(NEEHI)

NORTH EAST ENGLAND HISTORY INSTITUTE

THE CENTRE'S RESEARCH QUESTION...

WHAT MAKES A REGION?

Strategic research needs a strategic question. NEEHI has always been concerned with the North-East's past. With support form the AHRC, it turned to one of the big questions of our time: what makes a region distinctive and how do regions develop over the centuries? Put another way, can North-East England, which many people see as possessing one of the most distinctive present-day regional societies, be proved to have been a coherent and self-conscious region in the historical record from the beginning of the Middle Ages to the present day, and, if so, what were its origins and how did its regional identity change over time?
Many of the results of this initiative can be viewed under 'publications'. Below, we present a summary of recent research of the five NEEHI universities - often addressing the wider question of the significance of regions and regional identity in a Europe-wide context. Understanding what makes a region and how regions develop is fundamental to many aspects of the development of modern Europe - NEEHI will make the North-East a test-bed for gaining that understanding.

DURHAM UNIVERSITY

Durham historians have a long tradition of working on the north-east, especially in the medieval and early modern eras. Current experts in the department include:
Professor David Rollason on early medieval Northumbria (Northumbria 500-1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom, Cambridge University Press, 2003)
Dr. Ben Dodds on the medieval economy (Peasants and Production in the Medieval North-east: the Evidence from Tithes, 1270-1536, Boydell Regions and Regionalism, 2007)
Dr. Christian Liddy on late medieval society (C. D. Liddy and R.H. Britnell eds., North-east England in the Later Middle Ages, Boydell, Regions and Regionalism, 2005)
Dr. Adrian Green on early modern social and economic history (Adrian Green, Elizabeth Parkinson, & Margaret Spufford , County Durham Hearth Tax Assessment Lady Day 1666, British Record Society 2006; Adrian Green and A. J. Pollard eds. Regional Identities in North-East England, 1300-2000, Boydell Regions and Regionalism, 2007)
Dr Andrezj Olechnowicz on nineteenth and early twentieth century social history in the north-east
Professor Ranald Michie on modern financial history.

NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

At Newcastle, the theme of research has centre on 'external relationships' - how far and at what periods the region had developed a characteristic pattern of external relations, especially with metropolitan England and Scotland, and seaward to Scandinavia and the Baltic states. Research will proceed on the basis laid by Prof. Patrick Salmon (Newcastle) and his colleagues in the study of relations with the Baltic.
Current topics include Port Cities and Maritime Urban Systems: The North East of England and Europe's Northern Seas 1850-1914 and Anglo-Russian Relations in Northern Waters in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY

There has been success in obtaining a small grant from the Millfield House Trust to catalogue the T Dan Smith oral archive. A one day workshop in September 2006 focussed on the life and times of Smith, and a new doctoral student is to research a biography.
Dan Jackson (on the effect of the Edwardian Irish Home Rule Crisis on British society) and Laura Goldsmith (on social housing in Newcastle and Aarhus, Denmark, post-1945) have completed their PhDs and been successfully examined. Jude Murphy's PhD on the folk music revival on Tyneside will be examined in June.

SUNDERLAND UNIVERSITY

The University of Sunderland is currently hosting the Durham Victoria County History project on the History of Sunderland (all periods). Postgraduate research is also being completed on gardening in the North East and mining history. Completed PhDs include work on poverty in early modern County Durham.

TEESSIDE UNIVERSITY

TIME, SPACE AND BOUNDARIES

Teesside has addressed the theme of 'Time, Space and Boundaries', looking at the origins and development of the perceived and actual boundaries of the region. It is examining core-periphery relations within the region, and the question of where its centres of gravity lay at different periods.
An initial project is Gentry Society in the North-East in the 17th Century, which concerns particularly the question of how the gentry of the North-East viewed the region and its boundaries.

For the broader range of staff with research interests in regionalism elsewhere in Britain and beyond, see the list of supervisors under Postgraduate Opportunities.

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THE CENTRE'S RESEARCH QUESTION...	WHAT MAKES A REGION? Strategic research needs a strategic question. NEEHI has always been concerned with the North-East's past. With support form the AHRC, it turned to one of the big questions of our time: what makes a region distinctive and how do regions develop over the centuries? Put another way, can North-East England, which many people see as possessing one of the most distinctive present-day regional societies, be proved to have been a coherent and self-conscious region in the historical record from the beginning of the Middle Ages to the present day, and, if so, what were its origins and how did its regional identity change over time? Many of the results of this initiative can be viewed under 'publications'. Below, we present a summary of recent research of the five NEEHI universities - often addressing the wider question of the significance of regions and regional identity in a Europe-wide context. Understanding what makes a region and how regions develop is fundamental to many aspects of the development of modern Europe - NEEHI will make the North-East a test-bed for gaining that understanding.
	DURHAM UNIVERSITY Durham historians have a long tradition of working on the north-east, especially in the medieval and early modern eras. Current experts in the department include: Professor David Rollason on early medieval Northumbria (Northumbria 500-1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom, Cambridge University Press, 2003) Dr. Ben Dodds on the medieval economy (Peasants and Production in the Medieval North-east: the Evidence from Tithes, 1270-1536, Boydell Regions and Regionalism, 2007) Dr. Christian Liddy on late medieval society (C. D. Liddy and R.H. Britnell eds., North-east England in the Later Middle Ages, Boydell, Regions and Regionalism, 2005) Dr. Adrian Green on early modern social and economic history (Adrian Green, Elizabeth Parkinson, & Margaret Spufford , County Durham Hearth Tax Assessment Lady Day 1666, British Record Society 2006; Adrian Green and A. J. Pollard eds. Regional Identities in North-East England, 1300-2000, Boydell Regions and Regionalism, 2007) Dr Andrezj Olechnowicz on nineteenth and early twentieth century social history in the north-east Professor Ranald Michie on modern financial history.
	NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY At Newcastle, the theme of research has centre on 'external relationships' - how far and at what periods the region had developed a characteristic pattern of external relations, especially with metropolitan England and Scotland, and seaward to Scandinavia and the Baltic states. Research will proceed on the basis laid by Prof. Patrick Salmon (Newcastle) and his colleagues in the study of relations with the Baltic. Current topics include Port Cities and Maritime Urban Systems: The North East of England and Europe's Northern Seas 1850-1914 and Anglo-Russian Relations in Northern Waters in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
	NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY There has been success in obtaining a small grant from the Millfield House Trust to catalogue the T Dan Smith oral archive. A one day workshop in September 2006 focussed on the life and times of Smith, and a new doctoral student is to research a biography. Dan Jackson (on the effect of the Edwardian Irish Home Rule Crisis on British society) and Laura Goldsmith (on social housing in Newcastle and Aarhus, Denmark, post-1945) have completed their PhDs and been successfully examined. Jude Murphy's PhD on the folk music revival on Tyneside will be examined in June.
	SUNDERLAND UNIVERSITY The University of Sunderland is currently hosting the Durham Victoria County History project on the History of Sunderland (all periods). Postgraduate research is also being completed on gardening in the North East and mining history. Completed PhDs include work on poverty in early modern County Durham.
	TEESSIDE UNIVERSITY TIME, SPACE AND BOUNDARIES Teesside has addressed the theme of 'Time, Space and Boundaries', looking at the origins and development of the perceived and actual boundaries of the region. It is examining core-periphery relations within the region, and the question of where its centres of gravity lay at different periods. An initial project is Gentry Society in the North-East in the 17th Century, which concerns particularly the question of how the gentry of the North-East viewed the region and its boundaries. For the broader range of staff with research interests in regionalism elsewhere in Britain and beyond, see the list of supervisors under Postgraduate Opportunities. back to top