University of Chester

Graduate Student, History & Archaeology

Thesis Title: Power, Memory and the Anglo-Norman Landscape of Cheshire - Castles of the Earls of Chester and their Tenants in Medieval Cheshire, 1066 – 1237.

About

My post graduate study concerns the number, location and distribution of castles raised in Cheshire in the period of the Earldom of Chester, c.1066 – c. 1237. The research is multidisciplinary, with documentary, archaeological and topographical sources being used in order to respond to the following questions:

• To what extent did each castle’s martial and strategic role affect its placing and landscape context?
• To what extent did castle builders’ display of personal power play a part in the choice of locations, as well as the shaping of their landscapes?
• To what extent was the location of any given castle in the Earldom of Chester influenced by the builder’s desire to appropriate pre-Norman power centres and ancient locales in the landscape?
• Taking a broader context, to what extent was the location of a castle influenced by the builder’s overall distribution of landed holdings within and outside the county of Cheshire? 
Furthermore, to what extent were other patterns of lordship and the distribution of high-status settlement affected in the choice of castle site?

In the ten years since obtaining my MA I have been an occasional and staff visiting lecturer on the BA History & Archaeology and the previous MA Landscape, Heritage and Society courses at the University of Chester. I was also a tutor for four years in Landscape History at Keele University and have led several day and weekend courses in local landscape history at Burton Manor College on the Wirral, Cheshire.

I have three recent publications, which expand upon ideas put forward in my MA research dissertation and which are explored further in my current post graduate research:

  • R Liddiard & R McGuicken, Beeston Castle (London: English Heritage, 2007)
• R McGuicken, ‘Castle in context: redefining the significance of Beeston Castle, Cheshire’, Chester Archaeological Society Journal, Vol. 81 (2006), published 2010.
• R McGuicken, ‘Castle in context? An analysis of heritage interpretation and presentation at Beeston Castle, Cheshire’, Chester Archaeological Society Journal, Vol. 81 (2006), published 2010.