Research Institute

We have developed a number of priority research areas to support our work as an Independent Research Organisation and our collaborative research partnerships:

• Memory: endeavouring to recover, reconstruct and interpret past events.
• Diversity: diverse and unspoken voices, communities and experiences.
• Technology: experimenting with new techniques to further our understanding and presentation of our heritage.
• Mobility and Migration: movement of people, objects and images.
• Identities: discovering new histories of people and places.
• Heritage Management and Practice: heritage experiences past and present, emotional engagement and digital technology.

The Jewish History of the Medieval Tower of London

World-famous as a royal fortress and prison, the Tower of London is also one of the most substantial standing remains of medieval England’s Jewish history.

From the mid-twelfth century to the expulsion of the Anglo-Jewry in 1290, the Tower was both a place of imprisonment and of refuge for hundreds of Jews.

This two-year project explores the Tower’s central place in this complex story of coercion and coexistence.

Henry VIII on Tour: Tudor Palaces and Royal Progresses

This one-year research network assessed the characteristics, iconography and material culture associated with Tudor royal progresses and in particular those of Henry VIII. 

Portable Palaces: Royal Tents and Timber Lodgings 1509-1603

Portable Palaces explores the tent as an important and ubiquitous expression of architecture through a study of the design of the royal tents and associated temporary buildings that were created for the sixteenth-century English court.