Winter Online Talks 2023: No 1. Discovering Victorian Durham

The Victorian Society and Yale University Press are pleased to introduce a series of online talks by authors of recent or imminent volumes from all four of the national series, plus the Isle of Man. Our first talk takes us to the north of England.

'The county of Durham is one of the least-known parts of England’. So began Nikolaus Pevsner’s Introduction to his 1953 Buildings of England volume. Everyone knows Durham Cathedral, of course, but much of the rest of the county’s buildings remains unknown beyond its borders. With this sense of discovery, shared in part by the speaker, the talk will explore the county’s nineteenth and early twentieth century architectural legacy. Its churches, public buildings and industrial monuments - the work of nationally acclaimed architects and inventive regional designers.

Martin Roberts was born in Chester, but has lived in the North East for over fifty years, first at Newcastle University. On qualifying as an architect, he specialised in conservation, spending many years as Durham City’s Conservation Officer, later becoming the Historic Buildings Inspector for English Heritage in the North East. He established the North East Vernacular Architecture Group in 1991 and is a trustee of the Friends of Old Durham Gardens, a restoration project he initiated and managed. Alongside published research in local and national journals, he has written books on Durham City and Durham University. In retirement, he has completed a revision of Nikolaus Pevsner’s Buildings of England volume on County Durham. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in London.

All attendees will be sent a recording of the talk.