Project Portfolio

CURRENT AND PAST PROJECTS

Heritage-driven economic regeneration

Commissioned by Sunderland Heritage Forum, our report investigated how the city’s old east end and riverside might be reborn as a Heritage Quarter. Sunderland City Council supported this novel study into how heritage could drive economic regeneration in these historically rich neighbourhoods.

Sunderland Heritage Quarter is now a reality. We work with local people to develop schemes bringing the district’s history to life. Old Bank Two spearheaded the fund-raising effort for a co-ordinator, appointed in October 2010 to take this unique project forward. Our Heritage Lottery Fund bid has supported a one-year project for disadvantaged young East Enders to interview and record elderly people, and to be involved in a training dig in the East End in 2011. See the DIGIT page

 

 

Commissioned research

Gill is consultant editor for the Victoria County History of Durham, managing the project to complete a major new history of Sunderland, to be published in 2013.

Our history and guide to Danby castle, North Yorkshire, for Dawnay Estates was published in 2010.

We uncovered a fascinating history at the former village site of Menethorpe, near Malton. Elsewhere, we have been commissioned to produce archaeological desk-based assessments for planning purposes, and oversaw a conservation area appraisal on Sunderland cottages.

We act as historical consultant for films and documentaries. Currently working with Michael Wood on The Story of the Nation, for the BBC, to be screened in 2012. In the past we have helped Tyne Tees TV (The Way We Were); Mint Productions, Dublin (Who Do You Think You Are? -Ireland); and appeared on a Green Umbrella film on the Atlantic Cable for U.S. Public Broadcasting Service in 2005.

 

Local History Film-Making

Danby Court Leet is an ancient manorial court which still administers all the common moorland in the upper Esk Valley, North Yorkshire. Our DVD includes a documentary about the work of the court, a film of the court’s annual session, transcripts of interviews with court officials, and new research and notes on the history of the manor, court and castle. Produced in partnership with Dragon Films, the DVD is now available. Follow the link, left. The project was supported by the trustees of T.W.V. Roe on behalf of the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society.

 

Consultancy in heritage grant applications and project management

We work with groups to develop heritage projects and help prepare funding bids. On behalf of the Yorkshire Vernacular Buildings Study Group we submitted an application for Heritage Lottery funding to support a major new survey of East Yorkshire's timber-framed buildings.

We prepared a bid to Awards for All for a community archaeology and history project in the Upper Esk Valley, designed so that elderly and housebound people can join with those more able-bodied to research the history of their locality.

We advised the Mulgrave Community Research Project on their successful bid for LEADER funding, and have introduced the group to research methods and local archives. Scarborough Maritime Heritage consulted us about their plans for a heritage centre.

 

 

Academic work

Gill is a research fellow in the History Department of Durham University, with a portfolio of academic work * With Komazawa University in Tokyo, edited the English edition of Prof. Minoru Yasumoto's new book on Teesside's industrial history.
* Consultant editor for the Victoria County History of Durham , to oversee completion of volume V, the 'big red book' on Sunderland, 2010-12
* History editor of the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal
* Appointed external examiner for history programmes at the University of Central Lancashire
* PhD supervisor at Durham
* Commissioned by the University of London to edit and correct book manuscripts