About This Course
Course outline
Building on the interest in Bangor History’s ‘College on the Hill’ event for the University’s 140th Anniversary, this course explores different aspects of the history and heritage of north Wales. Our historians and archaeologists are passionate experts in their field of study, and the course is designed to introduce some of the more contested aspects of local and community history.
Across four weeks, participants will explore:
- The Castles of Wales: Past and Present (with Dr Euryn Roberts)
- Country Houses and the Welsh landscape (with Dr Lowri Ann Rees)
- Sandcastles and Sunny Rhyl (with Dr Mari Wiliam)
- Past, Present and Future: The changing uses of Welsh slate Quarries (with Dr Leona Huey)
Who is it for?
Adult/community education course: Interested members of the community, historical societies, University staff and students, and prospective students.
Learner Outcomes
1. Awareness of the north Wales’s history and heritage
2. Understanding of ways in which local history can be contested
Benefits of attending
- Wider historical knowledge
- Meet likeminded people.
- Find out what the Bangor History team offer
Duration
4 weeks, 2hr class per week.
Tutors
Dr Marc Collinson (Convenor)
Dr Marc Collinson teaches contemporary history and politics. An active political historian of post-war Britain, Dr Collinson is interested in electoral phenomena (including by-elections), political parties, and policymaking. He is currently writing a study of Smethwick in electoral politics, c. 1955-1970.
Dr Collinson currently acts as Programme Lead for BA Politics. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Dr Lowri Ann Rees
Dr Rees completed her BA, MA and PhD in History at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. A Senior Lecturer in Modern History at the School of History, Law and Social Sciences, her teaching focuses on nineteenth century British history. She completed her Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education at Bangor University, and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research interests centre on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Wales, in particular the landed elite and their country estates. She has published on paternalism and rural protest, the Rebecca Riots, the land agent, new wealth and social mobility, and Welsh sojourners in India.
Dr Mari Wiliam
I decided to study History at University for the simple reason that I enjoy the subject, and I still delight in it: there is always something new to learn, and this curiosity can help to understand the world we live in today. So, over 20 years since I came to Bangor University as an undergraduate student (then MA and PhD) I am still here, and a Lecturer in Modern History and Welsh History since 2013.
I mainly look at history from the close of the Victorian era to the beginning of the 21st century, and have two main interests in my research and teaching. Firstly, exploring national identities, specifically in Wales. Secondly, delving into the history of everyday life, which gives us a view of how ordinary people have lived in the past. Together this means that many of my modules are eclectic in content, with discussions of topics ranging from nationalism, the monarchy, devolution and gender to areas such as the nuclear industry, landscape studies and histories of food, animals and tattoos.
Among the modules I have on the books at the moment are Wales in the Modern World; Re-igniting the Dragon: Wales after 1939; Britain in the Jazz Age; Nationalism in the UK and Raving in the 1990s. At MA level I coordinate the Welsh history module Global Wales. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and I love teaching in Welsh and English.
I am fortunate to be supervising talented PhD researchers, who are looking at areas such as the history of mountaineering and right-wing nationalism. I also co-supervise a number of ISWE doctorates on topics such as squatters & rural settlements and women in agriculture.
Dr Euryn Roberts
Euryn Rhys Roberts is a Lecturer in Medieval and Welsh History. He studied for his doctorate at Bangor under the supervision of Professor Huw Pryce, having previously obtained an MA (Welsh History) degree from Bangor and a BA (Modern History) degree from the University of Oxford. He specializes in the history of Wales during the Middle Ages and is also interested in how the medieval past is used and presented in contemporary Wales. He teaches on various aspects of medieval British and European history.
Dr Leona Huey
Leona's current area of study is in the field of post medival archaeology, with a focus on confinement, internment and conflict. Archaeological sites under current investiagtion include the Prisoner of War camp at Frongoch.
Course Content
What will you study on this course?
Sessions are held on these dates:
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19 March 2025: The Castles of Wales - Dr Euryn Roberts
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26 March 2025: The Welsh Country House - Dr Lowri Ann Rees
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2 April 2025: The changing uses of Welsh slate Quarries - Dr Leona Huey
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9 April 2025: Sandcastles and 'Sunny Rhyl'- Dr Mari Wiliam