History Research

History research at the Department for Continuing Education
The Department for Continuing Education has a long tradition of teaching and research in historical subjects. Research in the Department is currently focussed 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
Research highlights, past and present:
- 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.
Lord Herbert of Cherbury

Lord Herbert of Cherbury
Lord Herbert was a complex, highly accomplished and much travelled Anglo-Welsh nobleman.
Upcoming courses
Qualifications
The two-year part-time Foundation Certificate in History introduces key historical periods and is equivalent to the first year of a full-time undergraduate degree in History at Oxford University.
Online - flexible • Qualifications
Advance your skills and methodology in researching local, regional and social history with this one-year, part-time online advanced diploma. Taught completely online, the course is taught at third-year undergraduate level.
Qualifications
For lovers of art with no previous experience of the subject, this two-year part-time course offers an excellent introduction to those who want to develop their knowledge through structured study. Taught at first-year undergraduate level.
Qualifications
A flexible, part-time route to an Oxford University qualification. Gain credit from flexible short online courses, weekly classes, and the Oxford University Summer School for Adults. Explore a wide range of subjects in this multidisciplinary programme.
Qualifications
A part-time modular course lasting two years, which covers English society from the early medieval period to the late twentieth century. Taught mainly through residential weekends, the course makes excellent use of Oxford’s historical resources.