The Society for landscape studies annual conference will be on Saturday 28th September at St Paul’s Church in Canterbury with an additional field trip on the Sunday 29th September.
The Society for Landscape Studies offers a place for people interested in learning about our beautiful landscapes and historical places of interest in the UK.
The charity was founded in 1979 with the aim of advancing our education by promoting the study of all the different aspects of British landscapes by organising field trips, publishing articles and holding annual conferences.
The landscapes we see today have formed over time by the interaction of humans and nature, with each generation our landscapes are changing.
The Society is tasked with studying, analysing and interpreting the data gained by people from different areas of expertise, from historians, geographers, archaeologists and ecologists.
SLS annual conference 2024 at Canterbury on 28 & 29 September
Sacred and Profane: the landscapes of Kent
The landscapes of Kent are diverse, from rolling downland to reclaimed wetland, and its built environments are as complex as they are historic. With its varied coastal scenery, Kent represents the closest English county to continental Europe and its landscape history is intricate, reflecting considerable human activity since prehistory.
Canterbury Christ Church University
In conjunction with Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh of Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) the SLS committee are proud to invite registrations for the 2024 national conference and field meeting. The Saturday Conference will be in St Paul’s church in the city, we have a programme of expert speakers, all concerned with the history, geography, and archaeology of the Kent landscape. The Sunday field visit will be to the landscape around the Western Heights at Dover and the history and archaeology at Nonington. The programme is below:
Saturday timetable:
9.30: Reception
10.00: Introduction
10.15: Session 1: Exploring Kent Landscapes:
‘Kent’s changing coastal landscape’
Dr Chris Young
‘Landscape, culture and cartography: a biographical approach’
Professor Peter Vujakovic
11.15: Break
11.30: Session 2: Landscapes of authority in medieval Kent:
‘Norman Castles in the medieval landscape’
Richard Eales
‘Canterbury in its wider landscape in the Anglo-Norman period’
Tim Tatton-Brown
12.30: Lunch + AGM
13.30: Session 3: East Kent as Gateway: to enter or defend:
‘‘Dost Thou Know Dover?’: locating Dover in the early modern literary landscape’
Dr Claire Bartram
‘The defence of Kent since 1900’
Dr Andrew Richardson
14.30: Break
15.00: Session 4: Seeing new landscapes:
‘The Cross-Channel Geopark – two landscapes connected by the Channel’
Speaker from Kent Downs National Landscape
‘Bringing digital tools to landscape and heritage studies’
Dr Catriona Cooper
16.00: Roundtable Discussion
16.30: Finish
Sunday field trips:
Leave Canterbury: 10am
Western Heights, Dover – C19 and C20 landscapes: 10.45am (leave 12.30pm)
Little Farthingloe Farm café CT15 7AA: 1pm-2pm
Old St Albans Court, Nonington, CT15 4HH – Anglo-Saxon/medieval landscapes: 2.45pm (leave 4.30pm)
Return to Canterbury: 5pm
How to buy buy tickets for the sls annual conference
This event is open to members and non members and tickets can be purchased on the SLS website. This is a popular event with lots of interesting speakers so do not miss out. You can also join the Society of Landscape Studies and gain access to more information, news and events.
