Abstract

To date, any studies of how the English Landscape Art genre represented the common field landscape during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have been negligible. Waites’s research is the first extensive study of this subject. Recognition of this has been demonstrated by Waites being invited by the national centre for history, the Institute of Historical Research in collaboration with the Victoria County History project, to give a seminar paper on his work, at the University of London in March 2006. The paper was one contribution to a series of seminars called Locality & Region which sought to make an original contribution to local and regional history by drawing upon the long-established national resources of the VCH and co-operating with participants from universities, record offices, local history societies and heritage organisations, as well as with those engaged in independent research. On the strength of this paper, Waites was invited to collaborate on a project entitled ‘Changing landscapes, changing environments: enclosure and culture in Northamptonshire, 1700-1900’ with colleagues from the Institute of Historical Research, the University of Hertfordshire and English Heritage. The project has been awarded a total of £400,000 by the AHRC as part of their ‘Landscape and Environment’ stream. Work will start on this three-year project in May 2007. See http://www.landscapeandenclosure.com/index.html