MA The English Country House 1485-1945 by Research

This course is an interdisciplinary research programme enabling students to examine, by way of a dissertation, aspects of the history of the English country house. Students will be encouraged to consider the interrelation of architectural history, art history and social history in the evolution of the country house as a political powerhouse, a setting for the display of art and craftsmanship, a self-contained community and a symbol of continuity and loss in a changing world.

The MA is awarded solely on the basis of the dissertation, and the relationship between student and supervisor is at the heart of the course. However, a seminar programme which serves to complement the student’s individual research will explore various themes in a series of meetings which will be addressed by some of the United Kingdom’s most distinguished country house historians. These will be prefaced by a series of webinars introducing research techniques, with particular reference to the use of primary sources such as inventories, estate records and collections of private papers; an introduction to relevant library resources available in London and through the University of Buckingham’s online subscriptions; and an introduction to the most recent academic approaches to the subject.