Section D · Users

D 4 · Higher and further education

Much of this report illustrates innovative and exciting work being carried out at historic sites for primary and younger secondary schools, and for disadvantaged members of the community. Much less material is available to illustrate good practice in the use of historic buildings within higher education, and to some extent further education. This is an area with much unrealised potential, notably in the field of history teaching. Within archaeology and art history the historic environment is more extensively used, though in the case of art history – on the evidence of the information provided by sites – generally on an ad hoc basis and on the initiative of the individual lecturer.

From the point of view of historic sites consulted for this survey, collaboration with universities was seldom cited as a priority, other than through heritage management courses. One issue may be a lack of confidence on the part of staff within historic sites since their expertise tends to be directed towards schools and the National Curriculum. There are, however, some stimulating examples of direct collaboration. Leeds University offers an MA in Country House Studies which makes extensive use of houses in Yorkshire and elsewhere, while on a more intimate scale the Science Days organised by the University of Derby at Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire address conservation issues. Nottingham Trent University organises Heritage Studies in which staff from the History, Geography, English and Media Departments participate in courses studying buildings, landscape, artefacts, art, myth and tradition, cultural and social issues, conservation and current issues. Thrumpton Hall, near Nottingham, a house associated with the Byron family and whose owner is herself a writer, is used by Nottingham Trent students of the MA in Creative Writing for creative writing sessions. However, given the potential, not an enormous amount takes place. Oxford and Cambridge Universities, for example, appear from an academic point of view to be almost oblivious to their buildings.

In the context of architectural history as taught at university, visits to historic buildings often, naturally, form an important element, though these tend to be arranged by individual lecturers rather than through the sites. There are some interesting developments in this field, such as the new part-time MA in London Architecture offered at the University of Westminster, which is to include numerous visits; and the establishment for the first time by the Arts and Humanities Research Board of six ‘ring-fenced’ doctoral awards for the History of Architecture and the Built Environment. The first round of awards attracted numerous applications, many of them from ‘the community’.

Heritage studies as applied history

One recent initiative to create links between universities and historic properties was made in an HEFCE-funded project called Heritage Studies as Applied History (1996-9), headed by Simon Ditchfield of York University. This was designed to encourage history departments to consider how the experiences of students, and the public in general, can be extended through engagement with the historic environment. Participation in this programme came largely from the post-1992 university sector, the older universities considering, by and large, that such an approach represented a form of applied learning, and that vocational training of any sort was irrelevant to the form of academic discourse they offer. While this project stimulated some valuable initiatives (such as virtual learning programmes at the University of East Anglia), it did not lead to much continuing momentum after the termination of funding in 2000. Now only a few higher education institutions, such as York University, Christ Church Canterbury and St Martin’s Lancaster, still offer courses which bring together history and heritage. It may be, however, that a number of newer universities will develop quasi-vocational courses bringing together history and heritage.
The limited success and duration of this project indicate the lack of interest on the part of most academic historians in exploring the potential of buildings and places which, to a greater extent than anything else, embody the historical periods they study.

Continuing education

One of the more active areas in this field is offered by continuing education departments within universities. Here numerous courses are on offer. The Department for Continuing Education at Oxford University, for example, which collaborates with English Heritage, is very active in this field, offering a Postgraduate Certificate in Architectural History and a Certificate in Vernacular Architecture. Both work closely with actual structures. Birkbeck College in London collaborates with English Heritage on courses such as a five-day Archaeological Recording of Standing Buildings. This course aims to bring students trained as architectural historians into close contact with conservation/ preservation work at local and national level.

A highly-developed approach to improving knowledge of historic sites is offered by the Burton Constable Foundation in Yorkshire, in collaboration with the University of Hull. At this great Elizabethan and eighteenth century building with its rich and varied collections, curators and academics collaborate to offer a Country House Studies Certificate and a Diploma for part-time students, which studies a wide range of country houses. Such is the success of this course that in 2004/05 students will be offered the option of a full BA in Art and Humanities.

Research and conferences

At the most advanced academic level, there is considerable scope for collaboration between those carrying out advanced research at universities and those responsible for historic buildings. This is an area in which some interesting experiments are now developing.

Colloquia for purposes of advanced research: Penshurst Place

An interesting and rare example of scholarship – primarily literary and historical – being applied to an historic building was the colloquium organised at Penshurst Place in Kent, the ancestral house of the Sidney family, in July 2003. Asmall group of scholars from all over the world working on aspects of the Sidney archives were invited to take part in a two-day event at the house entitled The texture of life at Penshurst Place 1552-1743. The sessions for an invited group of academics, aimed to create a network of Sidney scholars, and to stimulate ‘new research on the Sidney archive and the material resources of the house, grounds and contents’. A programme organised at this high level of expertise and focussing on the relationship between material culture and other disciplines is rare within the built environment, and an enterprise for which there is considerable potential.

Joint research and exhibition projects between universities and historic sites:

The Maids and Mistresses project Maids and Mistresses (2004) is a notable and innovative enterprise. Seven country houses in Yorkshire, all in different forms of ownership, collaborated on a joint set of exhibitions which were themselves the product of an extended research project between the University of York and the curators of the houses. With funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the houses have investigated their archives and their stores to investigate the history of women living in the houses over the past three hundred years. In view of the popularity of women’s studies, it is surprising that so little work has been done on this subject, and the research has revealed much new information about mistress (in particular) and maid (rather less), the virtuous and the vicious, chemists, novelists, artists, travellers, social reformers, cooks. The exhibitions are accompanied by publications and by a conference. This exciting enterprise functions at various levels, as a way of investigating the past through archival research, as an active partnership between historic houses and a university, and as a means of rediscovering histories which are of interest to a wide range of visitors.

The houses involved in the project are Castle Howard (private), Lotherton Hall and Temple Newsam (Leeds City Council), Harewood House (private trust), Brodsworth Hall (English Heritage), Nostell Priory (National Trust) and Burton Constable (charitable trust).

It is hoped that this will not be a one-off project but will extend to other subjects such as the history of estates, another field well illustrated by the houses and by hidden collections. One important aspect of the research is that it illustrates not only the particular individuals and houses, but the links between them over several generations which made an important impact on the character of this part of England.

Conferences held in country houses and other historic buildings: Norton Conyers, Yorkshire and WestDean, West Sussex

Norton Conyers, near Ripon, is an old house in family ownership. Here Charlotte Brontë visited and is supposed to have found her inspiration for the character of Mrs Rochester. Two symposia, organised at the house on old houses and medieval gardens, have been extremely successful. West Dean College, formerly the property of Edward James, patron and collector of the Surrealists, whose archive survives at the house, organises a series of residential conferences on Surrealism.

University teaching

Extended study of the historic environment – outside the field of archaeology – tends to be limited to the occasional visit to a site. Within art history, in particular, the development of the subject over the past twenty years in a strongly theoretical direction has made the study of actual artefacts a subsidiary, and even unwelcome, activity in some departments. Comparably, in history courses at undergraduate level, there is almost no recognition of the extraordinary richness of surviving buildings, or of the insights that can be provided by an understanding of the historic environment. There is often a division between the investigation of political or social issues and an examination of the buildings and places surviving from the past. The contacts that do exist tend to be organised on an ad hoc basis. We have encountered very few undergraduate history courses to which a study of the historic environment is integral.

University teachers are also limited in some cases, at undergraduate level, by a modular system of teaching which makes it difficult to take students out for extended periods; and by financial restrictions which, as in schools, severely limit the opportunity to hire transport for longer visits.

There are of course interesting examples of collaboration between historic sites and institutions of higher and further education in the fields of history and art history. This is particularly true at MA level. At the University of East Anglia, the teaching of the MA in medieval art is illustrated by an extended study of the city of Norwich, while the Centre for East Anglian Studies (also UEA) offers various MA courses studying the architecture and landscape of the region, and particularly Norfolk. At Leicester University the MA in English Local History has a strong archaeological/historic building component. The courses which are particularly active in profiting from the historic environment are the relatively long-established MA degrees and short courses offered by Christie’s Education and Sotheby’s Institute of Art, where the study of material culture is supreme. This approach exercises a strong appeal for many students who cannot easily find such an approach followed elsewhere.

Partnerships with heritage organisations

While there are signs of increasing engagement in the field from various organisations, these are usually tender shoots. The National Trust and some country house owners, for example, have expressed interest in strengthening their connections with universities and colleges: at Wallington Hall in Northumberland the Trust has for some years collaborated with Durham and Northumbria Universities, with MA students of conservation, archaeology and horticulture making regular visits. Dunster Castle in Somerset (another National Trust property) pioneered work placements for degree students (an idea widely followed by National Trust properties). In general, these initiatives appear to result from the enthusiasm of individuals rather than from any concerted strategy.

Impact on history teaching at schools

The lack of instruction within the historic environment has further effects. Because of their lack of familiarity with the built environment, graduates going into teaching, who have rarely been taught to become critically aware of their physical surroundings, seldom have the expertise or confidence necessary to adjust to interpreting old, or modern, buildings.

Heritage management studies

One of the sectors of formal education that is most active in working with the historic environment is heritage management studies, though even here there are considerable limitations. A number of industrial/maritime sites, and country houses, work closely with universities and colleges of further education.

For students, a fair number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses are available in this field. Many have specific modules for the built environment: for instance the MA in Heritage Management at Birmingham University consists of heritage conservation, business management, finance for heritage, heritage marketing and heritage interpretation. Others have options in project management, heritage technologies, fundraising and sponsorship.

The University of Central Lancaster runs a BA Heritage Management course with a module in the history of buildings and towns. Their three MScs on architectural and building heritage also focus on the built environment. Writing an historic buildings report survey (intended to help students to deepen their ‘knowledge of architectural history and develop skills in dating buildings and how to research their development’) is a core activity for all three.

Actual engagement with the built environment is by no means universal within heritage management courses, some of which show no interest in historic buildings, even ones in their locality. One significant factor may be that the course at Lancaster is run by the Department of the Built Environment, rather than by business departments as is sometimes the case elsewhere.

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On this page

	Heritage studies as applied history
	Continuing education
	Research and conferences
	Colloquia for purposes of advanced research: Penshurst Place
	Joint research and exhibition projects between universities and historic sites:
	Conferences held in country houses and other historic buildings: Norton Conyers, Yorkshire and WestDean, West Sussex
	University teaching
	Partnerships with heritage organisations
	Impact on history teaching at schools
	Heritage management studies