Fiona Clapperton, Lauren Butler and Hannah Wallace; The University of Sheffield and Chatsworth

Time: 25-26 June 2018
Venue: University of Sheffield and Chatsworth, UK
Abstract Submission: 27 October 2017

This two-day conference seeks to bring together historians and heritage professionals to explore experiences of daily life and work in an extraordinary setting: the country house estate. The great rural seats of wealthy landowners have long captured academic interest and popular imagination. After the prospect of destruction threatened the survival of England’s remaining country houses in the 1970s, a concerted effort was made to protect them, and to recover the stories of those connected to them. Nevertheless, the history of the country house has primarily been perceived through the eyes of the landowners, with servants, tenants, and tradesmen confined to the peripheries – their lives dedicated to powering the power house.

This conference will focus on the individuals, groups, influences, and ideas that defined life in country houses and the communities surrounding them. The first day of the conference will take place at the University of Sheffield, and the second at Chatsworth, Derbyshire. This conference aims to foster cross-institutional dialogue on new approaches to the analysis and interpretation of country house communities. Read more and source … (Web)