A Tribute to WG Hoskins - The Father of Landscape History

Overview

What you will study

In his pioneering work The Making of the English Landscape (1955), William George Hoskins (1908-1992) claimed ‘to those who know how to read it aright, the English landscape is the richest historical document we possess’. The book demonstrated the profound impact of human activity on the evolution of both rural and urban English Landscapes, introducing a brand-new source of primary information for scholars of various disciplines. Over the subsequent decades, Hoskins’ work has had profound impact on the work of historians, geographers, archaeologists, planners and conservationists, transforming their approaches to local, regional and national studies. 

All the speakers in the eventoffered by University of Oxford , A Tribute to WG Hoskins - The Father of Landscape History , have been closely associated with Hoskins and his work in one way or another. Malcolm Airs and Trevor Rowley were his postgraduate students at Oxford in the 1960s and their own careers have been heavily influenced by his ideas. Robert Peberdy is writing his definitive biography and Peter Jones will look back at the 1970s BBC series he produced with ‘Bill’, as he was affectionately known by the film crew. Clips from the television series will be shown during the day.