Landscape history was a new interest in the 1950s, albeit initially on the basis of simple and rather superficial observations. Landscape archaeologist Christopher Taylor, who died at the age of 85, developed methods that enabled a deeper understanding of changes in the landscape and changed the understanding of villages, mansions, gardens and castles.
An important source of information for landscape historians was earthworks visible in the field – hollows and hills, banks and ditches, ditches, terraces and platforms. They depict former streets, borders, villages, houses, gardens and fields, but how are the dull and indistinct traces on the ground to be understood and interpreted?
One problem was that remains of all eras, from prehistory to World War II, had gotten mixed up in one place. Taylor pioneered the systematic recording of such landscape remnants by depicting the slopes, valleys and banks visible on the ground in a precise plan. He then subjected the pattern of earthworks to a careful analysis, for example by separating features from different eras. He did this while working for the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments of England (RCHME, or the Commission, as it was called), where he also trained a generation of researchers in surveying and interpretation techniques.
Bodiam Castle, built around 1385, is a brilliant example of the success of his methods. The castle stands intact today, a square symmetrical structure with towers built straight from a medieval romance and with round corner towers that could contain a Sleeping Beauty.
Modern visitors tend to focus on the building, but the National Trust, which manages the property, hired the commission to investigate the enigmatic banks, moats, and ponds in the late 1980s. This was done by a small team under Taylor’s supervision. By analyzing their results, he could imagine how a 15th century visitor to the castle would look at the ponds, terrace gardens, etc.
In 1990, he and members of the team published an article in Medieval Archeology magazine showing that the earthworks are the surviving clues to “an elaborate and invented environment” that has been used to guide visitors along routes that are dramatic to them Enabled views of the castle. rise from the ditch “. Ordinary ponds and roads, apparently built for practical purposes, actually promoted the aesthetic of the chivalric ideal.
This interpretation helped shift the perception of castles from somber fortresses to residences that provided aristocrats with a comfortable environment, with gardens as a backdrop for dancing and picnics.
Acknowledging that archeology and local history attracted general public interest, Christopher Taylor had a strong personal commitment to adult education
However, Taylor was much more than a hardworking civil servant investigating survey sites after the commission’s assignment. He was aware that archeology and local history attracted the general public and was personally deeply committed to adult education.
Not only did he give lectures to adult learners in university, non-university courses and day schools, but he was also ready to help amateur groups conduct their own surveys. This resulted in a series of books aimed primarily at readers of general interest, including Landscapes from Counties he knew well, Cambridgeshire and Dorset. A practical handbook, Fieldwork in Medieval Archeology (1974), was followed by work on more specific subjects – fields, streets, and gardens. He also developed the topic of historical gardens in a time of increasing enthusiasm for the topic.
The most important of his books, which attracted both academics and general readers, was Village and Farmstead (1983), which is based on archaeological field research and excavations, but also on the study of maps of existing villages and aerial photographs. It united interpretations and covered a long period from prehistory to the present.
Born and raised in Lichfield, Staffordshire, where his mother Alice (nee Davis) ran a shop and his father Richard was an agricultural engineer, Christopher went from King Edward VI School in Lichfield to the University College of North Staffordshire (now Keele University) where he was 1958 graduated with a degree in history and geography.
As a student he worked for the Commission for Archaeological Field Research in the summer and, after earning a degree in prehistory from London University in 1960, began a full-time position with the Commission, which he remained until his retirement in 1993.
The commission merged with English Heritage in 1999, but existed for almost a century and was tasked with making inventories of “monuments”. Originally, these were mostly historical buildings, but later archaeological sites as well, and Taylor was appointed head of the archaeological investigation from 1985.
As an author and coordinator of the work of others, Taylor was responsible for the inventory of sites in Cambridgeshire, Dorset and Northamptonshire, parish by parish, published in large volumes from the late 1960s. These have been illustrated with excellent plans and are an imaginative resource for anyone interested in abandoned villages, but also as a permanent record of sites that are constantly threatened with destruction.
Taylor was active in many academic organizations and societies, and although he did not enjoy committee meetings, he made many friendships as a result of attending academic meetings. He was so popular and admired that he was honored with three volumes of essays by friends and colleagues (1997-99). He was also elected a Fellow of the British Academy (1995) and received the Academy’s John Coles Medal in 2013 for his contribution to landscape archeology. In 1997 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Keele University.
Taylor married Angela Ballard in 1961. She died in 1983. In 1985 he married Stephanie Ault (nee Spooner). Stephanie survived him, as did his daughter Katy and his son Jonathan from their first marriage, a stepdaughter Alexandra and six grandchildren.
Christopher Taylor, landscape archaeologist, born November 7, 1935; died May 28, 2021