Georgian Sites

AHRC Impact Acceleration Account Fellowship
Saltram House
Project title: Georgian Sites
Funding body: AHRC Impact Acceleration Account – Fellowship 
Project duration: 2023-2024
University of Plymouth PI: Professor Daniel Maudlin  
Project partners: National Trust – Dr Rupert Goulding and Dr Elizabeth Green 
The Georgian Sites project aims to conduct fresh research to bring new insights into Georgian architecture and history at various locations. We explore previously overlooked aspects to uncover a richer, more detailed understanding of the Georgian era. This project delves into Georgian architecture's social, political, and economic contexts, providing a multifaceted view that offers new perspectives to contextualise the period's architectural developments within the broader historical framework. This initiative aims to build confidence for those involved in presenting and interpreting Georgian sites. Through comprehensive research and resources, staff and guides can present these sites with greater authority and depth, enhancing the visitor experience. One of the key goals is to demystify Georgian architecture, making it more accessible and understandable for both staff and visitors. By breaking down complex architectural concepts, we aim to ensure that everyone can appreciate and engage with the architectural heritage of the Georgian period. Finally, our project is committed to the democratisation of Georgian architecture, ensuring that this important cultural heritage is accessible to a wide audience. By fostering inclusivity, we encourage diverse groups of visitors to explore and appreciate Georgian sites, enriching their cultural and historical knowledge.
Project objectives
  • Share new thinking about eighteenth-century architecture and design with National Trust staff and volunteers. 
  • Investigate what the National Trust’s Georgian properties meant to the people who made and encountered them in the eighteenth century and what they mean to us today. 
  • Explore the process of placemaking within the British Isles and British Empire of the Georgian era. 
  • Thematic approach: identity, social group formation, mobility, nation-building, colonialism, imperial networks through lenses of built space, spatial experience.
Georgian Sites architecture, round stone building surrounded by a meadow and trees with a group of people sat on the steps.
Georgian Sites architecture - large red brick Georgian building with a blue door
Pathways to impact
Our project is committed to creating significant impacts across multiple fronts by enhancing the understanding and conservation of Georgian sites. We have structured our efforts through a series of targeted initiatives aimed at National Trust curators, staff, and volunteers. Our pathways to impact include:
  • ten site-specific projects at 'Priority 1' Georgian sites identified by National Trust
  • seven workshops for National Trust curators across the UK
  • one online masterclass for all National Trust staff. 
Professor Daniel Maudlin's book on 'Georgian Architecture' will be published in April 2025 in the Oxford History of Art, a prestigious monographic series about the history of art, design, and architecture published by Oxford University Press.