PhD - Full-time
"Understanding castles and their landscapes: A comparative analysis of castle siting patterns in Devon and Dorset (1066-1200), using historical, archaeological, and digital approaches"
Leonie Hicks and Catriona Cooper
I research rural Norman castles in the English South-West applying historical, archaeological, and GIS methods to answer questions regarding how movement, visibility, and accessibility within local landscapes influenced castle-siting patterns. As part of my framework as a regional study, I incorporate a comparative analysis between Devon and Dorset.
This comparative element allows me to explore how similar and contrasting landscapes influenced castle-siting decisions. My methodology contextualises each case study’s historical and archaeological importance as an individual site and its surrounding landscape. These contexts then allow me to computationally generate theoretical environments to model movement within each county and determine if visibility and accessibility from and of specific sites were determining factors in siting decisions.
Alison Norton is a Ph.D. candidate in medieval history and archaeology at Canterbury Christ Church University. Her research focuses on rural Norman castles in the English South-West, where she applies historical, archaeological, and GIS methods to answer questions regarding how movement, visibility, and accessibility within local landscapes influenced castle-siting patterns.