Leicestershire Victoria County History
Project Development Officer (Charnwood Roots Project)

Contact Details

• Tel: +44 (0)116 252 5946
• Email: jad17@le.ac.uk
• Office: Room 001, 1 Salisbury Road

Role

Over the next nine months, I will be developing detailed plans for a major heritage project which will research the history of twenty-seven towns and villages in and around the Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire. This work is being carried out on behalf of Leicestershire Victoria County History Trust and is funded by a development grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Charnwood Roots Project will involve around 400 volunteers of all ages from across the Charnwood area who will be trained by historians and heritage professionals. As well as learning how to use and interpret maps and archival records, volunteers will get involved in archaeological digs, a major oral history project, and building and landscape surveys. Outreach activities are planned with local schools in the area.

The results will be made available online and through podcasts, exhibitions, school resources, trails, a book and a concluding Charnwood Roots Heritage Festival. Finally, the research will be incorporated within the Victoria History of the Counties of England, a nationally important work of reference.

Research

My doctoral research explored the impact of the British occupation on the reconstruction of German cities after the Second World War. My initial interest was in housing policy and town planning legislation but I was also drawn to broader issues such as urban representations of local and national histories, and the relationship between memory, civic identity and the built environment.     
While I am primarily an historian of the twentieth century city, my interests are not limited to the modern and the urban. Work on the Leicestershire VCH project is providing a welcome opportunity to reconnect with long-standing interests in other fields such as landscape history and archaeology, and to develop new expertise in public history and the interpretation and representation of heritage.