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Master’s degree in COUNTRY HOUSE STUDIES
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Master’s degree in COUNTRY HOUSE STUDIES Hampton Court to ‘Downton Abbey’ The University of Buckingham’s
exclusively architectural-historical
Master’s programme in Country House
terms. Recent dissertations have
Studies offers the opportunity to pursue
surveyed, for example, the Baroque
research at Master’s level in any one of
mural in country house decoration; the
a wide range of country-house-related
use of music in the country houses
topics: from explorations of individual
during the 1650s; and the
houses and their architects and
professionalisation of the sale of
decorators, to studies of their social and
country estates in the eighteenth and
political use, and the role of the country
nineteenth centuries. The choice of
house in literature and film.
subject area is ultimately the student’s own.
Individual research topics are closely focused; but the approach of the course
The MA is awarded solely on the basis
is to encourage students to investigate
of the dissertation (there are no
the interconnections between the
‘exams’), and the relationship between
country house’s multiple facets and
you and your supervisor is therefore at
roles, rather than to examine it in
the heart of the course. The maximum
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length for the MA dissertation
Student and supervisor meet regularly
recommended by the School of
on a one-to-one basis to discuss, plan,
Humanities is 25,000 words (or
and review the dissertation as it
approximately 75 pages at line-spacing
develops through the year
of 1.5), excluding notes and references.
Defining a subject for research
Some students know from the outset the
not arrive at the final title of their
precise subject on which they intend to
dissertation until towards the end of the
work. For most, however, the definition
first Term ⎯ just before Christmas.
of a research proposal is usually a
The Course Director is available to
gradual process, with the student
offer advice to prospective students
starting with a general area of interest,
who would like to discuss possible
and then focusing on a more closely
subjects for their research before they
defined topic as a result of further
apply. He can be reached directly by
reading and consultation, usually with
email at:
the Course Director. Most students do
adrian.tinniswood@buckingham.ac.uk
Right: Cecil Beaton at Reddish House, Wiltshire
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The Seminar Programme Private research and supervision are
and-answer session. There is a break for
complemented by a rich programme of
drinks and then a seated dinner follows
seminars which give students direct
(three courses with wine) during which
access to some of the United
there is further questioning of the
Kingdom’s most distinguished scholars
speaker and a general conversation
of the country house. These take place
about the topic in hand. (The cost of all
in St James’s, at the Reform Club, 104
dinners is included within the fee.)
Pall Mall, in central London (see infra for further details).
This coming year’s seminars explore a broad range of topics, ranging from the
The seminars are of course academic
design and planning of houses since the
events, with a talk by a visiting expert;
Tudor period, through to the fortunes of
but they also have a social dimension,
the country house during the twentieth
bringing research students and senior
century.
scholars together to discuss matters of common interest in an informal and
Two current owners, the Duchess of
congenial atmosphere. Each seminar
Argyll and the Earl of Devon, discuss
starts at 6:30 pm, with an illustrated
what is involved in managing, living in,
presentation by the visiting speaker and
and presenting to the public a major
is followed by a 40-minute question-
country house in the present day.
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Seminar dates for 2022-23 Our seminar programme for 2022-23 will be confirmed on 31 March 2022. By way of illustration, the follow are details of the current programme. ▪
18 October 2022
Nicholas Kingsley ‘Researching the Country House’
▪
1 November 2022
Dr John Goodall ‘The Country Houses of the Long Middle Ages: 1480-1640’
▪
15 November 2022
Dr Simon Thurley ‘Country Houses of the Stuart Courts 1603-1685’
▪
29 November 2022
Sophie Andreae ‘Sir Robert Taylor, Barlaston Hall and Danson Park: a Case Study’
▪
10 January 2023
Jeremy Musson ‘The Country Houses of Robert Adam’
▪
24 January 2023
Rosemary Hill ‘The Earl and the Architect: Pugin and Lord Shrewsbury’
▪
7 February 2023
The Earl of Devon ‘Powderham Castle: 600 Years of Social Purpose and Private Ownership’
▪
21 February 2023
Lucy Worsley ‘Artisan Mannerism and the Great Household’
▪
7 March 2023
The Duchess of Argyll ‘Inveraray Castle: The Jewel in Scotland’s Crown’
▪
21 March 2023
Matthew Hirst ‘Transforming Woburn Abbey’
Right: Althorp House, Northamptonshire, from the air.
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About the seminar speakers Sophie Andreae CBE, FSA, is an
Charles Courtenay, 19th Earl of Devon,
architectural historian who has served
is a barrister and a crossbench member
as a Trustee of Historic Royal Palaces,
of the House of Lords. His ancestral
an elected Council Member of the
seat is the fortified manor house of
National Trust and as member of the
Powderham Castle in Devon.
Fabric Advisory Committee for St Paul’s Cathedral.
Dr John Goodall is architectural editor at Country Life. His publications
Eleanor Campbell, Duchess of Argyll (opposite page, bottom left) is President of the Georgian Group and a board member of Historic Houses. With her husband Torquhil Campbell, 13th Duke of Argyll, she runs Inveraray Castle in western Scotland.
include The English Castle (2011).
Rosemary Hill (below, left) is the author of God’s Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain (2007), a Wolfson History Prize winner. Her latest book is Time’s Witness: History in the Age of Romanticism (2021).
Matthew Hirst has been the Curator of Woburn Abbey, the residence of the Dukes of Bedford, and its collections since 2015.
Nicholas Kingsley is a Trustee of the Victoria County History, and an archivist and historian.
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Jeremy Musson FSA (above) is an
Country House Studies, and an
architectural historian. His most recent
historian and author. His latest
book, with Sir David Cannadine, is The
publication is Noble Ambitions: The
Country House: Past, Present, Future
Fall and Rise of the Post-War Country
(2018). He is a Senior Research Fellow
House (2021). For further information,
of the Humanities Research Institute,
see infra, p. 14.
University of Buckingham. Dr Lucy Worsley is Joint Chief Professor Simon Thurley FSA
Curator at Historic Royal Palaces and a
(bottom, right) is Provost of Gresham
presenter of television series on
College and Chair of the National
historical topics. Her books include
Heritage Memorial Fund. He was
Cavalier, a biography of William
previously Chief Executive of English
Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle
Heritage, and has written extensively on
(2007).
Britain’s royal palaces.
Adrian Tinniswood OBE FSA is Programme Director for research in
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Study visits to country houses in 2022-23 The programme includes two full-day
Adam’s most magnificent creations. A
field trips to country houses during the
further Research Day in the Spring
spring term. In 2022, the first of these
Term, on Tuesday 6 June 2023, to be
visits, on Tuesday 25 April 2023, is to
held at the Humanities Research
Knole and Ightham Mote in Kent: a
Institute in Buckingham, is combined
study in contrasts between the vast and
with a visit to Stowe House, the
palatial mansion of the Sackvilles, Earls
magnificent eighteenth-century palace
of Dorset, and the romantic but
of the Dukes of Buckingham and
perfectly formed Ightham, often
Chandos, with its park adorned by
described as the most complete small
Classical temples, located just two
medieval manor house in the south of
miles from the centre of the University.
England. A second visit, on Tuesday
(Dates are firm at the time of writing,
16 May 2023, takes in Syon House and
but subject to confirmation in the light
Osterley Park, both located in what was
of future government rules.)
formerly Middlesex: two of Robert
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Opposite page: Ightham Mote, Kent, begun in the 1340s, and acquired in 1591 by Sir William Selby, whose family resided in the house for the next three centuries.
Below: the entrance hall, evoking an ancient Roman basilica, at Syon House, Middlesex, by Robert Adam, created in the 1760s for the 1st Duke and Duchess of Northumberland.
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Venues Seminars and Dinners
Tutorials
Seminars and dinners take place at the
Tutorials usually take place at the
Reform Club (above), 104 Pall Mall,
University’s offices in Bloomsbury (51
London, SW1Y 5EW. View the
Gower St, London, WC1E 6HJ) or can
location on Google Maps. Nearest Tube
take place online if the student prefers.
Stations: Green Park and Piccadilly.
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Additional support In addition to the seminar programmes
manuscripts (from the Tudor period and
and students’ one-to-one meetings with
later), there is also a series of classes on
their supervisor, the programme also
palaeography (the reading of early
offers specialist classes on thesis-
handwriting) that will enable students
writing, referencing, and on how to use
to acquire fluency in the reading of
archival and on-line research resources.
manuscript sources.
For those who need to work with
Opportunities to take the MA research to PhD level Students who wish to take their
‘upgrading’ to doctoral study, they may
research further have the opportunity, at
submit their expanded dissertation for
the end of their year of MA studies, to
the PhD degree after a further two years
extend their studies to doctoral level.
of writing and research.
Where the topic and the related evidence is appropriate, students are permitted to treat their year of Master’s research as the first year of the three required for PhD study. If approved for Opposite: Badminton, Gloucestershire. Engraving by Johannes Kip, first published in 1712.
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Applying Requirements for admission The usual requirement for admission to the MA is an honours-level bachelor’s degree from a recognized university with either a First or an Upper Second. In exceptional circumstances, the Course Director may accept mature students without an undergraduate degree if they have relevant and appropriately extensive workexperience, and can satisfy the Course Director at an interview that they are able to undertake graduate-level research.
Life-long learning The University accepts appropriately qualified adults regardless of age. While we regularly accept candidates who are recent graduates, a significant proportion of our students opt to undertake research during or after a successful career in another context.
Further information For questions about the application process, please email Ms Lin Robinson at the Graduate Admissions Office: lin.robinson@buckingham.ac.uk For enquiries about the course, please email the Course Director: adrian.tinniswood@buckingham.ac.uk
Associate Students Those who wish to attend the talks and dinners, but who do not wish to take a degree, may join the course as Associate Students (in US usage ‘Audit Students’). This status will enable the student to attend the ten guest seminars and dinners, join the field trips, and to meet the guest lecturers, but does not require the submission of written work.
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Fees for 2022/23 Full-time (1 Year)
UK
£8,855
INT
£15,497
UK
£4,428
INT
£7,748
Associate Students
UK
£3,163
(1 year)
INT
£5,535
Part-time (2 Years)
The academic year has four terms, starting in October, and fees are charged termly in four instalments. The cost of seminar dinners are included within the tuition fee.
Below: Highclere Castle, Hampshire, a 1670s house, Gothicised in the 1840s; site of filming for the fictitious ‘Downton Abbey’.
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Programme Directors Adrian Tinniswood OBE FSA is the author of eighteen books on social and architectural history, including The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House Between the Wars, 1918-1939 (2016), which became a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. A sequel, Noble Ambitions: The Fall and Rise of the English Country House After World War II, was published in October 2021.
He is also the author of an important biography of the architect and polymath, Wren: His Invention So Fertile: A Life of Christopher Wren, and of a social history of a major gentry family, The Verneys: a True Story of Love, War and Madness in Seventeenth-Century England, which was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. He has worked with a number of heritage organisations including the Heritage Lottery Fund and the National Trust, and is currently Senior Research Fellow in History at the Humanities Research Institute, University of Buckingham. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2013 for his services to the national heritage.
Dr Adriano Aymonino, Co-Director of the programme, is one of Britain’s leading historians of the Classical tradition, particularly in the eighteenth century. He has curated several exhibitions, including Drawn from the Antique: Artists and the Classical Ideal, held at the Sir John Soane’s Museum in London in 2015. His
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book Enlightened Eclecticism, on the 1st Duke of Northumberland’s patronage of Robert Adam and others, was published to great critical acclaim by Yale University Press in 2021. He is currently working on a revised edition of Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny’s Taste and the Antique, to be published in 2022; and on a critical edition of Robert Adam’s Grand Tour correspondence. He is a Lecturer in the Department of History and the History of Art at the University of Buckingham. Below: Wilton House, Wiltshire.
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What our students say Matthew Beckett: ‘This course has
Gwyneth Davis: ‘The seminar
provided not only intellectually
speakers were enlightening and
satisfying teaching and discussion but
informative, and the chance to dine at
also a chance to interact with
the Reform Club was not to be missed!
recognised leaders in country house
I am really glad and proud that I
research, meet fellow enthusiasts, and
completed the programme. It’s an
profoundly develop my skills and
outstanding MA and
knowledge as part of producing the
I would recommend it without
dissertation.’ Matthew Beckett’s blog,
reservation to anyone ready for an
‘The English Country Seat’, can be
academic challenge.’
accessed here. Judiyaba: ‘A fantastic programme! Patrick Newberry: ’I was drawn to
The class is the ideal size and the guest
Buckingham by its great reputation
speakers at the seminars are so
both for scholarship and for innovation
knowledgeable that conversation is
in its development of programmes.
invariably lively and informative. It is a
Since starting the Country House MA, I
great opportunity to enjoy both the
have found that my expectations were
thrills and the occasional frustrations of
more than justified; indeed, they have
research and writing. I would happily
been far exceeded.’
do it all again.’
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Above: The Temple of Venus in the gardens of Stowe House, Buckinghamshire. Below: The Palladian Bridge at Stowe, with the Gothic Temple on the horizon beyond. Both will be visited in the course of the Research Day planned for 2023.
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The University of Buckingham Founded in 1973 as a university college
From the start, the university was
‘on the pattern of [the] great private
distinctive for its commitment to
foundations in the USA’, Buckingham
individual and small-group tutorial
was granted full university status, with
teaching, for the eminence of its
the power to confer degrees by royal
academic body, and for its prizing of
charter, in 1983 ⎯ the first independent
independence of thought and academic
university created since the 19th
freedom. It currently has just over 3,000
century. It is the only private university
students, almost evenly divided by
in the United Kingdom incorporated by
undergraduates and graduate
royal charter.
scholars.
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The university is located in the centre
nearby. Stowe House, former seat of the
historic market town of Buckingham on
Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos,
a fine campus surrounded on three sides
lies within walking distance of the main
by the Great Ouse River, with extensive
campus and offers one of the finest
lawns and gardens. Much of the fabric
18th-century, classically-inspired
of the university and the surrounding
landscapes in the whole of Europe.
town in medieval, with a notable series of buildings surviving from the 18th century. For teaching purposes, the
Above: the university’s Tanlaw Mill, a
university also maintains offices in
converted 19th-century mill which now
central London, in Gower St,
houses the student bar and gymnasium.
Bloomsbury, which are used for tutorials and occasional seminars. Opposite page: the Vinson Building, The environs of the town are renowned
viewed from the university bridge
for the distinction of the historic houses
across the Great Ouse.
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