Chester Society for Landscape History
Upper storeys of Chester’s iconic Rows (Photograph: Vanessa Greatorex)
Forthcoming Events
Saturday 28 February 2026
1.45pm: AGM
2pm: Lecture (VISITORS WELCOME): RAF Sealand: A History
Speaker: Jennifer Watson, Church Warden of St Bartholomew’s Church, Sealand
Venue: St Columba’s Church Hall, Plas Newton Lane, Chester, CH2 1SA
Admission: Members free, Visitors £4,
Student Visitors £2
NB: Free car park; for directions see:
https://sscolumbaandtheresa.co.uk/about/st-columbas-church/directions-and-location/
Saturday 28 March 2026
2pm: Lecture (VISITORS WELCOME): The Welsh Copper Industry
Speaker: Rob Toomey
Venue: St Columba’s Church Hall, Plas Newton Lane, Chester, CH2 1SA
Admission: Members free, Visitors £4,
Student Visitors £2
What is Landscape History?
Landscape History is the study of how people have altered the landscape through time.
It seeks to explain the historical significance of the buildings, earthworks, flora and other physical features which are our common heritage. It embraces aspects of history, archaeology, architecture, geography, geology, botany and other disciplines.
“The English landscape itself, to those who know how to read it aright, is the richest historical record we possess.” – W.G. Hoskins, The Making of the English Landscape (1955).
Picks of the Week
Here are some links to online landscape history resources recently recommended by our Information Officer:
Successful rewilding at Knepp in West Sussex
The previously nature-depleted monoculture farmland at Knepp has been transformed into a mixture of parkland, scrubland, grassland, hedgerows, open glades and wetlands with the aid of Exmoor ponies, red and fallow deer, pigs, longhorn cattle and beavers. Since the rewilding project began in 2000, the number and variety of birds, butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies on the estate has massively increased, with the uplift for individual species ranging from 16% to 2,200%.
https://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/national/25756821.bird-butterfly-dragonfly-numbers-soar-flagship-rewilding-project/
Roman burial site in Cumbria
The largest Roman burial site so far known in Britain has been found along the A66 in Penrith. The excavation of 340 graves – with more potentially waiting to be found – indicates that both cremation and inhumation burials took place at the cemetery.
https://www.gbnews.com/science/archaeology-breakthrough-biggest-roman-grave-britain-mystery-solved-cumbria
Click on the blue text at the end of this sentence for links to previously recommended Online Resources or for links to specific topics, including: Directories/Databases/Aerial Photographs, Geology, Ecosystems, Prehistory, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Medieval, Tudor and Stuart, Castles, Churches/Cathedrals/Shrines, Industrial, Cheshire, Wales, Other Locations.