Module: HIS7006-30 Place and Time: Historical Perspectives and the City of Bath

Level: 7

Credit Value: 30

Module Tutor: Jackie Collier

Module Tutor Contact Details: j.collier2@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module

We think we know the history of Bath: its Roman archaeology, its honey-coloured stone and its grand architectural set pieces; its role as a sacred site, a place of healing and a meeting place; a city of deals and negotiations, gambling and marriage contracts; of pilgrims and tourists.

How can we use this small, supposedly familiar city to reframe key historical questions, in order to explore the hidden histories and different pasts of its many communities? How can we confront the clichés of contemporary tourism, or see beyond these, to examine the history of the city as a series of case studies, to shed light on key historical issues and debates? This approach allows for the detailed investigation of particular periods and personalities, but also looks beneath the surface detail and outward, tracing the city’s wider connections and its sense of place.

You can use this module as a foundation for your final dissertation or public history project, in negotiation with the respective module co-ordinators. Try to see this part of your planning for the course as a whole, and the ways in which you can put together the content of each module to support and inform your final piece of work.

2. Outline syllabus

The syllabus is designed to be flexible, to enable you to develop your own focus on specific approaches to the history of place, and people within it. Topics may include:

Foundation myths: the sacred spring and Roman settlement

A river runs through it

Change and decay: medieval survivals

Bath and medicine

The Georgian city: architecture, wealth and status; building the city; manipulating its image

Encounters: Bath’s connections with the world

Hidden histories: the legacies of slavery, the city and its communities, industrial change, current tensions

The city in a landscape

The imagined city

The World Heritage City

3. Teaching and learning activities

The module will be taught through seminars and through visits to key sites within the city itself, using a wide range of sources and approaches to prompt discussion of key historical concepts and interpretation.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: CW
• Description: Project proposal (approx. 1000 words)
• % Weighting: 20%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: CW
• Description: Project portfolio (4000 words or equivalent)
• % Weighting: 80%