PhD research

I have now completed my PhD research and been awarded a Doctorate from the University of Exeter. My thesis is entitled Topographical legacies of monasticism: evolving perceptions and realities of monastic landscapes in the southern Welsh Marches.

Llanthony Priory in its landscape setting

This research project examines to what extent elements of a medieval monastic landscape can be discerned within the historic landscape of today, both in terms of physical, topographical features and also how these landscapes have been perceived and experienced. 

Moreover, a hypothesis that the topographical legacy of monasticism has remained a central element (though sometimes hidden or unseen) of the genius loci of the places looked at in this study is explored, examining how this has influenced the way in which these landscapes have been developed, experienced and remembered up to the present day.

The study area

The tools of conventional landscape history and archaeology have been utilised, combined with approaches more commonly associated with cultural geography to provide a comprehensive analysis – a deep topography - of the perceptions and realities of these complex landscapes.

The thesis is available as a PDF through the Exeter's open access portal here and also from my Academia.Edu profile. 

The accompanying appendices data-sets are also available as below:
Appendix 1: Case study selection – desk-based assessment

Appendix 2: Mapping methodology and sources (including an inventory of GIS maps)

Appendix 3: Case study summaries

Appendix 4: Gazetteers of medieval and monastic landscape features

Appendix 5: Tintern grange summaries

Appendix 6: Field notes from landscape walks

Appendix 7: Field notes from rapid field and measured surveys

Appendix 8: List of field name elements

Appendix 9: Art,folklore, literary and popular culture references
Appendix 10: Summary of responses to on-line landscape perception surveys 

The original research proposal can be found here (although the research, commenced in September 2015, has inevitably follow a somewhat varying path). 

I have posted regular pieces relating to the research project on this blog. Here are links to relevant posts and contributions to other web sites: 

• The path to the monastery: monastic communication networks in the southern Welsh Marches (Landscape History article)

• Abridged thesis discussion chapter

• PhD landscape walk: Cwmbran

• Deep topography practice - landscape walks as PhD fieldwork
• PhD Research Paper #4: A diversity of words and images - topographers and antiquarians, artists and writers at Llanthony and the Vale of Ewyas

• In search of monastic granges

• Tales of cartographical landscapes

• Llanthony Priory - landscape perception survey

• Field research

• PhD research paper #3. Further landscape perspectives: experience and perception

• PhD research paper #2. The study of monastic landscapes

• PhD research paper #1. Approaches to the study of landscape archaeology and history

• Topographical legacies of monasticism: research proposal

• Unseen places: exploring ‘hidden’ topography in a historic upland landscape (Unofficial Britain web site)
• Monastic ruins as topographical memories. An elegy to landscapes drowned deep in time

• New horizons on the Gwent Levels
• The rhiw paths of the Black Mountains: liminal ways, old beyond memory (The Clearing web site)

• Landscape in particular 8: Siarpal in the Vale of Ewyas

• A triptych of ruins, carved into the landscape

My MSc dissertation on the landscape impact of Llanthony Priory, one of the monastic houses looked at in this research project, can be found here. The following article is based on this dissertation: Procter, E, 2012. 'Llanthony Priory in the Vale of Ewyas: The Landscape Impact of a Medieval Priory in the Welsh Marches' in Archaeology in Wales 51, 93-106.

Further information on my research can be found on my University of Exeter profile pages and Academia.Edu profile.