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Dr Kathryn Hurlock FRHS

Reader in Medieval History, Research Environment Lead (History)

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Biography

I joined Manchester Metropolitan in 2008, having completed my PhD in Medieval History at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. My early research was into the medieval history of Wales and the crusading movement up to 1291, the subject of my first monograph Wales and the Crusades, c. 1095-1291, and then more broadly British and Irish connections to the crusading movement up to c.1600. I then turned my research focus to pilgrimage, publishing my third monograph Medieval Welsh Pilgrimage in 2018 with Palgrave. More recently I have expanded my chronological scope in a forthcoming monograph for the University of Wales Press on St Winefride’s Well in North Wales, Britain’s oldest continually resorted-to pilgrimage site, the role of rail travel in modern pilgrimage, and the connection between war, veterans, and pilgrimage activity. In March 2025, I will publish my first trade book on the history of pilgrimage, Holy Places: How Pilgrimage Changed the World, with Profile Books. 

My secondary area of interest is on veterans’ history, as part of which I founded and lead the Returning Soldier network. As part of this work, in addition to researching pilgrimage, veterans, and war, I have returned to medieval materials and will be publishing Making Sense of Medieval War Trauma with ARC Humanities Press in 2025.

I have held several roles within the Department of History, Politics, and Philosophy, including leading the History Research Centre (2022-23), and working as Departmental Postgraduate Research Lead for the three disciplines. In 2023 I became Research Environment Lead for History, and Departmental Research Lead for History, Politics and Philosophy. I lead Research activities in the department, overseeing our four Research Groups and the Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage, mentoring staff in areas of research and career progression, and leading us in to REF 2029. 

I have appeared BBC Breakfast, Channel 4’s The Bone Detectives and You’re Dead To Me to discuss my research, spoken at the Hay Festival on Welsh pilgrimage, and written for the Independent, the New European, The Conversation and other media outlets. 

I welcome enquiries from potential PhD students working on religion on warfare in medieval Britain, and on the history of pilgrimage from the medieval to the modern periods. 

Get in touch

0161 247 6726
449 Geoffrey Manton Building
Please email for days and times.

Research outputs