Enfilade

From Edinburgh UP:

Humphrey Welfare, General William Roy (1726–1790): Father of the Ordnance Survey (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2022), 310 pages, ISBN: 978-1399505789, $120.

The first biography of William Roy, exploring his life, career, and legacy
• Considers the influences on William Roy and his work by examining the people in his circle, including some of the most famous scientists and explorers of the day
• Reviews the importance of the Military Survey of Scotland to the history of cartography
• Considers the significance of Roy’s experiments in measuring heights by barometric pressure
• Re-assesses—for the first time since 1917—his important contribution to British archaeology

Born in Clydesdale, William Roy was a polymath and a visionary. His work established the path that would lead to the formation of the Ordnance Survey and to all of the paper-based and digital mapping products that we use today. His story—very much one of the Enlightenment—demonstrates how one man’s curiosity and diligence enabled him to excel across a diverse range of topics: military reconnaissance and intelligence; the lessons that could be learned from the past about the tactical use of landscape; the science of determining the height of mountains; and the development of a meticulous methodology to achieve an unprecedented accuracy in topographical measurement. In this biography, Humphrey Welfare uncovers the career and activities of this important figure, and in doing so paints a vivid picture of the inner complexities of 18th-century Britain.

Humphrey Welfare is Visiting Fellow in the School of History, Classics, and Archaeology at the University of Newcastle. Formerly he was Director of the Architectural and Archaeological Survey at the Royal Commission, and, after merger with English Heritage, the Director of Research Projects. His last post before retirement in 2011 was as English Heritage Planning and Development Director for the North. Humphrey has published over forty papers in peer-reviewed journals on the archaeology and history of southern Scotland and northern England, as well as three books, including Roman Camps in England: The Field Archaeology (with V. Swan, HMSO, 1995). He is a former editor of the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

C O N T E N T S

Prologue: A Dinner Party for Captain Cook
Acknowledgements

Introduction
1  Foundations
2  The Map-maker: Developing the Soldier’s Eye
3  The Military Engineer: Reconnaissance, Resources, and Fortifications
4  The Antiquary in the Field: Empathy with the Army of Rome
5  The Practical and Sociable Scientist: Hypsometry and the Royal Society
6  The Geodesist: Large Triangles and Miniscule Adjustments
7  Aftermath and Legacy: The Birth of the Ordnance Survey

Appendix 1  Chronology
Appendix 2  General Roy’s Instructions on Reconnoitring
Appendix 3  Glossary

Abbreviations
Bibliographical References
Index

From Boydell & Brewer:

Richard Barber, ed., The Marlborough Mound: Prehistoric Mound, Medieval Castle, Georgian Garden (London: Boydell Press, 2022), 224 pages, ISBN: 978-1783271863 (hardcover), £45 / $65 | ISBN: 978-1787446748 (ebook), £20 / $25.

The Marlborough Mound has recently been recognised as one of the most important monuments in the group around Stonehenge. It was also a medieval castle and a feature in a major Georgian garden. This is the first comprehensive history of this extraordinary site.

Marlborough Mound, standing among the buildings of Marlborough College, has attracted little attention until recently. Records showed it to be the motte of a Norman castle, of which there were no visible remains. The local historians and archaeologists who investigated it found very little in the way of archaeological evidence beyond a few prehistoric antler picks, the odd Roman coin, and a scatter of medieval pottery. The most dramatic discovery came after the Mound Trust began to restore the mound in 2003. English Heritage was investigating Silbury Hill and arranged to take cores from the Mound for dating purposes. The results were remarkable, as they showed that the Mound was almost a twin of Silbury Hill and therefore belonged to the extraordinary assembly of prehistoric monuments centred on Stonehenge.

For the medieval period, this book brings together for the first time all that we know about the castle from the royal records and from chronicles. These show that it was for a time one of the major royal castles in the land. Most of the English kings from William I to Edward III spent time here. For Henry III and his queen Eleanor of Provence, it was their favourite castle after Windsor.

As to its final form as a garden mound next to the house of the dukes of Somerset, in the eighteenth century, this emerges from letters and even poems, and from the recent restoration. Much of this has been slow and painstaking work, however, involving the removal of the trees which endangered the structure of the Mound, the recutting of the spiral path and the careful replanting of the whole area with suitable vegetation. By doing this, the shape of the Mound as a garden feature has re-emerged, and can now be seen clearly.

This book marks the end of the first stage of the work of the Mound Trust, which, following the restoration, turns to its second objective of promoting public knowledge of the Mound based on scholarly research.

Richard Barber has had a huge influence on the study of medieval history and literature, as both a writer and a publisher. His first book on the Arthurian legend appeared in 1961, and his major works include The Knight and Chivalry (winner of the Somerset Maugham Award in 1971), Edward Prince of Wales and Aquitaine, The Penguin Guide to Medieval Europe, and The Holy Grail: the History of a Legend, which was widely praised and was translated into six languages.

C O N T E N T S

Preface — Barry Cunliffe
1  ‘One Remarkable Earthen-work’: The Neolithic Origins of the Marlborough Mound — Jim Leary and Joshua Pollard
2  Castles and the Landscape of Norman Wessex, c. 1066–1154 — Oliver Creighton
3  Marlborough Castle in the Middle Ages — Richard Barber
4  The Mound as a Garden Feature — Brian Dix
5  Epilogue: The Marlborough Mound Trust
Afterword: The Round Mound Project — Jim Leary, Elaine Jamieson, and Phil Stastney

Appendices
A  Inquisition into the State of Marlborough Castle, 11 September 1327
B  Castellum Merlebergae, by H.C. Brentnall, FSA
C  Constables of Marlborough Castle
D  Marlborough Castle: Archaeological Findings for the Medieval Period

Bibliography
Index

From The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (SAHGB) . . . with shout-out to HECAA member Basile Baudez!

The shortlists for two of the most important prizes in architectural history—the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion and the Colvin Prize—were announced this week. The Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion is awarded to a monograph that makes an outstanding contribution to the study of architectural history—previous winners include Howard Colvin, Dorothy Stroud, John Summerson, Nikolaus Pevsner, Hermione Hobhouse, and Jill Lever. The Colvin Prize, established in 2017, is awarded to an outstanding work of reference of value to the discipline irrespective of format.

The two shortlists for the awards this year demonstrate a broad range of subjects and approaches to architectural history, ranging from a global atlas of queer spaces, forensic analysis of the urban and architectural fabric of Whitechapel, a fulsome biographical dictionary of early-modern architects in Britain, through to a compendious photographic recording of all the 437 Carnegie libraries that still remain in the UK, and much more.

The winners will be selected in the autumn and announced at the Society’s Annual Lecture and Awards Ceremony in December 2022.

The awards are overseen by the SAHGB to reward work that is innovative, ambitious, and rigorous in tackling histories of the built environment as broadly conceived. The SAHGB’s awards programme, which also includes the ‘Hawksmoor’ Essay Medal, Heritage Research Award, and Dissertation Prize, is open and inclusive wherever possible, celebrating diversity of approach and recognising work at all career levels.

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Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion Shortlist

• Basile Baudez, Inessential Colors: Architecture on Paper in Early Modern Europe (Princeton University Press)
• Manolo Guerci, London’s ‘Golden Mile’: The Great Houses of the Strand, 1550–1650 (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)
• Jasmine Kilburn-Toppin, Crafting Identities: Artisan Culture in London, c. 1550–1640 (Manchester University Press)
• Nathaniel Walker, Victorian Visions of Suburban Utopia: Abandoning Babylon (Oxford University Press)

Colvin Prize Shortlist

• Adam Nathaniel Furman + Joshua Mardell, eds., Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQIA+ Places and Stories (RIBA Publishing)
• Mark Girouard, A Biographical Dictionary of English Architecture, 1540–1640 (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)
• Oriel Prizeman, The Carnegie Libraries of Britain: A Photographic Chronicle (Arts and Humanities Research Council)
• Peter Guillery, ed., Survey of London, Whitechapel: Vols 54 + 55 (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art/Yale University Press)