Richard Trevor Rowley FSA (born 25 May 1942) is an English landscape historian and archaeologist known for his work on the

Welsh Marches The Welsh Marches ( cy, Y Mers) is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods. The English term Welsh March (in Medieval Latin ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

and the medieval landscape. He was a founder fellow of

Kellogg College, Oxford Kellogg College is a graduate-only constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1990 as Rewley House, Kellogg is the university's 36th college and the largest by number of students. It hosts research centres including ...

(1990) and is now dean of degrees and emeritus fellow of Kellogg College.

Education

He was educated at

the Priory Grammar School for Boys, Shrewsbury The Priory Grammar School for Boys was a maintained (state-funded) grammar school for boys located in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England. It was established in 1910 and the last grammar school students left in 1983. History Th ...

,(1953-1960),

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(1960-1963) and

Linacre College, Oxford Linacre College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the UK whose members comprise approximately 50 fellows and 550 postgraduate students. Linacre is a diverse college in terms of both the international composition of its me ...

(1964-1966). Trevor Rowley was a postgraduate student under the landscape historian W. G. Hoskins at Oxford University.

Teaching career

After a short period teaching at a teacher training college in Birmingham, where he also worked as a part-time tutor for the Birmingham University Extra-Mural Department, he returned to Oxford in 1969. He was the first Staff Tutor in Archaeology and Local Studies, in what was then the Delegacy for Extra Mural Studies, based at Rewley House. During his time as Staff Tutor, later Director of Archaeology, he developed a thriving archaeology programme, which included conferences, professional training and excavations. From 1990 to 2000 he was the Deputy Director of what had by then become the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education. During this time he was responsible for several major initiatives, including collaboration with the Open University on award bearing courses, which eventually led to the department offering the part-time postgraduate degrees, the first part-time qualification provided by Oxford University. He was also responsible for creating the Oxford Experience based at Christ Church, Oxford, a popular and successful summer school programme that still runs over six weeks each year, and on which he still teaches. In 2000 he took early retirement to concentrate on full-time writing and lecturing. For many years he was a guest lecturer for Swan Hellenic Cruises and Voyages to Antiquity.

Role in professional organisations

He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1973 and between 1976 and 1979 he was Honorary Secretary of the

Council for British Archaeology The Council for British Archaeology (CBA) is an educational charity established in 1944 in the UK. It works to involve people in archaeology and to promote the appreciation and care of the historic environment for the benefit of present and futu ...

Research

His current research work is on Norman landscapes and

Edgar the Ætheling Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, rev ...

, the fourth 'king' of England in 1066. He is a trustee and co-director of the Appleton Area Archaeological Research Project, which is investigating the history and archaeology of his home village of Appleton in Oxfordshire.

Selected publications

*''The Shropshire Landscape'', Hodder and Stoughton,1972. *''Landscape Archaeology'', David and Charles,1974. (with

Mick Aston Michael Antony Aston (1 July 1946 – 24 June 2013) was an English archaeologist who specialised in Early Medieval landscape archaeology. Over the course of his career, he lectured at both the University of Bristol and University of Oxford and ...

) *''Villages in the Landscape'', J M Dent and Sons, 1978. *''The High Middle Ages'', Routledge1984. *''The Landscape of the Welsh Marches'', Michael Joseph, 1986. *''Norman England'', 1997. *''The Normans'', The History Press, 1999. Pegasus Press (USA), 2021. *''The 20th Century English Landscape'', Continuum, 2006. *''The Man Behind the Bayeux Tapestry'', History Press, 2013 *''An Archaeological Study of The Bayeux Tapestry'', Pen and Sword Books, 2016.

References

Living people 1942 births Writers from Shrewsbury Alumni of the University of London English archaeologists Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Academics of the University of Oxford People educated at The Priory Boys' Grammar School, Shrewsbury Alumni of Linacre College, Oxford {{UK-historian-stub