Public Engagement

The broad range of research conducted in Lancaster's History Department has an impact on regional, national, and international concerns, from the conservation of the heritage of the North West region to the memorialisation of war and conflict; from to contributions to mass media to promoting sustainable land use in upland regions throughout England and Wales. We have established a wide range of partnerships with local, national, and international bodies, working together with them to disseminate knowledge and to foster the understanding. Our Department is at the forefront of contemporary discussions, contributing to the society and to public awareness.

 

 

Activities and projects

Regional Heritage Centre

The Regional Heritage Centre builds on the work of the former Centre for North-West Regional Studies, founded in 1973. It offers a programme of regular activities that are open to the public, which includes a series of study days on various subjects, an annual archaeology forum and periodic workshops. The Centre collaborates with a wide range of heritage organisations and is also home to the Victoria County History of Cumbria project, which coordinates the activities of volunteer local historians researching the history of individual parishes.

Website: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/rhc/

Cumbrian Manorial Records

Cumbrian Manorial Records Project was a partnership betweenLancaster University, The National Archives and Cumbria Archive Service, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.  The project aimed to raise awareness and encourage use of an important but under-used class of local historical evidence, the records generated by manorial administration. These records shed vivid light on past local communities, as manorial courts combined the functions of a local 'parliament', a small claims court and a land registry, and their records give rare glimpses of the lives of ordinary men and women, particularly in the 15th to 18th centuries.

Website: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/projects/manorialrecords/

Victoria County History Cumbria

The Victoria County History (VCH) is an internationally respected work of reference which ultimately aims to write the history of every town and village in England. 

 

Website: http://www.cumbriacountyhistory.org.uk/victoria-county-history-project

Regional Heritage Centre

Dynamics of Memory is an interdisciplinary group based at Lancaster University, founded in 2008. The group has hosted many events and has established links with scholars and grass-roots institutions in the UK, Austria, Ireland, France, Sweden, Estonia, Spain, Bangladesh, Poland, Denmark the USA and New Zealand. It was awarded a Networking Grant from HERA in 2009 and Research Networking Grant by the AHRC in 2011.

Website: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/groups/dynamicsofmemories/

Contested Common Land

In collaboration with University of Newcastle

The common land of England and Wales is an important common resource with multiple (and often conflicting) land uses. It provides some of our most ecologically sensitive environments and landscapes; it is an important agricultural resource (especially in the uplands); and a recreational resource that provides public access to the countryside. This collaborative project brought together historians and environmental lawyers from the Universities of Newcastle and Lancaster to examine the environmental governance of common land from an interdisciplinary, historical and contemporary perspective.

Website:http://www.landscape.ac.uk/landscape/research/largergrants/contestedcommonland.aspx

Educational Resource

Normans for Schools

The Norman Edge: Identity and State-Formation on the Frontiers of Europe is a collaborative research project based in the History Department at Lancaster University. The project was funded by a major grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council between December 2008 and December 2011.

Website: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/normanedge/Links/schools.htm