Cadfael writer Edith Pargeter remembered on 100th anniversary
The 100th anniversary of the birth of the Shropshire creator of the fictional monk Brother Cadfael was marked by a series of events, including a medieval banquet and a church service.
Sights, sounds and tastes of the Middle Ages were recreated at a Shrewsbury's Drapers Hall restaurant to celebrate author Edith Pargeter.
As part of the official line up of Cadfael-themed events, the banquet was accompanied by costumed actors and medieval minstrel. Entertainer Paul Saunders played instruments of the era, including the crumhorn and the hurdy gurdy.
The feast included medieval-style dishes eaten off trencher bread and washed down with tankards of Cadfael ale brewed by the Shrewsbury-based Salopian Brewery.
A service at Shrewsbury Abbey also remembered the author, who wrote murder mysteries under the name Ellis Peters. She was born in Horsehay, went to school in Dawley and Coalbrookdale and lived in Madeley for most of her life.
Yesterday's service included sketches from the Cadfael book The Virgin in the Ice by the Middle Ground Theatre Company and musical items from the "Monks" of Shrewsbury Abbey. The congregation was headed by Shropshire's High Sheriff Diana Flint, her husband Charles and Shropshire Council chairman Malcolm Pate – as well as Jane Grey, from Shrawardine who designed the Abbey's Benedictine window which also acts as a memorial to the author.
Robert Elliot and Kath Priddy, both local guides, spoke about Edith Pargeter's life and the character Cadfael and there was a tribute from the vicar, the Rev Paul Firmin, who said he had read every Cadfael book long before his appointment at the Abbey so he arrived in Shrewsbury as an enthusiast.
