Subjects ranging from the Reformation to the marriage of Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien will be discussed at the launch of a book about Warwick's Roman Catholic history tonight.
Catholic Warwick by Dr Ruth Barbour MA is the 20th volume in an historical series published by the Archdiocese of Birmingham Historical Commission.
Split into four sections, the work covers the Reformation, Catholicism under Elizabeth I and the St
uarts, Catholicism in the 18th century and modern times.
Dr Barbour, a medical doctor from the area, will present her book at St Mary Immaculate church in West Street before introducing a debate on the wider issue of Catholic history.
Members of the panel are all leading experts on Catholic history of the period.
They include reformation historians prof Peter Marshall and prof JJ Scarisbrick, editor of the Archdiocese of Birmingham Historical Commission series Michael Hodgetts and the parish priest the Rev Canon Edward Stewart.
The moderator will be Dr Beat Kmin of Warwick University who is also the parish historian.
Canon Stewart said: "The book itself is more than just a parish history. It covers the turbulent and often dangerous period back to 1500, several hundred years before the foundation of the current Catholic parish of St Mary Immaculate in 1860.
"It embeds local developments in the Catholic history of the wider region, detects Catholic survival in rural communities as well as the homes of the gentry and finds evidence of international support from Ireland and France.
"Among notable Catholic events, it covers highlights such as the execution of Warwick Martyrs Blessed John Sugar and Robert Grissold in 1604 and the marriage of prominent author JRR Tolkien to parishioner Edith Bratt in 1916."
The book's publication comes ahead of next year's 150th anniversary of St Mary Immaculate church, which was designed by the architect Edward Welby Pugin.
Publication was made possible by a lottery grant from My Heritage.
The launch will take place at 7pm and is open to the public.
