Key facts

Type	Oxford Qualification - Part-time
Start date	Oct 2013
Subject area(s)	Local History
Fees	Fees for 2013-2014 are £1,950 (EU students) and £3,675 (Non-EU students).
Application status	Applications being accepted
Application deadline	Fri 28 June 2013
Course contact	If you have any questions about this course, please email ppaward@conted.ox.ac.uk or telephone 01865 280154.

Overview

The Diploma in Local History is a part-time, modular course, lasting two years. The level is that of a second-year undergraduate programme. The course covers the main themes and sources of English local history and the techniques needed for interpreting historical evidence. No formal qualifications are required and the course is designed for anyone interested in exploring the history of local communities.

It provides an opportunity to learn from tutors specially chosen for their expertise in particular subjects. Guidance from a tutor and regular contact with fellow mature students within the context of a small, friendly and supportive group are especially important features.

Preparatory Course
For those with no prior experience of studying local history, the preparatory course "What is Local History?", offered in September, is a useful foundation. There will be six two-hour sessions on Monday and Thursday evenings for three weeks, starting on Monday 2 September 2013. The course will provide an introduction to the sources, themes, and methods used by local historians in recording the history of the manor, the parish, and the town. It will include a visit to the Oxfordshire Record Office. The course is accredited, and one short piece of written work (1,000 words maximum) will be required. Although it may not be a condition of entry to the Diploma, many candidates choose to take the preparatory course as an introduction to the Diploma and to give them an opportunity to meet future members of the class. For further details, contact the Weekly Class Programme Office at ppweekly@conted.ox.ac.uk or telephone 01865 280892 / 280893.

For one student's experience of the course please click on our student spotlight.

Open Evening
There will be an Open Evening on Thursday 16 May 2013, from 6-8pm, when you are welcome to visit the Department to meet the course director and discuss the course.

Description

Diploma: Structure and Syllabus

The Diploma has two modules, which divide into ‘Medieval’ and ‘Modern’ at about the year 1530. You can take the modules in either order. This year the ‘Medieval’ module will run from October 2013 to June 2014. Classes will be held on Monday evenings, 7pm - 9pm, but there will be two full Saturday sessions in Michaelmas Term (one of which is an Induction Day for new students on Saturday 5 October 2013), one in Hilary Term, and three in Trinity Term. The Saturday sessions are from 10am - 12pm and 1pm - 3pm. There will also be a residential weekend in Oxford from Saturday 9 November to Sunday 10 November 2013.

Module 1: English Local History to c.1530
This module covers the period from the Anglo-Saxons to the eve of the Reformation. Its emphasis is on local communities, and the lives, occupations, beliefs and environments of those who formed them. The communities are those of family and household, manor and village, parish, town and guild. The evidence is exciting and diverse, extending from Anglo-Saxon charters and place-names, through Domesday Book, to the letters and wills of the later medieval period. The unwritten evidence is that of archaeological finds, the landscape of countryside and town, and buildings, including houses, farm buildings, market halls, and parish churches.

Module 2: English Local History from c. 1530, starting in October 2014

Who is it for?
This course requires a high level of motivation, enthusiasm and interest in local history, and a willingness to devote time to study over a two-year period. You do not need any formal academic qualifications in history. In previous years the course has attracted people from various occupations, including acting, healthcare, law, local government, medicine, photography, publishing, retail, social work, and teaching. After the closing date for receipt of applications, you may be invited for an informal interview.

Programme details

English Local History to c.1530.

This module covers the period from the Anglo-Saxons to the eve of the Reformation. Its emphasis is on local communities, and the lives, occupations, beliefs and environments of those who formed them. The communities are those of family and household, manor and village, parish, town and guild. The evidence is exciting and diverse, extending from Anglo-Saxon charters and place-names, through Domesday Book, to the letters and wills of the later medieval period. The unwritten evidence is that of archaeological finds, the landscape of countryside and town, and buildings, including houses, farm buildings, market halls, and parish churches. Provisional Timetable for 2013 - 2014

Michaelmas Term 2013
Sat 5 October Induction Day for new students
7 October The Making of Anglo-Saxon England, I
14 October The Making of Anglo-Saxon England, II
19 October Anglo-Saxon Charters
21 October Place-names and Archaeology
Sat 26 October The Domesday Survey, I and II
Sat 9 November Introduction to the period 1100-1348
Sun 10 November The manor: approaches, debates and sources
11 November Documents and Archaeology, I
18 November Documents and Archaeology, II
25 November The rise of the towns
2 December The developing parish

Hilary Term 2014
6 January The parish church
Sat 11 January Local government and community, I and II
20 January Introduction to the period 1348-1530
27 January Epidemics and population change
3 February Agricultural change in the later Middle Ages
10 February Wool and cloth trades
17 February Decline and prosperity in towns
24 February Old age, sickness and poverty
3 March Vernacular architecture

Trinity Term 2014
14 April Monasteries and local communities
Sat 26 April Household and family 1 and II
Sat 3 May Landscape and urban topography, I and II
12 May Special subject I (The later medieval church) OR II (The Later medieval economy)
19 May Special subject I or II
2 June Special subject I or II
Sat 7 June Presentations Day
16 June Special subject I or II

Summary of Course Requirements

Attendance:
Each module involves the equivalent of 35 two-hour sessions; students must attend a minimum of 75% of these as well as the study sessions during the residential weekend.

Course Assignments:
For each module, students will be required to complete four out of a choice of five written assignments of up to 2,500 words in length and one portfolio of work on primary sources of 5,000 words in length.

Full regulations will be sent with each offer of a place.

Course aims

Aims and Learning Outcomes

• To provide you with a survey of the main themes of English local history;
• To introduce you to a wide variety of documentary, archaeological and other sources used in studying the local community, and to help you to interpret them critically;
• To prepare you for further study of local history at a more advanced level;
• To awaken your interest in areas and periods of local history that you may not yet have encountered;
• To develop the analytical and logical communication skills needed to present historical argument;
• To build on the varied academic and professional experiences of people from differing backgrounds.

At the end of the course you should:
• Be able to demonstrate a broad knowledge and understanding of the main themes and sources of English local history;
• Know where to look for further information on a particular topic;
• Be able to compare the history of one region with another and to fit the history of a local community into a wider national framework;
• Be equipped and know how to undertake independent work in local history;
• Be able to analyse and interpret a variety of documentary and non-documentary sources and to relate one to the other;
• Be able to understand and evaluate conflicting uses and interpretations of evidence;
• Have developed an awareness of continuity and change within local communities;
• Have developed an empathy with earlier periods of history enabling you to avoid making judgements based on contemporary values;
• Have a firm grasp of the nature and development of history;
• Be able to think coherently and analytically and be able to communicate the results in structured and logical written or oral argument;
• Be able to work independently and manage the use of your academic time;
• Be able to work within a close group in both supportive and supported roles;
• Be able to select, interpret, and present appropriate maps, photographs, diagrams and other material to illustrate your arguments;
• Be able to present references and bibliographies in an appropriate and scholarly manner;
• Have mastered the techniques of researching in a variety of libraries and local archives;
• Be able to recognize the main architectural styles of ecclesiastical and vernacular buildings and understand how and why they evolved;
• Be able to interpret the archaeological features of a local landscape or the plan of a former village or town from aerial photographs;
• Have developed a heightened awareness of your surrounding environment.

Preparatory Course

The preparatory course, entitled What is Local History?; will take place in the early autumn. There will be six sessions of two hours, which will run on Mondays and Thursdays for three weeks, starting on Monday 2 September 2013. The course will provide an introduction to the sources, themes, and methods used by local historians in recording the history of the manor, the parish, and the town. It will include a visit to the Oxfordshire Record Office.

The course is accredited, and one short piece of written work will be required. Although it may not be a condition of entry to the Diploma, many candidates choose to take the preparatory course as an introduction to the Diploma and to give them an opportunity to meet future members of the class.

Certification

Award and Credit Transfer

Successful students will be awarded an Oxford University Undergraduate Diploma in Local History. Outstanding performance will qualify for a Distinction. You will be invited to receive your diploma at the annual Awards Ceremony of the Department for Continuing Education, held at Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre.

The Diploma carries a Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS) rating of 120 points at FHEQ Level 5. You may be able to transfer these credit points to other HE institutions. If you are considering taking advantage of transferring credit, you are recommended to consult our Registry (email: registry@conted.ox.ac.uk or tel: 01865 280355).

Open University credit
The Open University Arts Faculty has approved the Diploma in Local History as part of its Collaborative Scheme. This course can count towards the FHEQ Level 5 element of the Open University’s BA in History. It is advisable to check with the OU on the level and the amount of credit that you are permitted to transfer into any OU degree.

Further information is available from the Open University Regional Centres, the Credit Transfer Centre or the OU website: www.open.ac.uk.

Teaching methods

Course Entry Requirements

This course requires a high level of motivation, enthusiasm and interest in local history, and a willingness to devote time to study over a two-year period. You do not need any formal academic qualifications in history. In previous years the course has attracted people from various occupations, including acting, banking, healthcare, conservation, law, local government, medicine, photography, publishing, retail, social work, and teaching. After the closing date for receipt of applications, you will be invited for an informal interview.

Student support
Academic support will be provided by the Director of the course, Dr Elizabeth Gemmill, and guidance on specific topics will be given by the tutors who teach them. The Course Director may be contacted at any time during office hours on 01865 280888, or by e-mail: elizabeth.gemmill@conted.ox.ac.uk

If you have little or no recent experience of study or examinations, don't be deterred from applying for a place. Help and guidance will be provided as part of the course. In addition the Department runs a programme of study skills workshops designed to enable you to develop and improve the skills needed for effective study. For further information and to book a place, please email: studyskills@conted.ox.ac.uk or contact 01865 280892.

For advice on educational opportunities, credit transfer, disability and/or special needs provision and sources of funding, please email: registry@conted.ox.ac.uk or contact the Registry on 01865 280355.

Teaching Staff

Elizabeth Gemmill, Course Director of the Diploma in English Local History, is a University Lecturer in Local History at OUDCE and a Fellow of Kellogg College. She is Director of the Weekly Class Programme and the Certificate of Higher Education. Her main research interests are in medieval local, social and economic history. Her most recent publications include an edition, Aberdeen Guild Court Records 1437-1468(Scottish History Society, 2005) and her monograph The Nobility and Ecclesiastical Patronage in Thirteenth-Century England, will be published Boydell and Brewer in 2013.

Paul Barnwell is Director of Studies in the Historic Environment at OUDCE and a Fellow of Kellogg College. He previously worked for the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England and English Heritage. He is a former President of the Vernacular Architecture Group and a member of the Councils of the Ecclesiological Society and the British Archaeological Association. His current research interests include medieval parish churches, and the cultural and landscape contexts of medieval buildings.

James Bond, formerly Assistant Keeper of the Field Section of Oxfordshire Museum Services, moved in 1986 to North Somerset, where he now works as a freelance landscape archaeologist. His interests are wide-ranging, but his research in recent years has concentrated on the impact of monasteries on the medieval landscape. He has been a part-time tutor for OUDCE since the mid-1970s and has taught on the Local History Diploma since its inception.

Joan Dils is a Visiting Research Fellow in History at the University of Reading. She has taught on the Diploma almost since it started. Her particular research interests are local communities of Berkshire and south Oxfordshire. She is currently preparing an edition of some Tudor churchwardens’ accounts for the Berkshire Record Society.

Rosamond Faith is a Visiting Fellow of Kellogg College. She has published widely on the history of the medieval English peasantry and the growth of lordship.

Heather Falvey teaches various medieval and early modern local history courses, including one on riot and rebellion, c. 1380-1650. Her PhD thesis studied participation in early modern enclosure riots in two particular places in Derbyshire and Cambridgeshire, and she is continuing her research into unrest in various other communities. She has recently jointly edited for the Suffolk Records Society a volume of medieval wills.

Deborah Hayter has taught several courses on local and landscape history for OUDCE and for the University of Leicester in Northamptonshire. She has a particular interest in landscape history and is currently working on an edition of the Hearth Taxes for Northamptonshire.

Barrie Trinder’s career has included fifteen years as Senior Research Fellow at the Ironbridge Institute and five years as Senior Lecturer in Industrial Archaeology at the University of Northampton, and he has frequently taught at OUDCE. He is an authority on market towns and on the history of industry, and amongst his best-known publications are The Industrial Revolution in Shropshire (3rd edition, 2000), The Making of the Industrial Landscape (3rd edition, 1977), Victorian Banbury (2nd edition, 2005), and Barges and Bargemen: a social history of the Upper Severn Navigation (2005).

Student Support
Much of the academic support will come from the Course Director, who may be contacted at any time during office hours by students wishing to discuss matters relating to the course. In addition, the Department runs a programme of Study Skills workshops designed to enable you to develop and improve the skills needed for effective study. These workshops are free to students enrolled on the Foundation course. For full details of the programme please contact 01865 280892.

Contact Information

Course Director
If you would like an informal discussion on academic matters before making your application you may contact the following:

Dr Elizabeth Gemmill 01865 270319 elizabeth.gemmill@conted.ox.ac.uk

Award Programme Office 01865 280154 / 270369
For queries on applications and admissions ppaward@conted.ox.ac.uk

Student Advice 01865 280355
For general guidance and advice, credit transfer, special needs provision, residential category and sources of funding: registry@conted.ox.ac.uk

Study Skills 01865 280892
For information about Study Skills courses: studyskills@conted.ox.ac.uk

Day & Weekend School Office 01865 270368 / 270380
For information on day schools and weekend courses: dayweek@conted.ox.ac.uk

OUDCE Reception 01865 270360
For general enquiries about OUDCE or to leave messages if other staff are not available.

Teaching outcomes

Credit Transfer Scheme and Collaborative Scheme with the Open University

Students who successfully complete this two-year course will gain 120 CATS points at FHEQ Level 5 in the Department’s Qualifications and Credit Framework. These credit points are widely recognised in terms of credit for transfer to other Higher Education institutions, including the Open University and other universities with modular course structures such as Oxford Brookes University. Opportunities vary for the transfer of credit, so students who are considering taking this course in order to transfer credit are advised to discuss the possibilities with the Department’s Registry (email: registry@conted.ox.ac.uk or telephone: on 01865 280355).

Apply for this course