Personal Statement
I am an archaeologist who began excavating whilst at school, and continue to enjoy fieldwork and the excitement of discovery, training students in methods and interpretation through projects in England, Wales, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. I prefer working on initiatives that have an outcome beyond the academic - for local communities or to assist authorities in managing and interpreting the heritage. This approach was first developed in an ongoing connection with the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park at the Iron Age fort of Castell Henllys which is open to the public and has a number of reconstructed buildings based on the excavated evidence we recovered. I am also working with English, Irish and Manx communities on the recording, management and interpretation of their graveyards, and serve on the York Diocesan Advisory Committee. At have been President of the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology which are promotes the importance of the archaeology of recent times in terms of research, heritage protection and public interpretation.

Research Overview
My research concentrates on the archaeology of western Britain and Ireland from the Iron Age to the present, and aspects of global historical archaeology (17th-20th centuries). I also link my research about the past with heritage issues in the present. I strongly believe that our academic research can have a direct value to the communities within which we work, and that we can advise and encourage in the management, preservation and interpretation of our heritage. I am happy to collaborate with other academics and heritage professionals on research and consultancy projects.

ORCID: 0000-0002-0577-2064

I welcome interest from prospective research students with interests in the British Iron Age, early medieval Britain and Ireland, heritage management and interpretation, or any aspect of post-medieval / historical archaeology.

Current research students:
Anna Fairley, An archaeology of Liverpool's 19th-century cemeteries
Emily Bowyer-Kazadi, Heritage landscapes in English National Parks
Ian Russell, Viking winter camps

Research students recently graduated
Peter Taylor, PhD, A New Trade: a documentary study of the trade in tobacco pipes prior to the English Civil War. 2022.
Stacey Astill, PhD, An exploration of the universality of the experience of ‘Kriegie’ Prisoners of War held in Europe during the Second World War. 2021.
Tracey O’Leary, PhD, Christianity in Wirral in the fifth and sixth centuries– beyond Rome. 2018.
Katie Kewley, PhD, The Manx stone axe-head project interconnection or isolation The evidence from stone axe-heads for the Manx Neolithic in its Irish Sea context. 2016.
Brian Boyden, PhD, Structure and Agency in Small Scale Production An Historical Archaeology of the Clay Tobacco Pipe Industry of Kent. 2016.
Michael Hoy, PhD, Isaac Barrow Builder of Foundations for a Modern Nation. 2015.
Shirley Curtis, PhD, Monasticism and the Body Reconstructing Lifeways. 2014.
Pat McClure, PhD, The Archaeology of the Post-Reformation Manx Church. 2013.