More than muddy boots and ruined buildings: landscape interpretation with students

Interpretation of historical landscapes, in the physical environment or recovered from maps, photographs and other sources, has long been an interest of historical geographers. The introduction of new technologies in geographical information science, and collaborations with people who work on the history of the environment using paleo-liminology, and paleo-environmental and archaeological data, can broaden out what historical geographers do.

Some of the benefits of doing historical landscape analysis with your students:

• It takes students beyond (but still complements) historical geography in an archive

• An understanding of historical geography as being important to the contemporary manifestation and management of places and communities

• Embeds historical geography in the broader spectrum of geographical learning in a way that physical and human geographers, geologists and environmentalists can all relate to

• Brings lectures and seminars, and sources, to life

In these clips Briony McDonagh describes two different historical geography fieldtrips offered by the University of Hull, using landscape analysis to enhance student’s understanding of historical places and communities in Nottinghamshire and Shropshire.