Eddie Procter
Department: Archaeology
Discipline: Archaeology
Project Summary
My PhD research project is entitled The topographical legacy of the medieval monastery: evolving perceptions and realities of monastic landscapes in the south-eastern Welsh Marches.
This research project seeks to examine to what extent elements of a medieval monastic landscape can be discerned within the historic landscape of today, both in terms of physical, topographical features and also how these landscapes have been perceived and experienced.
Moreover, a hypothesis that the topographical legacy of monasticism has remained a central element (though sometimes hidden or unseen) of the genius loci of the places looked at in this study is explored, examining how this has influenced the way in which these landscapes have been developed, experienced and remembered up to the present day.
The tools of conventional landscape history and archaeology are utilised, combined with approaches more commonly associated with cultural geography to provide a comprehensive analysis – a deep topography - of the perceptions and realities of these complex landscapes.
Regular updates on my PhD research will be posted on my Landscapism blog.
Supervisory Team
Professor Stephen Rippon and Professor Oliver Creighton.
Wider Research Interests
I am particularly interested in the interface between landscape history and cultural geography; in what could be termed, to use Nick Papadimitriou's term, deep topography.
My research takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the fields of landscape archaeology, landscape history and cultural landscapes; specifically focussing on the evolution of the landscape through the early medieval period to the present day, including walking as research practice, experiential phenomonological and psychogeographical approaches to landscape perception.
Within this context, upland and monastic landscapes, hodology and routes through the landscape, landscape etymology, landscape topology, field photography and survey, and historic and digital mapping are of particular interest. I am also interested in culture-nature debates and tensions inherent in landscape discourse. Geographically, my research has generally centred on the south-eastern Welsh Marches, Gloucestershire, Somerset, and the Pennines.
My Academia.Edu profile can be found here.
Authored Publications/Reports
Procter, Eddie (2012) Llanthony Priory in the Vale of Ewyas: The Landscape Impact of a Medieval Priory in the Welsh Marches, Archaeology in Wales, 51, 93-106
Procter, Eddie (2014) Rewilding: An Alternative View, Landscapes, 14.1, 77-81
Procter, Eddie (2015) Unseen Places: Exploring ‘Hidden’ Topography in a Historic Upland Landscape, Unofficial Britain website: http://www.unofficialbritain.com/unseen-places-exploring-hidden-topography-in-a-historic-upland-landscape/
Procter, Eddie (2014) The Rhiws of the Black Mountains: Liminal Ways, Old Beyond Memory, The Clearing web site: http://theclearingonline.org/2014/10/eddie-procter-the-rhiws-of-the-black-mountains-liminal-ways-old-beyond-memory/
Procter, Eddie (2007) Trewyn Chapel, Monmouthshire , Medieval Settlement Research Group Annual Report , 22, 56-57
Procter, Eddie (2018) The Path to the Monastery: Communication Networks Linking Monastic Estates in the Southern Welsh Marches (forthcoming).
