St Alban\u2019s Abbey; A Metrical Romance (1826) brings to life the opening battle of the Wars of the Roses at St Albans in 1455. Join Dr Elizabeth Bobbitt, Professor Dale Townshend and award-winning writer Rosie Garland (Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature) for a special study day marking the 200th anniversary of the poem and looking ahead to its forthcoming Cambridge University Press scholarly edition. The programme features short talks and readings, a literary tour of the cathedral, and a creative writing workshop led by Rosie Garland.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Study Day Itinerary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

10 \u2013 10.30am: Registration over tea and coffee<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10.30am: Welcome and Introduction to Ann Radcliffe and St Alban\u2019s Abbey: A Poetical Romance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11.30am \u2013 12.30pm: Mapping Radcliffe\u2019s St Alban\u2019s Abbey: A Guided Tour of St Alban\u2019s Cathedral and Surrounding Abbey Ruins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12.30 \u2013 1.30pm: Lunch break<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.30 \u2013 3.30pm: \u2018Locating the Spirit of Ancient Days:\u2019 Radcliffe as Literary Tourist \u2013 Creative Writing Workshop<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.30-4pm: Share your poetry!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4pm: Closing Remarks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please note that this event will be held in-person only and will not be livestreamed or recorded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the organisers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth Bobbitt<\/strong> is a research associate at the University of York. Her research focuses on Ann Radcliffe\u2019s post-1797 texts which include Radcliffe\u2019s last published novel, Gaston de Blondeville (1826) and her fascinating variety of narrative and lyrical verse. Her publications include \u201cNegotiating Gothic Nationalisms in Ann Radcliffe\u2019s Post-1797 Texts: Gaston de Blondeville and St Alban\u2019s Abbey\u201d in Women\u2019s Authorship and the Early Gothic for University of Wales Press (2020) and \u201cAnn Radcliffe\u2019s Post-1797 Works: Edwy; a Poem, in Three Parts and the Topographical Gothic\u201d in Essays in Romanticism  for University of Liverpool Press (2022). She is thrilled to be co-editing Radcliffe\u2019s posthumously-published works with Dale Townshend for Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dale Townshend <\/strong>is Professor of Gothic Literature in the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University. His most recent publications include Gothic Antiquity: History, Romance, and the Architectural Imagination, 1760\u20131840<\/em> (OUP, 2019); the three-volume The Cambridge History of the Gothic<\/em> (co-edited with Angela Wright and Catherine Spooner; CUP, 2020\u201321); and Matthew Gregory Lewis: The Gothic and Romantic Literary Culture<\/em> (UWP, 2024). With Elizabeth Bobbitt, he is editing Ann Radcliffe\u2019s posthumous works for the Cambridge edition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosie Garland<\/strong> has a passion for language nurtured by public libraries. She writes poetry, long and short fiction and sings with post-punk band The March Violets. She is the author of The Palace of Curiosities<\/em> (which won the Mslexia Novel Competition and was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize), Vixen<\/em> and The Night Brother<\/em>, which was described by The Times as \u201ca delight\u2026with shades of Angela Carter.\u201d Her new novel, The Fates<\/em> (Quercus) is a retelling of the Greek myth of the Fates. Her latest poetry collection, What Girls do in the Dark <\/em>(Nine Arches Press), was shortlisted for the 2021 Polari Prize. Val McDermid has named her one of the most compelling LGBT+ writers in the UK today. In 2018-2019 she was inaugural Writer-in-Residence at The John Rylands Library, Manchester, and in 2023 was made a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature.
—
Dr Rosie Whitcombe <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St Alban\u2019s Cathedral welcomes Dr. Elizabeth Bobbitt, Professor Dale Townshend, and award-winning writer Rosie Garland for a study day to mark the 200th anniversary of Radcliffe\u2019s poem \u2018St Alban\u2019s Abbey;… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6379"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6380,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6379\/revisions\/6380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bars.ac.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}