Professor Nancy Edwards
Emeritus Professor
Affiliations
Contact info
Biography
I was appointed a Lecturer in Early Medieval Archaeology at Bangor in 1979 and became Professor of Medieval Archaeology in 2008. I retired in December 2020 and am now Emeritus Professor of Medieval Archaeology. I continue to supervise some research students.
I am a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. I am also an Honorary Professor at Cardiff University and the University of Durham.
I completed my BA in Archaeology, Ancient and Medieval History at Liverpool University in 1976. I then moved to the University of Durham where I gained a PhD in Archaeology. My thesis examined early medieval sculpture in the Irish Midlands.
Research
My research is multidisciplinary embracing Archaeology, History and Art History. I am particularly interested in early medieval Wales c. AD 400–1100. I also have a continuing interest in early medieval Ireland and Scotland as well as aspects of the history of archaeology.
My book, Life in Early Medieval Wales (funded by a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship) was published by Oxford University Press in 2023.
Much of my research continues to focus on early medieval inscribed stones and stone sculpture in Wales. I am interested not only in the monuments themselves but also in their landscape contexts and what they can tell us about the early medieval society, identity, the Church, patronage and wealth. I have published two volumes of A Corpus of Early Medieval Inscribed Stones and Stone Sculpture in Wales, Volume II, South-West Wales (2007); Volume III, North Wales (2013).
I am currently working, with Gary Robinson (Bangor University) and Howard Williams (University of Chester), on a biography of the ninth-century Pillar of Eliseg. I have also become interested in early medieval graffiti as part of my research on the sculptural assemblage from St Patrick’s Chapel, near St Davids.
Areas of Teaching & Supervision
- Published
The archaeology of early medieval Ireland, c.400-1169: settlement and economy.
Edwards, N. M., Edwards, N. & O Cróinín, D. (ed.), 1 Jan 2005, A New History of Ireland: Volume 1 Prehistoric and Early Ireland.. 2005 ed. Clarendon Press, p. 235-300Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
- Published
The archaeology of the early medieval celtic churches – an introduction.
Edwards, N., 1 Jan 2009, The Archaeology of the Early Medieval Celtic Churches. 2009 ed. Routledge, p. 1-18Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
- Published
The early medieval inscribed stones and stone sculpture in south-west Wales: the Irish Sea connection.
Edwards, N. M., Edwards, N. & Moss, R. (ed.), 1 Jan 2007, Making and Meaning. Proceedings of the 5th International Insular Art Conference: Trinity College Dublin 2005.. 2007 ed. Four Courts Press, p. 184-197Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
- Published
The early medieval sculpture of Bangor Fawr yn Arfon.
Edwards, N., 1 Jan 2006, The Modern Traveller to Our Past: Papers in Honour of Ann Hamlin. Meck, M. (ed.). 2006 ed. DPK, p. 105-111Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
- Published
Transforming Landscapes of Belief in the Early Medieval Insular World and Beyond: Converting the Isles II
Edwards, N. (ed.), Flechner, R. (ed.) & Mhaonaigh, M. N. (ed.), 31 Oct 2017, Brepols Publishers. (Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages)Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
- Published
Viking-age sculpture in north-west Wales: welath, power, patronage and the Christian landscape
Edwards, N., 1 Jan 2011, Tome: Studies in Medieval Celtic history and Law in honour of Thomas Charles-Edwards. Edmonds, F. & Russell, P. (eds.). 2011 ed. Boydell, p. 73-87Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
- Published
Vlog to Death: Project Eliseg's Video-Blogging
Tong, J., Evans, S., Williams, H., Edwards, N. & Robinson, G., 1 May 2015, In: Internet Archaeology. 39Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Wales and the Britons 350-1064
Edwards, N., 1 Dec 2014, In: Welsh History Review. 27, 2, p. 368-370Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
‘Catalogue of Early Medieval Carved Stones’, Excavation at an Early Medieval Cemetery at St Patrick’s Chapel, St Davids, Pembrokeshire, K. Murphy and K. A. Hemer (Dyfed Archaeological Trust report 2022/46)
Edwards, N., 2022Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report