Alex Harvey’s ‘Little Kingdoms’: a talk and Q&A. Sunday 19th of July, 4:30pm

Govan Book Festival invites you Little Kingdoms, a talk and Q&A with early medievalist Alex Harvey.

SUNDAY 19TH OF JULY

 Govan Old/ The Govan Stones @ 4:30pm

 Free – just turn up!

A Special Invitation

Please join us at the home of the Govan Stones to learn more about the many early medieval kingdoms that were contemporaries of Alt Clut and Strathclyde.

This talk and Q&A will be conducted in Govan Old Church. The event is unticketed – just show up!

Part of the inaugural Govan Book Festival. Events taking place at the Govan Stones between June and late August 2026.

About the Book

Imagine a time when Harrow-on-the-Hill was crowned with a pagan temple, when the commercial heart of London beat not in the City but at the Aldwych, when giant zombies patrolled Strathclyde, and when the Fenlands of Cambridgeshire were a single swamp and the home of eel-wranglers, egret-catchers, and bog-miners. This is the world to which Alex Harvey transports us in this powerfully evocative and clever account of Britain in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal. Made up of more than sixty micro-histories of the places which flourished between the fifth and tenth centuries, his book is both a time machine and an A to Z of a lost age. But it is much more besides. By starting with the little kingdoms, Alex Harvey reverses the standard narrative which interprets Dark Age Britain through the lens of what it was to become. You will never see the Anglo-Saxon world in the same light and you will probably never again describe it as Anglo-Saxon but instead as a multiplicity of overlapping cultures, languages, and myths of origin. – Martyn Rady, Masaryk Professor Emeritus of Central European History at UCL and author of The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe

Access Information/ Limitations

Renovations at Govan Old Church are underway to ensure Govan Old Church will be, for the first time, fully accessible.

However, at present, the church entrance has 5 steps, with a mobile ramp on site to assist when required. Unfortunately this is not suitable for larger powered wheelchairs.

Our team are happy to assist with venue entry and exit with advance notice of your visit. If mobility support would be beneficial for you during your visit, we invite you to contact the Govan Old team in advance, at info@thegovanstones.org.uk

Throughout renovation works, temporary toilet facilities will be in operation inside the venue. We regret to inform that these temporary facilities do not currently support wheelchairs.