History research
The Department for Continuing Education has a long tradition of teaching and research in historical subjects. Research in the Department is currently focused on the following areas:
- Late medieval Britain
- Social and economic history in Britain from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century
- The history of religion in Britain from the eighteenth to the twentieth century
- The history of decoration in Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
- The history of the British in India and the British Empire
- Modern British and European history
- The historic environment
- The British and Irish Civil Wars, 1640-1660
- Local history
Academic researchers
Research highlights, past and present:
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The Invisible East programme brings the medieval Islamicate East to the forefront of historical research by studying texts written in the multilingual world of medieval Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia. The programme is financed until 2025 with a core staff of seven researchers funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and European Research Council (ERC) respectively in the Go.Local and PersDoc projects both of which are led by Senior Research Fellow Dr Arezou Azad.
- The Fray on the Meadow: Violence and a Moment of Government in Early Tudor England, History Workshop Journal (2017, Jon Healey).
- The Raj at War: a People's History of India's Second World War (2015, Yasmin Khan).
- The First Century of Welfare: Poverty and Poor relief in Lancashire 1620-1730 (2014, Jonathan Healey) This book is the first major regional study of poverty and its relief in the seventeenth century, the first century of welfare.
- The Forgotten Prime Minister: The 14th Earl of Derby (2009, Angus Hawkins) The first ever full biography of the 14th Earl of Derby - the first British statesman to become prime minister three times and the longest serving party leader in modern British party politics.
The British and Irish Civil Wars, 1640-1660
The British and Irish Civil Wars, 1640-1660
Uncovering the lives of forgotten soldiers and war widows of the British Civil Wars.
The Pioneer Generation: historical narratives of British South Asian lives, 1945-1968
The Pioneer Generation: historical narratives of British South Asian lives, 1945-1968
Yasmin Khan's British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship research programme.
Prices from the Durham Obedientiary Accounts, 1368 – 1460
Prices from the Durham Obedientiary Accounts, 1368 – 1460
A study of commodity prices in the account rolls of Durham Cathedral Priory and its dependent cells in the period 1368 - 1460.
Through an artist’s eye: Felicia Browne and the Spanish Civil War
Through an artist’s eye: Felicia Browne and the Spanish Civil War
Professor Buchanan helps to contextualise the work of Felicia Browne.
Upcoming courses
DPhil students
DPhil in English Local History
Drawing on knowledge and skills acquired in many years of providing specialist classes in local history.DPhil in Architectural History
The programme is defined broadly to include the built and designed landscape, and aspects of interior design and is designed to enable students to undertake individual research.