Interpreting historic houses, spaces, environments
Catalyst training and networking event for SGSAH PhD students
Date: Monday 28th April 2025 (Closing date for application to attend: Monday 21st April)
Location: Blair Castle, Pitlochry, Perthshire, PH18 5TL
Timing: Arrival 0930 for 0950 start, concluding 1620.
‘How do we narrate or interrogate the country house as a phenomenon …? In common with all architecture, it is at once a lived and spatial experience, an aesthetic object, and an economic engine’.
Dana Arnold, 2023‘And all together we may read the interior for what it is: a dream of a world beyond the limits of the commodity’.
Sam Johnson-Schlee, 2022
Historic houses are important sites of knowledge and experience, they are markers of generations of inherited power, class status and distinction. In recent years, many of Britain’s most extravagant historic houses have been at the centre of concerns over their origins and the sources of great wealth which made them possible during periods of imperial expansion, characterised by an extractive and exploitative economic system. However, historic houses also represent a very visible and physical manifestation of the built environment, many acting as witnesses to significant historical events and incidents. They are also incredibly varied in size, purpose, architectural styles and decoration. In the twenty-first century, they might appear to epitomise an anachronism, as contested spaces of tangible heritage, but in this workshop, we consider historic houses at the intersection of natural and cultural traditions. We will explore how historic houses, spaces, and environments, are records of lived experiences, offering a rich resource for researchers in a range of fields in the arts and humanities.
The workshop will take place over an immersive full day at the historic site of Blair Castle in Perthshire. In the morning session, we will explore the interior space, with a focus on the interpretative and communicative aspects of interiors, incorporating furnishings (wallpapers, furniture, textiles, decorative objects), alongside formal collections of fine art. Methodological approaches covered in the workshop include visual and material culture studies, that is, a close examination of the materiality of historic spaces by meticulous examination of related objects and documentary archives. These include household repositories and inventories, family records, local and national archives in official record offices, all of which contribute to accounts that enlarge and diversify meanings attached to domestic objects.
The afternoon workshop will consider the grounds and wider environment of the Castle to consider external effects of historic houses and spaces, for example, the interrelated aspects of the immediate landscape which represents ‘landedness’ a form of power associated with landownership. Many of Scotland’s historic houses are located within sites of antiquity, and reflect changing archaeological and agricultural attitudes to the natural environment. In this workshop we’ll explore how architects, artists, designers, and writers have responded to these cultivated and wild landscapes, especially in the twentieth and twenty-first century, dominated by anxieties over climate change and sustainability.
Present-day concerns over land, property, and the housing crisis, often make it difficult to imagine what historic houses, spaces and environments might tell us about the future. As the focus of the workshop is centred on lived experiences of historical houses, spaces and environments (not to mention homes), we encourage embodied and subjective approaches that foreground tangible encounters. Current fascination with historic houses, spaces and environments, as demonstrated in television shows such as A House through Time, re-enactments of historical spaces in Outlander, for example, augmented reality and digital reconstructions, and the continuing attraction of visits to country houses, represent the enduring appeal of historic houses beyond academic enquiry. In the workshop we will examine just how such popular interests are underpinned by the powerful affects of interior spaces and environments once released from the house as commodity.
Students will have the opportunity to discuss, and understand the varied aspects of country houses as a research environment with a range of speakers including: Keren Guthrie (Atholl Estates Archivist); Helen McCormack (Reader in Art & Design History, Glasgow School of Art); Ian Baxter (Professor of Historic Environment Management, Heriot-Watt University); Sarah Roller (Director of Policy & Public Affairs, Historic Houses Association); Craig Thomas (Assistant Archivist, Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust); Christopher Dingwall (Landscape Historian).
Blair Castle information: Blair Castle, Pitlochry | 5 Star Visitor Attraction in Perthshire
Students will participate in a situated writing exercise as part of the workshop. All participants should bring appropriate clothing and relevant writing/photo/laptop equipment to make the most of exploring the site.
Pre-reading/preparation material will be provided for participants in advance of the workshop.
Available spaces 20. Given the limited spaces available, a waiting list will also be run.
Morning: Inside: Interiority, objects, furnishings, design, craft, inventories, accounts, diaries, correspondences, reflections, reconstructions (lost interiors).
Afternoon: Outside: External affects, physical responses, land, power, improvement, agriculture, archaeology, environment, sustainability, climate,
Any participant requiring BSL/other accessibility requirements should notify the organisers by Friday 18th April.
Note: Travel arrangements must be considered carefully in advance – the programme has been designed as far as possible to enable train/bus connections to Pitlochry / Blair Atholl and Blair Castle. Further details on public transport options available here: Visitor Information for Blair Castle Pitlochry, Perthshire | Atholl Estates
N.B. The workshop is currently oversubscribed – you are able to add your name to a reserve list only at this point.
If you have any questions, please contact Ian Baxter Email: i.baxter@hw.ac.uk