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Past Projects

Explore some of the work we have already completed.

Our completed projects

Below are some of the projects completed by the Centre for Landscape. They include a wide range of project types, including the archeological, European and early Medieval.

Frontiers of the Roman Empire digital humanities initiative

A research project that combines the passion and expertise for Roman frontier studies with the latest developments in digital humanities.

This project concerns archaeological and heritage management challenges. It employs digital solutions and tools to stimulate further research and learning. It draws on expertise, staffing and management from the Schools of History, Classics & Archaeology and Arts & Cultures.

Many exciting projects were undertaken during the course of the Initiative. We summarise these on the project website.

Lufton, Somerset: landscape, settlement and change in the first millennium AD

The late-Roman villa at Lufton was excavated during the 1950s and 1960s by Leonard Hayward FSA. It is an unusual structure dominated by a richly decorated ‘bath suite’ that some see as a Christian baptistery.

  • Project Leader: James Gerrard
  • Partners: South Somerset Archaeological Research Group

This unusual site is the focus for an interdisciplinary landscape project. It seeks to understand development of this part of Somerset during the first millennium AD.

This landscape is located on the periphery of local central places in the Iron Age, Roman and early medieval period. It offers a unique opportunity to study the major social, economic and political changes that swept across Britain between late prehistory and the high medieval period.

To date, our work has clarified the nature and extent of the partially excavated villa. Geophysical survey has also uncovered a hitherto unknown settlement, probably Iron Age/Romano-British in date.

Analysis of documentary and cartographic sources allow us to understand the complex agricultural exploitation of this landscape as well as its relationship with the short-lived Norman power centre at Montacute. (This is where William the Conqueror’s half-brother built a castle.)

Visit the Project Blog.

Rothley High Lake, Wallington, Northumberland

This research aims to provide greater understanding of the origins and development of this landscape. In particular, it examines the role that Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown may have played in its design and creation.

  • Project Dates: June 2015 – present
  • Project Leader: Dr Caron Newman and Prof Sam Turner
  • Sponsors: The National Trust

Rothley Lake consists of two separate lakes (High Lake and Low Lake) on either side of a road. It was created to give the impression of a single serpentine body of water. It is part of the historic Wallington Estate in Northumberland, though four miles north-east of Wallington Hall. Most, but not all, the historic Wallington Estate is now in the ownership of the National Trust. This includes the High Lake at Rothley. Both lakes are part of a designed landscape associated with Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. The origins and development of the Rothley High Lake are imperfectly understood and its true significance is not accurately appreciated.

The purpose of the work is to provide a greater understanding of the origins and development of the landscape. Brown’s involvement is very significant, because he was local to Wallington. He grew up nearby at Kirkhale and went to school in Cambo, on the Wallington Estate. It is likely that the Estate would have been influential in helping to form Brown’s ideas of landscape appreciation. Brown was the designer for Rothley Low Lake, and the High Lake is clearly in Brown's serpentine style. But there is no definite link between Brown and the High Lake.

Staff from the McCord Centre undertook survey and limited excavation at Rothley High Lake in 2012 and 2013. This latest phase of fieldwork included further excavation and survey. The aim was to answer the following research questions:

  • How much of the 18th century designed landscape at Rothley High Lake survives as identifiable features? And how much is potentially restorable? 
  • How many landscape features proposed by Lancelot Brown were implemented. And, proportionately, how much of the designed landscape can be attributed to him or considered to be influenced by him?
  • How do Rothley Lakes relate to the wider Wallington Estate designed landscape? Why were they originally constructed? What was their purpose? How did they develop and evolve?
  • How are Rothley Lakes linked to the wider, non-designed landscape? How was the Rothley Lakes designed landscape influenced by the pre-existing landscape? How did the lakes influence the development of the surrounding area?

The purpose of the work was to aid the National Trust’s decision-making in the management of the Rothley High Lake area. In particular, to identify conservation management appropriate to the historical character and significance of the designed landscape. The National Trust aims to make landscapes in its ownership available, stimulating and valued to a range of audiences, including the academic world. This is especially pertinent as 2016 marked the 300th anniversary of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown’s birth.

Contact

Dr Caron Newman

caron.newman@newcastle.ac.uk

Exploring European landscapes
  • Apalirou Environs Project, Naxos
    Project Leader(s): Knut Ødegård (Oslo), Håkon Ingvaldsen (Oslo), Jim Crow (Edinburgh), Athanasios K. Vionis (Cyprus), Sam Turner (Newcastle)
  • Cultural Heritage Through Time
    Project Leader(s): Jon Mills (Newcastle University)
  • The Lateran Project
    Project Leader(s): Ian Haynes (Newcastle University); Paolo Liverani (Università degli Studi di Firenze); Giandomenico Spinola (Musei Vaticani); Salvatore Piro (ITABC, CNR); Iwan Peveritt (Soluis)
Landscapes outside the UK or Europe
Projects in Britain
Projects in Europe
Projects further afield
Other completed/past projects
  • PI-Roe: Alternative landscape approaches/new style designations – future options for Natural England. Aug-Sept 2021. Collaborators: Clive Davies (NU); Jeremy Lake (CCRI); Jonathan Porter (Countryscapes). Project value: £9,912.
  • Instigator/Advisor Roe: Northern Heartlands, HLF Great Place Scheme.Project Team, Advisory Board: Opera North, Natural England, Durham CC, Durham Wildlife Trust, Active Durham, Visit County Durham, The Forge, Wear Rivers Trust, People into Enterprise, UTASS, County Durham Community Foundation, North Pennines AONB, Newcastle University (through MH Roe). Project value: £1.48m. https://northernheartlands.org/ Won Landscape Institute Award 2021 for Partnership & Collaboration.
  • Research Title: Towards Hydrocitizenship – Connecting communities with and through responses to interdependent, multiple water issues. Researchers: PI: O Jones (Bath). Co-Is: M H Roe (Newcastle); L McEwen & M Buser (UWE, Bristol); S Bottoms (Manchester); A Church (Brighton); P Coates (Bristol); G Evans (Middlesex); S Penrhyn Jones (Aberystwyth); A Plows (Bangor). Project value: £1.4m. Funding body: AHRC. https://www.hydrocitizenship.com/project-output.html
  • Research Title: Valuing Nature Network. Project examining interdisciplinary methods to build a socio-ecological decision-making tool in marine governance and policy. The Valuing Nature Network is an interdisciplinary network for valuing biodiversity, ecosystem services and natural resource use. 2012. Researchers: PI: S Chilton. Collborators: S Stead, H Metcalf, S Rushton, M H Roe, et al. Funding body: Natural Environment Research Council/Living With Environmental Change.
  • Research Title: ESRC/CASE Seminar (ESRC funded) Green Infrastructure Planning. RES-623-26-0005. ESRC Knowledge Transfer Seminar: Green Infrastructure Planning: Translating knowledge into planning practice and policy. Date: Thursday 25th June 2009. Researchers: PI: M H Roe. Total project value: £1,601.
  • Research Title: Green infrastructure, environmental perception and spatial behaviour. RES/0360/7243. Ref: PTA-033-2005-00001. Researchers: PI: M H Roe collaborating with North East Community Forests (NECF); Student: I C Mell. Total project value: £6,000 (over three years). Funding body: ESRC/CASE Studentship.
  • Research Title: ECOPLAN (Ecology, Planning and Landscape Applications Network). Researcher(s): PI: P Selman (GLOSCAT). Co-Is: M H Roe (Newcastle University); Dover (Myerscough), K Kirby (English Nature), P Dennis (MLURI, Aberdeen), R Macfarlane, (Northumbria) S Kidd (Liverpool), Hughes (Scottish Natural Heritage). Total project value: £11,944. Funding body: ESRC (seminar/network group).
  • MHR Paper given at first seminar in June 1999. Coastal Ecology and Landscape Planning. Paper published in Landscape Research. Nov. 2000.
  • Research Title: What is an ‘Urban National Park’? 2017-18. Researchers: PI: M H Roe. Co-Is: C Davies; T Townshend; C Ward Thompson (Edinburgh University); N Gulsrud (Copenhagen University). RA: Q Qin. Project value: £2,930.13. Funding Body: Catherine Cookson Foundation OSR/0360/UNIV/0007.
  • Research Title: Development of an approach to facilitate judgment on landscape change options. Jan-March 2010. Researchers: PI: M H Roe (Newcastle University). Co-Is: P Selman and C Swanwick (Sheffield). Project value: £10,462.62. Funding body: Natural England.
  • Research Title: Establishment of a baseline for, and monitoring of the impact of, the European Landscape Convention in the UK. Sept 2008-June 2009. Researchers: PI: M H Roe (Newcastle University); Co-Is: C Jones, Manchester; P Selman & C Swanwick, Sheffield; RA: I C Mell, Newcastle. Project value £56,000. Funding Body: Defra (and a Steering Committee) Research Contract: CR 0401
  • Research title: ECLAS 'Le:Notre' Thematic Network Project. April Researcher(s): M H Roe (est. 10 days/year) with representatives from 100+ universities from 30 countries across Europe. Leader: Professor R Stiles, Technische Universitat Wien. Total project value: €1,125,000. Funding body: European Union Erasmus-Socrates Programme.
  • Research Title: Research to support the implementation of the European Landscape Convention in England. November 2007-April 2008. Researchers: PI: M H. Roe, Newcastle; C Jones, Manchester; RA: I C Mell, Newcastle. Project value £23,676. Funding body: Natural England.
  • Research Title: Sustainable land use planning and environmental management for salinity-affected coastal regions of Bangladesh: a study on Rupsha Thana, Khulna District. April 2003-March 2006. Researcher(s): M H Roe (UK Co-ordinator); G Tipple (APL); S Speak (APL); M le Tissier (CRC); J Gower (AES) with Dr Mahmudul Hasan (Bangladesh Co-ordinator, Associate Professor, Urban and Rural Planning Discipline) and other researchers from Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh. Total project value: £60,000. Funding body: DFID/The British Council.
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