The British landscape: 4 credits

Students study how the British landscape was formed and reformed by societies which successively conquered and settled in it, looking at the dialectic relationship between culture (the economic, social, intellectual, religious, and artistic aspects of each group) and landscape (the natural landscape and the human imprint on that landscape).  The aim is to enable students to ‘read’ and understand a long settled landscape through a sound knowledge of British culture, past and present.  SSO recommends that credit be allocated in one or more of several disciplines, including literature, religion, philosophy, politics, history, and history of art.

The teaching for the course is given through lectures, television viewing, and field trips.  Assessment is by the submission of case studies examining in detail particular aspects of British life.

The field trips change from year to year, and in past have included Stonehenge, Salisbury cathedral, Winchester cathedral, Bath, and HMS Victory moored in Portsmouth.

Transcript information

Students may elect to have a free choice of case studies [written assignments], in which case the course will appear on their transcript simply as:

• The British landscape

Alternatively students may choose:

Literary case studies (see column 'Literature' in British Landscape syllabus 2008)  in which case their course will appear on their transcript as:

• Literature and the British landscape

Philosophy and theology case studies (see columns 'Philosophy' and 'Theology' in British Landscape syllabus 2008) in which case their course will appear on their transcript as:

• Philosophy, Religion and the British landscape

History case studies, in which case their course will appear on their transcript as:

• History and the British landscape

More information

British Landscape syllabus 2008