image for illustration: Joanna Theobald
Issue 28 of the Historic England (HE) Research Magazine covers a major study of the heritage of England’s suburbs and much more.
Historic England writes:
The articles in this issue demonstrate the variety of ways in which research at Historic England is made possible. Whether originating from internal teams of architectural investigators and data scientists, or emerging from externally funded research partnerships, collectively the outcomes support our work to protect and bring new life to our heritage.
From the built environment, Joanna Smith’s article ‘England’s Suburbs 1820-2020’ traces the long evolution of an internal programme to research 200 years of suburban growth, capturing the development and character of an often-overlooked aspect of heritage. Readers are offered a special discount for a new book resulting from the research, published in March 2025.
Moving from land to sea, in ‘From Pixels to Pasts: Uncovering the Value of Shipwrecks Through Social Media’, our Collaborative Doctoral Partnership PhD researcher Hannah Cocks shares new insight gained from social media on how people perceive and value the sites and stories of the shipwrecks that stud our coasts and seas. Hannah’s work is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. While many historic shipwrecks lie physically beyond our view, in ‘Women in Shipbuilding’ our Head of Marine and Coastal Heritage Antony Firth reveals a different kind of hidden history. Using photographs from the First World War, this collaborative research, funded by the Lloyds Register Foundation, makes visible the important contribution of women to the wartime shipyards of North-East England.
And finishing in a digital space, Martin Newman’s article ‘Improving Access to Historic Environment Information for Research’ introduces our programme to improve access to heritage resources and data that are increasingly important for researchers. Lastly you can catch up with the latest additions to our Research Reports database.
See more background in IHBC’s Context No. 181 – Urban Housing – September 2024 and on the IHBC’s Context Archive HERE
