Dr Emma Wells flies from strength to strength

Posted on 15 February 2018

Published works and media appearances for CLL lecturer

Associate Lecturer in both English Building History and Parish Church studies, CLL’s Dr Emma Wells has enjoyed multiple successes over the past month. Her latest article, entitled ‘Those Walls Can Talk!: The seemingly insignificant objects of our daily lives are vital tools to understanding our past', has been published in the March issue of History Today. This follows a feature in the Yorkshire Post, where Emma offers advice to amateur historians wishing to bring the history of their homes to light. She also discusses one of her most interesting finds from her work as a ‘house detective’: a manuscript, sealed away within an oak beam, dating back to the 16th century.

"The document was a 'peccavi'; a confession of guilt (the word derives from 16th-century Latin, meaning ‘I have sinned’) … "These were written documents acknowledging the offence and signed by the guilty party. In simple terms, this cleric was confessing his sins as he neared death, which included swearing ‘for vile things through my God’,using violence to settle an argument and even ‘lasciviousness’ and ‘adultery'. Not the sort of behaviour one expects from a man of the cloth!"

And her triumphs don’t end there: in recent days, Emma has also been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, joining thousands of prominent creatives in a network for innovative projects and social change.