History
Welcome to the Department of History
History has long been one of the strongest subject areas at the University of Winchester, with high-quality imaginative teaching and a consistently high student satisfaction rate.
We are a community of internationally recognised scholars with particular research strengths in Classical, medieval and early modern history, local and regional history, and modern British and contemporary international history. We incorporate our research into our teaching and we actively contribute to current academic debates.
Our degrees offer a broad as well as deep experience that can open up numerous career paths. Extensive options allow you to either pursue your specific interests or to experience a wide range of history. Meet Emily Bennett, a 2018 History graduate who went on to a right royal career!
Our students are a valued part of our research culture and we offer opportunities to get directly involved with our research. The Winchester Research Apprenticeship Programme (WRAP) is a pioneering scheme offering bursaries to undergraduate students to work with an academic on a real research project.
There are also wonderful extracurricular volunteering opportunities for our students to enrich their course experience. Meet History graduates Ellie and Julie, who have been volunteering for the Winchester Heritage Open Days.
We have a dynamic community of Master’s, MPhil and PhD students, and we welcome enquiries about postgraduate study. Our academics can supervise a wide range of topics, ranging from the Anglo-Saxon and medieval periods to the Holocaust and Colonialism. For more information on research degrees at Winchester, see the tabs below.
An outward-looking department
Free research seminar series, open to staff, students and the general public alike, are organised every academic year by the Wessex Centre for History and Archaeology, the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Research and the Modern History Research Centre.
Winchester historians regularly participate in public engagement activities such as the annual BBC History Weekend and the Winchester Heritage Open Days. All WHODS 2020 eventshave been recorded and will be made available online soon.
Medieval experts Dr Katherine Weikert, Prof. Ryan Lavelle and Prof. Barbara Yorke in conversation with TV presenter, author and historian Prof. Michael Wood at the 2018 Winchester Heritage Open Days
We publish popular history articles, give interviews and guided tours, and act as historical advisors for TV dramas such as the hit series The Last Kingdom, about King Alfred and Wessex (find out more about the vital role of Winchester historical expertise in the making of The Last Kingdom).
Books
Our books are best-selling and award-winning, such as Ryan Lavelle's Alfred's Wars, and Carey Fleiner's Writer's Guide to Ancient Rome.
- Read Prof. Ryan Lavelle's blog about his latest book Places of Contested Power and watch the video in which he discusses the book.
- Listen to Dr Carey Fleiner's interview about her book A Writer's Guide to Ancient Rome
For more recent books by our historians, explore the links below and their academic profile pages (see Meet the Team).
So much more to explore!
Find out more about the History Department and become part of our vibrant community.
Meet the History team
Academic team
- Prof. Chris Aldous, Professor of Modern International History
- Dr Mark Allen, Senior Lecturer in Modern History
- Dr Paola Bassino, Senior Lecturer in Classical Studies
- John Blockley, Lecturer in Modern British and European History
- Dr Natalya Chernyshova, Senior Lecturer in Modern History
- Neil Curtin, Senior Lecturer in American History and Head of Department
- Dr Sian Edwards, Senior Lecturer in Modern British History
- Dr Carey Fleiner, Senior Lecturer in Classical and Medieval History
- Dr Robert Gray, Senior Lecturer in Environmental History
- Dr Xavier Guégan, Senior Lecturer in Colonial and Postcolonial History
- Dr Robert Houghton, Senior Lecturer in Early Medieval European History
- Dr Graciela Iglesias Rogers, Senior Lecturer in Modern European and Global Hispanic History
- Prof. Ryan Lavelle, Professor of Early Medieval History
- Dr Gordon McKelvie, Senior Lecturer in Late Medieval History
- Dr Eoghan Moloney, Senior Lecturer in Classical Studies
- Dr Emiliano Perra, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History
- Dr James Ross, Reader in Late Medieval History
- Dr Simon Sandall, Senior Lecturer in Early Modern British History
- Dr Emily Stiles, Lecterer in Modern History
- Dr Katherine Weikert, Senior Lecturer in Early Medieval European History
- Dr Ellie Woodacre, Senior Lecturer in Early Modern European History
- Dr Cindy Wood, Senior Lecturer in Medieval History
Emeritus Professors
Other lecturing staff
Visiting Research Fellows
Research staff
Dr Matthew Holford, Research Officer Inquisitions Post Mortem Project
Lisa Liddy, Research Assistant
Research in History
Research strengths and centres
Local and regional history
The Wessex Centre for History and Archaeology, founded in 2004, encourages and coordinates research within the Wessex region (defined as the historic counties of Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire), while the Southern History Society focusses on all the historic southern counties of England.
Medieval and Renaissance history
Winchester is a dynamic hub for medieval and Renaissance research. From kings and queens to warfare and welfare, from the Anglo-Saxons to the Renaissance, our academics are leading specialists in their fields and work closely with other specialists around the University such as our Classical/medieval archaeologists and Old/Middle English experts. Visit the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Research page to find out more.
Early Modern and Modern history
Winchester's Modern and Early Modern historians have expertise in such areas as the Holocaust, Post-War Japan, the Soviet era and Colonialism, while a particular Early Modern specialism is Postcolonialism. Visit the Modern History Research Centre page to find out more.
For further research strengths, visit the individual profile pages of History academics via the links above.
Postgraduate research supervision
We offer research supervision in a wide range of subjects. To find out more, explore our academic staff profile pages above for individual areas of supervision or use the Find an Expert search bar below.
Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014
Output
Of the publications produced by the History Department, 15.4% were rated as ‘world-leading’ (4*) and a further 41% regarded as ‘internationally excellent’ in terms of originality, significance and rigour (3*).
Impact
In terms of ‘impact’, 60% of the History Department’s work was deemed to have ‘very considerable impacts in terms of their reach and significance’ (3*), a further 30% to have ‘considerable impacts’ in these respects (2*).
The two impact case studies submitted – on Fifteenth-Century England and the Local and Regional History of Wessex – reflected the History Department’s longstanding expertise in these areas, which has been refreshed in recent years by the appointment of new staff. Well-funded projects such as Mapping the Medieval Countryside, using the latest techniques to digitise landholding records, together with excellent research on Richard III, have attracted national and international interest, stimulated by the excavation of Richard III’s remains. These projects continue, as does our work on Anglo-Saxon Wessex, which has generated exhibitions of international significance and reach.