The Rhug Project: Fully funded 3 year PhD Studentship in Welsh history, culture and landscape studies, c.1450-1700
Bangor University’s Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates (ISWE) invites applications for a fully-funded 3 year PhD Studentship focusing on the history, culture and landscape of the Rhug Estate in north Wales during the period c.1450-1700. This unique studentship is sponsored by the Rhug Estate and includes a full stipend for three years in addition to the cost of all tuition fees and funding to attend an international conference.
Supervised by an expert and interdisciplinary academic team including Professor Huw Pryce (Professor of Welsh History), Professor Peredur Lynch (Professor of Welsh) and Dr Shaun Evans (ISWE Project Manager), this project provides an outstanding opportunity for a motivated, talented and ambitious graduate looking to develop a career in the academic and / or cultural heritage sectors. The successful candidate will be based in the School of History and Archaeology.
The Rhug Estate
Founded in medieval times by descendants of Owain Brogyntyn, by the beginning of the 16th century the Rhug Estate had been acquired, through marriage, by the Bachymbyd branch of the influential Salesbury family, who over a period of two centuries developed it into one of the most prominent landholding estates in north Wales. Over subsequent generations the estate was acquired by the Vaughans of Nannau, before being inherited by Charles Henry Wynn (1847-1911) of Glynllifon in 1859. From him the estate has passed by descent to its current owner, the 8th Baron Newborough. The Rhug Estate is now a vibrant rural enterprise, characterised by its award-winning organic farm, shop and bistro situated at Corwen
Project Description
The successful candidate will develop a research project centred on the development of the Rhug Estate under the Salesbury family during the 16th and 17th centuries. This focus on the identity and influence of one of Wales’ most prominent gentry families and estates over the course of 200+ years provides an outstanding prism for the creation of an innovative, interdisciplinary research project capable of making important contributions towards both Welsh and broader historiographical traditions. Contextualised by subjects such as the Reformation and the Renaissance, the so-called ‘Acts of Union’ between England and Wales and the Civil War, potential themes include:
- The development and management of the family’s territorial influence: including estate building, land management and landlord-tenant relations;
- The Salesburys – a Welsh gentry family: including perceptions and performances of status, honour and authority;
- Welsh cultural engagement: including bardic patronage and manuscript collecting;
- Politics, patronage and power: including local office-holding and parliamentary representation;
- Fashioning the landscape of the Rhug and Bachymbyd estates: including architecture and visual and material culture;
- Dynastic identity and family life: including ancestry, inheritance, marriage strategy, kinship and familial roles;
- Religion, revolt and royalism: Including Catholicism, the Civil War and continental conflicts.
This project is part of an exciting partnership between Bangor University and the Rhug Estate. The project will involve extended periods of archival research into unexplored estate records at places such as Gwynedd Archives and the National Library of Wales, with additional opportunities to engage with sources including Welsh praise poetry, architecture and visual and material culture at sites such as Rug Chapel (CADW).
Alongside the production of a doctoral thesis, the successful candidate will work closely with the Rhug Estate, heritage organisations, local history societies and community groups to create an engaging programme of heritage outputs (web content, exhibitions, guided walks etc.) which promote the history of the Rhug Estate. These heritage outputs will form an integral part of the PhD project and its assessment.
For more information please click "Further Official Information" below.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
https://www.bangor.ac.uk/history/documents/project-rhug-phd-studentship.pdf