Module Information

Module Identifier
HY32720
Module Title
Investigating Georgian and Victorian Landscapes
Academic Year
2014/2015
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2
Other Staff

Course Delivery

Delivery Type Delivery length / details
Seminars / Tutorials 10 x 2 hour sessions
Seminars / Tutorials Individual 10-minute 'feedback tutorial' per written assignment submitted
 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment 1 x 1,500 word source analysis  20%
Semester Assessment 1 x 5,000 word project  60%
Semester Assessment 1 x 1,500 word essay  20%
Supplementary Assessment 1 x 1,500 supplementary (resit) source analysis  20%
Supplementary Assessment 1 x 5,000 word supplementary (resit) project  60%
Supplementary Assessment 1 x 1,500 word supplementary (resit) essay  20%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

demonstrate familiarity with various forms of Georgian and Victorian landscape, and the historical/academic literature relating to this

demonstrate an awareness of how to read landscapes for their economic, social, political and cultural meanings

analyze and reflect critically on the relationship between material forms of landscape and visual and literary representations

construct and sustain historical arguments orally and in writing

work both independently and collaboratively and to participate in group discussions (not assessed)

Brief description

This module will develop in students the skills required to undertake a critical analysis of eighteenth and nineteenth century landscapes. The introductory session will set out a variety of approaches to and sources for studying historic landscapes. The bulk of the module will explore generic types of landscape, or landscape features. However, there will also be strong emphasis on particular buildings and places. In each instance the seminar will explore, through discussion and analysis, a specific example (or examples) of the broader type. So the seminar may look in detail at house, a garden, a public building or a piece of countryside. This will act as preparation for the project in which students investigate a landscape of their choosing. Across the seminars particular themes will be regularly examined, in particular the polarities of town and country, public and private, sacred and secular, local and national, popular and elite, and human and natural. Change over time will be addressed by exploring the differences between the Georgian and Victorian eras, and there will be constant reference to the interplay between economic, social, political and cultural factors. Landscape as such is a material form but it is represented through visual forms (such as maps, paintings and photographs), and literary forms (such as guidebooks and novels). The module will examine these three types of form, and the interaction between them. Today the `historic landscape' has become a key medium for popular access of the past. The final session will address the relationship between landscape and heritage, and examine the role of Georgian and Victorian landscapes in the contemporary `heritage industry'.

Aims

Ever since the pioneering work of W.G. Hoskins it has become clear that understanding landscape is part of any historian's toolkit for interpreting the past. The aim of this module is to introduce students to the skills of reading landscapes, both for their empirical content and as a form of representation; both as an historical element in their own right and as source for investigating wider economic, social, political and cultural processes. Landscape is here taken to be the material environment in a broad sense, from individual buildings to large-scale assemblages of built and `natural' elements. The emphasis will be on Georgian and Victorian Britain, but the methods deployed could be applied to other countries and periods. The material environment is the focus of attention. However, a key feature of the module will be learning how to read not only physical records but also literary and visual representations of landscape, and how to investigate the relationship between all three mediums.

Content

1. Introduction: Historical Landscapes

2. The Country House

3. Park and Garden

4. Rural Scenes

5. Wild Places

6. Townscapes

7. Landscapes of Pleasure and Work

8. The Seaside

9. Sacred Places and Spaces

10. Landscape and Heritage

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Communication Oral and written communication skills will be developed through seminars and feedback on written work. Literary skills will be assessed through written assignments.
Improving own Learning and Performance Written work will be returned in tutorials where advice will be given on improving students' research techniques and essay writing skills.
Information Technology Students will be required to locate primary and secondary source materials through library and on-line sources. Students will be encouraged to word-process their assessed work.
Personal Development and Career planning This module will help develop oral and written skills. Other activities, including research, assessment of information and writing in a clear manner, will further develop useful skills of analysis and presentation.
Problem solving Students will be required to locate and assess primary source materials. Assessed through written assignments.
Research skills Students will be required to carry out research for seminars and written work. The latter will be assessed though written assignments.
Team work Students will work together in seminar preparation and discussion.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6