The PGECR Country House Group Conference

On the 1st March 2024, 40 members of the PGECR Country House Group met at Birkbeck University in Bloomsbury, London, for a day-long conference on all things British country house. Held in the beautiful Keynes Library, in the former home of Virginia Woolf, eighteen MA and PhD students gave papers on a range of academic approaches to the country house, and the keynote speech was given by Dr Oliver Cox from the V&A Museum. Thanks to sponsorship from Birkbeck, The University for the Creative Arts (UCA), The University of St Andrews and Bloomsbury Publishing, the conference was free of charge and included breakfast and lunch, we had a programme printed, and a book discount for every attendee, plus copies of the book Touring and Publicising England’s Country Houses for each of our panel chairs.

It was such a fun and productive day; four brilliant panels with discussions after the papers, and lots of opportunity to network and meet fellow group members. Here’s some pictures from the day, and the list of papers given. We hope to make this an annual event, and cannot wait for next year!