Public Engagement and Co-Creation
Public engagement through outreach activities has been a key part of the MeRit project. The focus of this activity has been in three case study areas of North Yorkshire, Norfolk and Kent, working with the Yorkshire Museum and York St John University, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery and the Council for British Archaeology’s (CBA) Young Archaeologists’ Club (YAC), and Canterbury Museums & Galleries and Canterbury Cathedral archives & library.
Display and Animations
In North Yorkshire, the MeRit team worked with colleagues at the Yorkshire Museum and local metal-detectorists on a co-curated display of items related to medieval religion. As part of this project, animation students from York St John University produced creative responses to the items destined for display. The collaboration was named by the Society for Museum Archaeology as runner up for the Engagement and Collaboration Award 2025.
Lectures and Conferences
Members of the MeRit team have shared the project’s research at seminars, conferences and lectures internationally, including full-day sessions at the conference of the European Association of Archaeologists in 2024 and the Leeds Medieval Congress in 2026.
Academic collaborations
In collaboration with KU Leuven (Belgium), University of Helsinki and Aalto University (Finland), MeRit participates in the ARCH-ON (Archaeological Ontologies) project and also collaborates with the UKRI-funded REMADE (Roman and Early Medieval Alloys Defined) project at the University of Reading.
MeRit database
A key research outcome of the project is database of medieval religious material culture in England, comprising both objects recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and artefacts recovered from archaeological investigations.
Publications
The project’s main output is a monograph in preparation, to be published with Oxbow Books. A number of popular and academic articles based on MeRit research have been published.
Resources for the Portable Antiquities Scheme
MeRit has provided online workshops for Finds Liaison Officers and an identification resource for the PAS focusing on the identification of depictions of saints and other holy figures on artefacts and also the wide range of objects covered in religious inscriptions.