Certificate in Local Historical Studies and
Courses in Local and Regional History

From 2008-2009 the University of Essex is offering an exciting programme of courses in Local and Regional History for members of the general public. Students can take one of the courses (or as many as they wish) as ‘stand-alone’ courses for general interest, without completing any form of assessment. Or they can complete and be assessed successfully on four of the courses in order to obtain the Certificate of Continuing Education in Local Historical Studies.

All courses will be taught in ten weekly two-hour sessions, from 7-9pm on the Wivenhoe Park Campus of the University of Essex. Please check individual course outlines (below) for details of the day on which they will be taught and the date on which teaching will start.
NB: Introduction to the Archaeology of Essex and East Anglia and A History of Colchester will each include a field-trip or walking tour.

The two-hour weekly session on each course will usually take the format of a lecture by the course tutor providing an overview of the topic, followed by discussion based on specified reading, and/or the analysis of relevant sources or artefacts.

Students must take four of the Certificate courses offered and on each course pass (with a mark of at least 40%) a piece of written assessment, the title of which will be agreed between the student and course tutor.

Courses towards the Certificate can be taken over a maximum period of four years or a minimum period of one year. Each course counts as 15 credits within the Higher Education Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme and the credits obtained on the Certificate can be transferred into other degree programmes at Essex or other universities.

All courses are taught by experts in their respective fields. Howard Brooks became a Member of the Institute of Field Archaeologists in 1984 and is now Project Manager at the Colchester Archaeological Trust. He has excavated archaeological sites dating from the Bronze Age to the medieval period, a highlight being the Stansted Airport archaeological project (1985-1991). He has published widely and has taught evening classes for the Universities of Essex and East Anglia. Patrick Denney is one of the leading Colchester historians and a well-known local and family history tutor. He has taught a range of classes across the region for the Universities of Cambridge, Essex and East Anglia, for various Adult Education Colleges and the WEA. He is the author of numerous books and articles on the History of Colchester and is local history correspondent for the East Anglian Daily Times. He is an active member of the Colchester Recalled Oral History Group and Secretary of the Friends of Colchester Museums. He is also a Regional Blue Badge Tourist Guide. Sean O’Dell has worked as a diver on various archaeological projects in Essex coastal waters and for the River Stour Trust. A Lecturer at Colchester Institute, he has published a book on the River Stour and (forthcoming) on Brightlingsea. Alison Rowlands is a Senior Lecturer at Essex University and an expert on the history of witchcraft, on which she has published extensively. 

£95 per course (plus an additional charge of £5 per pack of course materials for each course where such a coursepack is necessary)

Please print off and complete the registration form (pdf) indicating which of the courses you would like to take. Please return the form to Lisa West, Graduate Assistant, History Department, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ.

COURSES IN APRIL 2010 ...  (for courses starting in October 2010 see here)

The Landscape History of the Stour Valley (HR160)

Tutor: Howard Brooks

Tuesdays, for 10 weeks starting on 27 April 2010, 7.00 - 9.00 pm

This module examines the development of the Stour Valley landscape from its original formation, through the Stone Age and Bronze Ages, the Anglo-Saxon, medieval and early modern periods, the Industrial Revolution, and up to the present day. It explores the development of the landscape through cultural, geological and economic changes and covers the themes of settlement history; place names; field systems; landscape character assessment; landscape designations; and how the landscape is recorded today. Students learn from a range of secondary and primary sources, including a variety of maps and (by means of the walking field-trip) the Stour Valley landscape itself.

1. Landscape formation by glaciation; Stone Age human activity in the valley.

2. The landscape ‘ritualised’ during the New Stone Age and Bronze Age; hillforts and Iron Age warrior society. 

3. Late Iron Age trade and towns; Roman roads and villas; the Anglo-Saxon period.

4. Medieval expansion of farming and towns; the Church as landowner

5. The Dissolution of the Monasteries; the building of great country houses.

6. The agricultural revolution. Canals and railways: the Industrial Revolution.

7. Tithe maps and Ordnance Survey; modern landscape changes

8. Visit to Suffolk Record Office (to examine map sources)

9. Walking field trip in the Stour Valley.

10. Wildlife designations and farming in the Stour Valley
    

Witchcraft & the Persecution of ‘Witches’ in Essex & East Anglia, from the 16th to the 21st Century
 

(Course Code: HR145)

Tutor: Alison Rowlands
Thursdays, for 10 weeks starting on 29 April 2010, 7.00 - 9.00 pm

This course examines witch-trials in 16th- and 17th-century Essex, asking when and why they occurred, how they were gendered, and what they tell us about beliefs in witchcraft and magic. The events of, and reasons for, the Great East Anglian Witch Hunt of 1645-7 are explored. We examine the continuities in popular beliefs about witchcraft and magic after the repeal of legislation against witchcraft in 1736, and consider how the ‘witches’ and ‘witch-hunters’ of Essex and East Anglia have been portrayed in literature, film and museums.
 

Outline syllabus:

1. Belief, legislation, patterns of prosecution

2. Early Essex trials: the pamphlets of 1566 and 1579

3. The St Osyth witch trials of 1582

4. Explaining the gendering of prosecution

5. The 1645-7 witch hunts: the Essex phase

6. The witch-finders in Suffolk and Norfolk

7. The writings of Gaule, Hopkins & Stearne

8. Mob justice against ‘witches’ after 1736

9. Cunning folk and popular magic after 1736

10. Witchcraft in the 20th and 21st century
     

Introduction to Archaeology of Essex and East Anglia

(Course Code HR115)
Tutor: Howard Brooks
Tuesdays, for 10 weeks starting on 12 October 2010, 7.00 - 9.00 pm

Outline
This course covers the history and methodology of archaeology (how sites are found and excavated), the theoretical background (how sites are interpreted), and how the results of excavation and survey are disseminated through academic and popular publications. East Anglia in general and Colchester in particular have good archaeological source material and surviving monuments, which are explored in seminars and the field-trip or tour.

Syllabus
1.  “From tomb robbers to Time Team”
2.  Archaeological survey techniques
3.  Excavation techniques on rural sites
4.  Excavation techniques on urban sites
5.  Dating techniques
6.  The post-excavation process
7.  Prehistoric archaeology in Britain
8.  Roman and Saxon archaeology in Britain
9.  Medieval and later archaeology in Britain
10.  Field-trip/tour of Roman Colchester

The River Stour Navigation and its Impact on the Stour Valley

(Course Code HR155)
Tutor: Sean O'Dell
Wednesdays, for 10 weeks starting on 13 October 2010, 7.00 - 9.00 pm

Outline
This module will examine the origins of the river from early times and the development of the navigation, its decline as a commercial operation and its subsequent management.  Students taking the module will examine the origins and development of the trade on the river and the development of the structures used to maintain the navigation.  There will also be the opportunity to study the lighters that carried goods up and down the river. During one session there will be an opportunity for students to visit the Stour Navigation to view a navigation feature and discuss its significance.  

Syllabus
1.    Introduction: The river before legislation: its physical origins and uses in early times.

2.    The navigation: Its development both in a legislative and physical context

3.    Navigation infrastructure: Development of locks, water flow structures and channel

4.    Field visit To see a lock, lighter and other local infrastructure

5.    The affects of the navigation On the local community and the Lightermen stories

6.    The affects of the navigation On the Stour Valley Landscape

7.    The artistic evidence The works of John Constable

8.    The significance of the navigation The important trading days

9.    The navigation on the early twenty first century Recreation use, feasibility study and potential conflicts of interest

10. Conclusions and further areas of study Plenary session and ideas for further study

Please note that courses may not run if the numbers enrolled on them are too low.

Further information and enquiries

If you would like further information and to receive details of new and future Certificate level modules in Local History and Archaeology, please contact Lisa West, Graduate Assistant, Department of History, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ. Tel. 01206 872190; Fax.: 01206 873757; E-mail: gsechist@essex.ac.uk.

All other enquiries, including from qualified lecturers interested in contributing to the programme should contact Dr. Alison Rowlands in the first instance: alisonc@essex.ac.uk.
 

See elsewhere: The Local History Centre

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