| Module Identifier | GG36020 | ||
| Module Title | THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE BRITISH COUNTRYSIDE | ||
| Academic Year | 2000/2001 | ||
| Co-ordinator | Professor Robert Dodgshon | ||
| Semester | Semester 2 | ||
| Course delivery | Lecture | 20 Hours 20 x 1 hour | |
| Seminar | 2 Hours 2 x 1 hour seminars | ||
| Assessment | Exam | 2 Hours Written examination. | 50% |
| Project work | 3000 word project on a designated section of the module. Late submissions subject to a departmental penalty of 5% points per day. Both elements to be completed to obtain a pass; mark based on the aggregate performance. | 50% | |
| Resit assessment | Resit: For a condoned (medical grounds) non-completion of examination or coursework involves the completion of the missing component(s) for the full range of marks on dates set in the Supplementary Examination period. Resit due to aggregate failure or non-completion of part of the assessment requires re-examination of each component if marks of <35% in both were obtained, or re-examination or re-submission of the failed component (examination or assignment(s) to obtain a maximum mark of 35% for the module). | ||
Module Outline (Lecture Themes)
The course outline will be organised around six basic themes:
Lectures 1-2: Prehistoric background.
Lectures 3-4: Early Britain: Continuity-Discontinuity debate.
Lectures 5-7: Medieval Settlement and Landholding in Lowland Britain: Village origins, settlement shifts, regular villages, open fields and desertions.
Lectures 8-9: Medieval Settlements and Landholding in Upland Britain: Wales, northern England and Scotland.
Lecture 10: Trends in the Country side 1086-1350: Growth and Contraction.
Lectures 11-14: Changes in Key Habitats: Woods, Wetlands and Heath.
Lectures 15-17: Changes in the Rural Landscape of Lowland Britain since 1500.
Lectures 18-20: Changes in the Rural Landscape of Upland Britain since 1500.
Module Aims
The module will introduce students to the geographical patterns and processes around which the long-term development of the British countryside has been structured. It will develop the student's understanding of change particularly the interaction between the forces of continuity and discontinuity. In addition, it will demonstrate the importance of seeing the core problems of the course through different types of evidence (documentary, cartographic, place names, field-based, photographic) and as a product of different type of processes (social, economic, political and environmental).
Module objectives / Learning outcomes
For students, the prime learning outcome will be a basic grasp of the patterns and processes through which the history of the British rural landscape can be interpreted. They will also acquire experience in handling, evaluating and cross-matching qualitatively different types of evidence, and in dealing with both the intellectual and practical aspects of debates that embrace sharply-conflicting viewpoints.
Reading Lists
Books
T. Aston. (1985)
Interpreting the Landscape. Batsford
R.A. Dodgshon and R.A. Butlin (eds). (1990)
An Historical Geography of England and Wales. Academic Press, chaps. 1,3,4,7,17.
R. Hodges. (1991)
Wall-to-Wall History. The Story of Royston Grange. Duckworth
O. Rackham. (1986)
The History of the Countryside.
O. Rackham.
The Illustrated History of the Countryside. 1995
B.K. Roberts. (1987)
The Making of the English Village.
C. Taylor. (1983)
Farmstead and Village. Philip