Research
I'm a freelance historian with a full-time job (not history related). By necessity my time for research is limited, so I concentrate on my local area (the East Midlands) and the 16th and 17th centuries.
That said, I have strayed from the East Midlands to research the history of sheep's milk cheese in England, which was published in Petits Propos Culinaires 107 in 2017. I've also provided information for the BBC2 programme, The Sweet Makers (for which I got a credit) and was interviewed by BBC Radio Nottingham about the food of the Pilgrim Fathers. Here is the clip. I've also researched the history of Henderson's Relish and provided information for their website as well as publishing a short book.
I have researched food and drink in early modern Derbyshire, uncovering the importance of oatcakes in the local diet! I presented a paper 'Oatcakes: farming and diet in the North Midlands' at a University of Leicester conference commemorating the work of Joan Thirsk - Farmers, Consumers and Innovators: the world of Joan Thirsk. This was published September 2016.
I also worked on a project with the Bakewell Old House Museum and Bakewell and District Historical Society to produce a small recipe book based on a late-17th century original. Appropriately enough it is largely based around biscuits, cakes and puddings. This has now been published.
I did some earlier research on food and drink in Nottinghamshire, which was presented as the Nottinghamshire History Lecture for the Thoroton Society in 2008 and published in their Transactions. I have now extended the scope of this research to cover the period up to 1700.
Ultimately I plan to extend my research to cover other counties in the region with a view to putting together some comparative and thematic studies of food and drink during the period.
I am on the committee of the Leeds Food History Symposium.
That said, I have strayed from the East Midlands to research the history of sheep's milk cheese in England, which was published in Petits Propos Culinaires 107 in 2017. I've also provided information for the BBC2 programme, The Sweet Makers (for which I got a credit) and was interviewed by BBC Radio Nottingham about the food of the Pilgrim Fathers. Here is the clip. I've also researched the history of Henderson's Relish and provided information for their website as well as publishing a short book.
I have researched food and drink in early modern Derbyshire, uncovering the importance of oatcakes in the local diet! I presented a paper 'Oatcakes: farming and diet in the North Midlands' at a University of Leicester conference commemorating the work of Joan Thirsk - Farmers, Consumers and Innovators: the world of Joan Thirsk. This was published September 2016.
I also worked on a project with the Bakewell Old House Museum and Bakewell and District Historical Society to produce a small recipe book based on a late-17th century original. Appropriately enough it is largely based around biscuits, cakes and puddings. This has now been published.
I did some earlier research on food and drink in Nottinghamshire, which was presented as the Nottinghamshire History Lecture for the Thoroton Society in 2008 and published in their Transactions. I have now extended the scope of this research to cover the period up to 1700.
Ultimately I plan to extend my research to cover other counties in the region with a view to putting together some comparative and thematic studies of food and drink during the period.
I am on the committee of the Leeds Food History Symposium.
Wollaton Hall - Outer Kitchen
(Image courtesy of Peter Brears)
My PhD research was focused on the sixteenth-century household accounts of the Willoughby family of Wollaton (near Nottingham) and Middleton (Warwickshire). The fascinating detail contained in these accounts allowed me to build up a picture of what life was like not just for the wealthy Willoughbys themselves but for their army of servants and the tenants and workers who tilled the fields. This case-study of life in a gentry household has been published as Plenti and Grase by Prospect Books.
Please feel free to contact me about my research if you are interested.
Please feel free to contact me about my research if you are interested.