University of Buckingham

University of Buckingham

Master of Arts in The English Country House from 1485 to 1945 by Research

The Master of Arts in The English Country House from 1485 to 1945 by Research in Arts is offered by University of Buckingham.

Program Length: 1 YEAR.

Master of Arts in The English Country House 1485-1945 by Research offered by the University of Buckingham at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences


This course is an interdisciplinary research programme enabling students to examine, by way of a dissertation, aspects of the history of the English country house. Students will be encouraged to consider the interrelation of architectural history, art history and social history in the evolution of the country house as a political powerhouse, a setting for the display of art and craftsmanship, a self-contained community and a symbol of continuity and loss in a changing world.

The MA is awarded solely on the basis of the dissertation, and the relationship between student and supervisor is at the heart of the course. However, a seminar programme which serves to complement the student’s individual research will explore various themes in a series of meetings which will be addressed by some of the United Kingdom’s most distinguished country house historians. These will be prefaced by a series of webinars introducing research techniques, with particular reference to the use of primary sources such as inventories, estate records and collections of private papers; an introduction to relevant library resources available in London and through the University of Buckingham’s online subscriptions; and an introduction to the most recent academic approaches to the subject.

The programme begins with an overview of the architectural and social history of the country house and an examination of recent academic perspectives on the subject, including the latest thematic and period-based approaches and studies of particular mansions and individual architects from Robert Smythson to Sir Edwin Lutyens. It goes on to discuss different aspects of the country house, and to explore how architectural form has been modified by social change.

London-based seminars begin in January 2021. Each will take place in the early evening, followed by a 40-minute question-and-answer session with the seminar speaker, and a dinner at which there will be further questioning of the speaker and a general conversation about the topic in hand.

Seminar papers explore architectural style; the mechanics of owning and living in a country house; and the wider cultural context, which has seen the country house playing a crucial role in the invention of the past, from Ben Jonson’s ‘To Penshurst’ to Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited.

The MA does not offer systematic instruction in the facts; instead, the emphasis is on independent thought and research.

At the heart of the Buckingham MA is the close working relationship between student and supervisor. While the final thesis must be an independent work, it is the supervisor who offers advice on refining the topic (if necessary), on primary sources, on secondary reading, on research techniques and on writing the final text (which should be not less than 25,000 words). Supervisors and students will meet frequently throughout the year, and not less than twice a term; and the supervisor shall always be the student’s primary contact for academic advice and support.


After Your Course
The University’s Course Directors, students’ supervisors, and the Research Officer and Tutor for Graduate Students are available to discuss students’ post-graduation plans and how they may utilise most effectively the skills acquired during their studies.



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