1 LISS1002 The English Country House: A Social History ... - API

Provisional Timetable
Monday 2 nd July 9:30-11:00 - Landowners and land-based wealth
Questions to consider:
How did the pattern of land ownership change c.1550-1950?
What has been the changing role of land-based wealth in British political and economic life?
How is the concept of landownership represented within the country house?
Recommended Reading:
Christopher Christie, The British Country House in the Eighteenth Century (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1999), pp. 4-25.
Suggested Reading:
David Cannadine, „The Landowner as Millionaire‟, in Aspects of Aristocracy (New Haven
and London: Yale University Press, 1994).
G.E. Mingay, English Landed Society in the Eighteenth Century (London: Routledge and
Paul, 1963).
F.M.L. Thompson, English Landed Society in the Nineteenth Century (London: Routledge
& Kegan Paul, 1963).
Monday 2 nd July 11:30-1:00 - The Builders of the Country House
Questions to consider:
What motivated the building (or rebuilding) of country houses?
How was the supply of money, labour and materials managed?
Recommended Reading:
Malcolm Airs, The Tudor and Jacobean Country House: a building history (Stroud: Alan
Sutton, 1995), pp. 3-22.
Suggested Reading:
Charles Samaurez Smith, The Building of Castle Howard (London: Pimlico, 1997)
John Summerson, „The Classical Country House in 18th-century England‟, in The
Unromantic Castle (London: Thames and Hudson, 1990), pp. 79-120.
Richard Wilson and Alan Mackley, Creating Paradise. The Building of the English Country
House 1660-1880, 2000.
Tuesday 3 rd July 9:30-11:00 - The Idea of the Architect
Questions to consider:
When is it legitimate to use the word „architect‟ when speaking of country house builders?
How does the concept of abstract design relate to the emergence of the architect?
Recommended Reading:
H.M. Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, 4th edn (New
Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 15-37.
Suggested Reading:
Richard Wilson and Alan Mackley, Creating Paradise. The Building of the English Country
House 1660-1880 (London: Hambledon and London, 2000) pp. 109-144.
John Wilton-Ely, „The Rise of the Professional Architect in England‟, in The Architect.
Chapters in the History of the Profession, ed. by Spiro Kostof (New York: Oxford
University Press,1977), pp. 180-208.
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