map of the historical chester walls

Available with:

  • Foundation Year

Course Summary

Explore the past and prepare for your future with modules covering a thousand years of local, national and international history. With themes ranging from identity, race and ethnicity to politics and justice, from leisure and the landscape to war, conflict and social change, encompassing a wide variety of embedded skills. 

There has never been a more important time to study History and to think critically about the past. The past is contested, controversial and very much alive. Set within the historic environment of Chester, our exciting course offers not only an exploration of the past but also a gateway to your future.   

From Medieval to Modern, from local to global, we embrace a range of approaches including social, cultural and political history but also the study of material culture, digital humanities and the application of history in a practical context to help develop your employability prospects. Our inclusive curriculum means that you will challenge existing narratives about the past, and be encouraged to think critically about how and why these narratives have developed. You will also explore important themes and issues relating to race, diversity, gender, imperialism, conflict and climate change. Through the study of the past, we can make sense of our present and start to think about how to work together to shape our future.  Join our passionate team to start shaping your future. 

Why you'll Love it


What You'llStudy

Module content:

  • Reading and writing critically.
  • Constructing and evaluating an argument.
  • Note-taking techniques for reading and listening.
  • Understanding plagiarism and academic integrity.
  • Introduction to reflective practice.
  • Preparing for, and delivering, powerpoint presentations.
  • Referencing and citation.
  • Summarising and paraphrasing written sources.
  • Literature searching.
  • Report writing.
  • The culture and expectations of higher education.
  • The assessment process including the role of assessment criteria and feedback.
  • The nature of research journal publishing.

Whilst much of the content above is generic, students will be encouraged to situate skills within the context of the undergraduate discipline they are entering, which leads to some variation in emphasis for certain skills.


Module aims:

1.To raise awareness of the range of study skills required for successful higher education studies, including the process of academic writing, reading strategies, seminar skills, organisation of time and materials, planning for and meeting deadlines, understanding and responding to feedback.

2. To introduce students to concepts such as plagiarism, academic integrity and appropriate use of artificial intelligence tools.

3. To facilitate an effective transition into higher education by exploring, and providing guidance in, the key elements of successful undergraduate studentship including students' understanding of taking responsibility for their own learning.

4. To teach students how to undertake a literature, visual or data review for their discipline and be able to differentiate between a valid, reliable source and an unsubstantiated or irrelevant source.  

Module content:

  • Research and planning skills.
  • Becoming familiar with topics that comprise their undergraduate degree subject.
  • Developing a knowledge base for a discipline of study.
  • Identifying areas of interest.
  • Application and development of critical analytical skills.
  • Development of self-directed study.
  • Use of learning resources.

Module aims:

1. To develop students' skills in planning and writing an essay.

2. To familiarise students with the process of tutor supervision for a written piece of work.

3. To give students an opportunity to focus on a topic within their undergraduate degree subject.

4. To write a piece of work that allows the student to broaden and deepen knowledge on a topic of their choice.

5. To prepare and deliver an academic poster presentation outlining the student's research topic.

Module content:

  • The 'global student' and the ‘global graduate’
  • Introduction to theories of globalization
  • Perspectives on economic, political and cultural globalization
  • Globalized media, the internet & digital tech.
  • Global economy & transnational corporations
  • International organisations & social movements
  • Migration, multiculturalism and interculturalism
  • Introduction to decolonisation & education
  • International security and security issues
  • Introduction to international relations theory

Module aims:

1. To explore issues of global significance.

2. To develop and apply skills in critical thinking, research and communication and apply these to debates within the module's topics.

3. To deconstruct and reconstruct arguments by researching global issues.

4. To develop an awareness of global justice debates.

Module content:

  • An introduction to creative and critical thinking concepts
  • Considering credibility; belief and truth
  • Identifying how language is used for persuasion
  • Identifying how image is used for persuasion
  • Recognising how media is used for manipulation
  • An introduction to advertising and marketing techniques
  • Representation and misrepresentation of data
  • Applying critical thinking skills to contemporary media and technology

 


Module aims:

1. To introduce approaches to analytical and critical thinking.

2. To develop an understanding of critical thinking when applied to language, image, traditional and online media.

 

Module content:

 

  • Introduction to semiotics and visual language
  • Emerging trends: environment and interiors
  • The birth and evolution of cinema
  • The human commodity: advertising, celebrity and reality television
  • Introduction to postmodernism and popular art
  • Photography as social commentary
  • The internet and digital spaces

 


Module aims:

1. To develop students' understanding of western civilization through an understanding of that civilization's visual texts.

2. To develop students' abilities to communicate orally, visually and through academic writing.

3. To develop students' interpretative abilities through the promotion of skills of visual interpretation.

 

 

Module content:

  • Introduction to the ways that narrative and stories are important in different cultures and contexts
  • Introduction to methods of interpreting narratives and stories
  • Introduction to key stories and narratives that have shaped cultures
  • Introduction to how stories and narratives can change or influence cultures
  • Introduction to how stories and narratives are constructed and reconstructed in the twenty-first century
  • Introduction to skills in reading texts

Module aims:

  1. To develop an awareness of a number of key narratives and stories that have influenced cultures
  2. To understand the various roles that narrative and story-telling have in different cultures and contexts
  3. To understand the ways that cultures construct meaning through narrative and story-telling
  4. To develop skills in reading and interpreting narratives and stories
  5. To develop skills in the close reading of texts

The first year of your degree lays the foundation for future success. You will study six core modules designed to provide the skills necessary for you to become an accomplished and skilled historian.

Module content:

This module allows students to explore a historical event that has caused particular controversy. Each year, a series of different case studies will be made available for students to research. During the first half of the module, students will examine both secondary and primary material. The former will allow them to understand how historians have already explored their case study, while the latter will help to shed new light onto each historical controversy. After researching their case studies, students will spend the second half of the module presenting their research in a variety of different ways, from utilising electronic media through to academic essays. At the end of the module, students will not only have undertaken a detailed piece of historical research, but will also have developed the key skills required for studying history at degree level.


Module aims:

  1. To provide students with the core skills required to study history at degree level.
  2. To enable students to practise the historical skills of research, analysis, interpretation and presentation, using a variety of source material.
  3. To give students experience in the preparation and presentation of accurate, rational and well-researched oral and written reports.
  4. To enable students to practise and develop transferable skills by working on individual and group projects

Module content:

This module provides an overview of the principal developments in European history in a world context, c.1000-2000, with the analytical focus upon whether they might be considered as historical turning points within the broader chronological and geographical framework. This overview and analysis will be driven forward by a detailed examination of a selection of the following themes and issues: medieval papal power; monasticism; kingship in medieval Europe; the Black Death and medieval society; chivalry and late medieval warfare; the Renaissance and European society and culture; the Reformation and European politics, society and culture; n the constitutional and political history of seventeenth-century Europe; the Enlightenment; wars, revolutions and national unification during the nineteenth-century; nineteenth-century scientific and industrial history; colonialism and de-colonialisation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and war, society and the balance of power in twentieth century Europe.


Module aims:

  1. To give a broad overview of the history of Europe in the wider world between c.1000 and c.2000.
  2. To examine important themes and critical episodes in the subject and to consider their long-term consequences.
  3. To provide historical context for modules taught at level 5 and 6.
  4. To enable students to practice the historical skills of analysis, interpretation and presentation, using a variety of source material.
  5. To promote informed use of the University Library and other information centres.

 

Module content:

This module takes as its starting point the question: what is history? In exploring this complex question, it examines the development of the historical discipline from its earliest origins through to the present day. The historical discipline continues to evolve as each generation of historians apply their own values and ideas to the subject. As well as exploring the nature of these changes, the module also engages directly in philosophical debates about the direction, substance and future for studying the past, including the relevance and significance of a variety of public histories, ranging from film and television through to museums and heritage sites.


Module aims:

  1. To encourage students to explore the nature of the subject of History and the problems involved with historical evaluation, assessment and interpretation.
  2. To introduce students to the development of history as a discipline.
  3. To explore current directions and methodologies in historical scholarship.
  4. To encourage students to think about the varieties of history and to reflect critically upon them.

Module content:

Successful students of history must engage with history both in breadth and in depth.  This module will enable students to study a selected theme of Modern History in detail, and will therefore complement the other core elements of the History programme at Level 4. 

Themes offered will vary from year to year, but will normally embrace aspects of political, social, economic and cultural history.  Examples include: The Rise of Multicultural Britain: Race, Immigration and National Identity, 1837 to the Present; The Past in the Present: An Introduction to Heritage; The American Century: The United States, 1898-2001; Spaces of Conflict: The First World War; Leisure, Sport and Society in Modern Britain.

 


Module aims:

  1. To explore a significant historical theme in depth
  2. To provide historical context for modules taught at Levels 5 and 6.
  3. To enable students to practice the historical skills of analysis, interpretation and presentation, using a variety of source material.
  4. To promote the informed use of the University Library and other information centres.

Module content:

Successful students of history must engage with history both in breadth and in depth.  This module will enable students to study a selected theme of Medieval and Early Modern History in detail, and will therefore complement the other core elements of the History programme at Level 4. 

Themes offered will vary from year to year, but will normally embrace aspects of political, social, economic and cultural history.  Examples include: The Shaping of Britain; The Crusades, 1095-1204; Martyrs, Missionaries and Mystics: the Age of Reformations, c.1450-1650; Rebellion and Society in the Later Middle Ages; Reform and Resistance during the Reign of Henry VIII.


Module aims:

  1. To explore a significant historical theme in depth
  2. To provide historical context for modules taught at Levels 5 and 6.
  3. To enable students to practice the historical skills of analysis, interpretation and presentation, using a variety of source material.
  4. To promote the informed use of the University Library and other information centres.

In your second year, you will begin to focus more on specific regions and periods. Although there are two core modules in your second year, these are team-taught, and you can base your assessments on the period or theme that interests you the most.

Module content:

Students will develop and enhance their research skills by participating in a project that reflects the role of a research historian.  The first part of the module involves an introduction to the skills and methods required to conduct historical research, with particular emphasis on locating research materials through bibliographical searches including the use the use of electronic resources, and identification of the location of repositories of primary source material in libraries, record offices and museum collections.  After appropriate training, students will work in groups on a particular research project based on archival material and/or special library/museum collections, and may also have the opportunity to contribute to a project in partnership with local organisations.  Students will present their research findings to include critical reflection on the learning experience and future application of transferable skills.


Module aims:

  1. To provide training in both generic and subject-specific research skills, familiarising students with a range of approaches to historical research.
  2. To gain experience of the use of a library, record office or museum collection for the purposes of research.
  3. To gain experience in applying research skills to a specific project.

Module content:

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified on December 6 1865, abolished slavery in the United States but, over a century later, African-Americans were still struggling to achieve full equality with whites.  This module will examine some of the key issues in the struggle for black equality in the years between 1865 and 1977 including Reconstruction, the institutionalisation of segregation, the impact of both World Wars, the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power movement.  It will highlight the racial discrimination, segregation and violence that African-Americans have faced, explore the ways that black communities have challenged that racism through non-violent and violent resistance, and examine the changing image of African-Americans within American culture and society.  


Module aims:

  1. To help students acquire a broad knowledge of the period studied, through the exploration of significant themes.
  2. To develop critical understanding of key issues through studies in depth.
  3. To familiarise students with relevant primary and secondary sources and with their values and limitations.
  4. To assess different historical interpretations and the reasoning behind them.
  5. To enable students to develop and enhance skills that are essential both within the study of history and in the wider world, including the importance of reflection and proficiency with digital technology.

Module content:


Module aims:

  1. To help students acquire a broad knowledge of the period studied, through the exploration of significant themes.
  2. To develop critical understanding of key issues through studies in depth.
  3. To familiarise students with relevant primary and secondary sources and with their values and limitations.
  4. To assess different historical interpretations and the reasoning behind them.

Module content:

Starting in the C16th and lasting under a hundred years, the period of the Witchcraze would be defined as that during which tens of thousands of persons, the majority women, were accused of the crime of diabolic witchcraft and many were put to death. Witch hunting began in Europe and was later exported overseas involving the slaughter of indigenous people in European colonies. Indeed, witch-hunting continues to this day in parts of Africa and Asia. Students on this module will be given the chance to examine the origins of the Witchcraze, as well as explore some of the methodological approaches historians have used to make sense of its key patterns. Students will also explore related phenomena, such as werewolves, which help us better understand the supernatural beliefs of the early modern period and explore the legacies of witch hunting in former European colonies. Students on the module will be given the opportunity to take part in field trip and workshop activities examining evidence for witch hunting in Chester.


Module aims:

  • To help students acquire a broad knowledge of the subject through the exploration of significant approaches.
  • To develop critical understanding of key approaches through studies in depth.
  • To familiarise students with relevant primary and secondary sources and with their values and limitations.
  • To assess different historical interpretations and the reasoning behind them.

Module content:

This module examines the political history of Europe from the mid-seventeenth century through to the end of the eighteenth century, exploring both key theories, events and developments within that field and period and also the historical and historiographical debates surrounding them. It assesses the concept, theories and histories of 'absolutism' and then, following examination of the Enlightenment and its impact, of 'enlightened absolutism' as models of early modern government. The analysis of both models is placed within the context of national and international politics of the period, ranging over the style of central government and of the various heads of state, domestic policies, foreign relations and warfare. Thus the module considers how the principal states of Europe were governed, how the methods, practices and objectives of governments changed and what pressures and aspirations may have caused those changes, as well as exploring the different views that historians have taken and the nature of the sometimes intensive historical debates which have arisen. 


Module aims:

  • To help students acquire a broad knowledge of the period studied, through the exploration of significant approaches.
  • To develop critical understanding of key approaches through studies in depth.
  • To familiarise students with relevant primary and secondary sources and with their values and limitations.
  • To assess different historical interpretations and the reasoning behind them.

Module content:

This module encourages students to consider the ways in which History is employed in a range of professional contexts – schools, museums, and the media – and provides them with experience of applying History to those contexts. It introduces them to some policy and regulation frameworks governing the application of History in those contexts. This confronts crucial problems in the intersection between education, heritage, the media, and equality and diversity. It takes the students into those employment contexts – via the PGCE History in secondary schools, via the Grosvenor Museum, via Chester Cathedral, and via Chester Archives and Local Studies. Through its assessment, it asks students to rethink those policy and regulation frameworks, and produce professional History resources – teaching resources, exhibition designs, and media outputs.


Module aims:

This Module aims:

  • To help students acquire a broad knowledge of history in a range of public contexts
  • To develop critical understanding of some policy and regulatory frameworks for the employment of history in those public contexts
  • To familiarise students with specialist techniques for the application of history in those public contexts
  • To assess different approaches to the employment of history in public contexts and the reasoning behind them

Module content:

This Module challenges students to engage with the history of the Vikings as a local-global diaspora. The Module requires students to consider two recent approaches to the Vikings - the idea of the local-global and the idea of diaspora. The concept of the local-global recognises that local societies are responsible for generating global trends, and are in turn transformed by those global trends; it asks us to explore how that dynamic works. The concept of diaspora envisages the construction of identities as a process rooted in the movements of people, involving the projection of idealised homelands and the generation of new cultures through interactions, confrontations, and assimilations. These approaches will be considered as a way to help us understand Viking as a term referring, not to ethnicity, but to an occupation, and to help us embrace the sheer variety of people, activities, and outcomes associated with the Vikings.

The Module demands a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach to the study of Viking activity. For most of this period, the Vikings were written about by people from a range of other cultures - Arabic Islamic, or Greek and Latin Christian cultures. This means that we must consider Vikings through the eyes of others rather than from their own testimony. Equally, a lot of Viking activity is revealed through archaeology, material culture, and place-names. This means that we must also consider what we can learn about Viking activity from non-historical sources.


Module aims:

  • To help students acquire a broad knowledge of the period studied, through the exploration of significant approaches.
  • To develop critical understanding of key approaches through studies in depth.
  • To familiarise students with relevant primary and secondary sources and with their values and limitations.
  • To assess different historical interpretations and the reasoning behind them.

Module content:

This module will examine the 'age' of a major event that is considered by historians to have fundamentally transformed everyday life in the Middle Ages, The Black Death. However, the module will seek to challenge the primacy of the Black Death as an agent of economic, social and cultural change by asking students to consider the 'Commercial and Consumer Revolutions' of the period 1200-1500. Students will engage with and examine the historiography and historical categorisations surrounding these events. The module will encourage students to test these various historical models further by examining the evolution and structure of urban centres, merchants and mercantile practice, social interaction in urban centres and the evolution and innovation in projects and objects, sold, transacted and used to furnish homes and individuals. Through lectures and seminars students will test the historiographical models for the 'Age of the Black Death' through a range of primary source material, including, chronicles, merchant letters, medieval travel narratives, household inventories and surviving material objects.


Module aims:

  • To help students acquire a broad knowledge of the period studied, through the exploration of significant approaches.
  • To develop critical understanding of key approaches through studies in depth.
  • To familiarise students with relevant primary and secondary sources and with their values and limitations.
  • To assess different historical interpretations and the reasoning behind them.

Module content:

Cities are crowded, violent and dangerous. They're also vibrant centres of culture and learning. Cities are the wealthiest and most prosperous places on earth. They're also the poorest, most deprived and disease-ridden. This module examines the impact of rapid urban expansion, globalisation and pollution on the formation, shaping, and disintegration of civic communities from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries. Employing a range of approaches to urban history, including gender, race and ethnicity, as well as innovative methods of historical analysis including sensory history, students will immerse themselves in the modern metropolis and find themselves exploring historical evidence on crime-ridden streets, in slums, cemeteries, asylums and hospitals, housing estates, zoos and shopping precincts.

Students will be asked to think about how where you live makes you who you are: is it possible to share characteristics with your surroundings? Sources examined will include newspapers, oral histories, film, and urban planning documents. Students will also be given the opportunity to go on a field trip to explore nearby urban environments.


Module aims:

  • To help students acquire a broad knowledge of the period studied, through the exploration of significant approaches.
  • To develop critical understanding of key approaches through studies in depth.
  • To familiarise students with relevant primary and secondary sources and with their values and limitations.
  • To assess different historical interpretations and the reasoning behind them.
  • To develop core digital skills for the presentation, communication, analysis, and interpretation of this historical topic.

Module content:

This module is designed to help students develop the necessary research and analytical skills to undertake and complete a History Dissertation. Students will be trained in how to conduct primary source research using archival, digital, and non-archival material. They will be taught what a dissertation is, what is involved in planning and conducting an independent research project, as well as how to define a focussed area of research. They will also learn how to create a proposal for a viable dissertation topic, focussed on their specific research interests. The module will also help students develop skills in research, project management, and written communication, essential for a wide range of careers. Students will be supported to reflect on the skills they obtain in the course of historical research and study, and how these can be applied in the graduate workplace.

Module aims:

  1. To train students in how to conduct original primary source research using archival, digital, and non-archival material.
  2. To enable students to develop skills associated with the analysis of a range of primary sources.
  3. To prepare students for specialist research and history and sources modules at Level 6.
  4. To support students in developing skills suitable for a wide range of careers.

Module content:

Preparation for the year abroad will take place in Chester during level 5 and will include:

  • Cross-cultural issues and sensitivity
  • Host-country orientation, study methods– economic, political and social reality of the country
  • Orientation specific to exchange – health, education, gender issues
  • The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
  • Practical matters relating to living and studying in the wider world

Theories, models and strategies of learning

  • Critical thinking skills, experiential learning       and models of reflection

Personal and placement-related transversal skills

  • Effective self-motivation and independent resourcefulness
  • Effective time management and organisational skills
  • Project management – working away from University and independent study
  • Self-management and personal development

Whilst abroad:

Students will undertake study at one of UoC’s partner universities; it is expected that students will choose a series of modules at the university abroad, which equal a full-time study load. This must be agreed by the host institution and the International Tutor. Students must supply details of their courses/modules on a learning agreement within 4 weeks of arrival at the host university, note students who fail to supply this within 4 weeks may have the opportunity withdrawn.


Module aims:

  1. To experience academic life in country outside of the EU, enhancing cultural and intercultural awareness and increasing transversal skills.
  2. To reflect on the impact of the experience in their destination on one’s own personal, academic and professional development.
  3. To engage with the experience of study at a partner university to gain extensive first-hand knowledge and understanding of the relevant society from the perspective of the resident.
  4. To further develop independent learning techniques.
  5. To foster critical evaluation.

In your final year, you will immerse yourself in a Special Subject which focuses on a historical issue or region and its primary source material in great depth. You will also undertake a dissertation, supported by a supervisor, on a research topic of your own choice.

Module content:

The module offers students the opportunity to engage in extensive independent study, with tutorial supervision, of an historical episode or topic chosen by the student, subject to tutor approval.  Sources appropriate to the topic, to be decided via consultation with the supervisor must be used to a significant extent.  The dissertation must  reflect a thorough grounding in the secondary literature.  The topic may relate to the student's Level 6 module choices, or be taken from another area of History by arrangement with the Dissertation supervisor.


Module aims:

  1. To enable students to engage in historical research and interpretation of a selected topic, through the scholarly use of primary sources.
  2. To enable students to develop to the full their capacity for tutor-supported independent study.
  3. To provide tutorial guidance in the practices, processes and methodology of independent research.
  4. To prepare students for masters level and postgraduate research and/or other kinds of research, and to increase their confidence in self-motivated and self-disciplined project work.

Module content:

(In)famously, 1066 is the date every schoolchild should know: William, duke of Normandy, defeated the last Anglo-Saxon king Harold at Hastings, transforming himself from duke to king and transforming the economic, social and political landscape of Britain. William’s complicated claim to the throne seems radically to have altered English kingship, producing new conventions governing succession and coronation, and the legal fiction that all land was dependent on the king. William’s victory tied together the fortunes of England and Normandy until the thirteenth century. Within 20 years, William had replaced almost all the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy with his own men and married a significant number to Anglo-Saxon women, producing a new Anglo-Norman aristocracy. Over the course of his reign, he replaced many of the Anglo-Saxon bishops with outsiders too. At the end of his reign these changes were cemented through the production of a unique survey of landholdings – the Domesday Book (1086-1088). Thanks largely to his conquest, the first castles were introduced to England, every English cathedral was rebuilt in a new Romanesque style, and most local parish churches were rebuilt in stone. The Norman Conquest, 1066-1154, will consider a series of historical problems at the heart of this period and that remain the subject of fierce debate. Why did William invade England and how did he consolidate his power and authority as King of England? What continuity or change was there in the organization of the kingdom of England? Did William and his men set in train a ‘feudal revolution’ in England? Did William’s transformation of kingship and land tenure destabilize England until 1154? To what extent did conquest contribute to the reform of the English Church? How did the introduction of outsiders change ethnic identities in England and how did this affect social and political identities across Britain?


Module aims:

  1. To help students gain depth of understanding of major issues within the period studied. 
  2. To examine, through the study in depth of a short chronological period, the range of primary and secondary sources available to the historian of that period and to enhance skills in their interpretation. 
  3. To explore the strengths and weaknesses of rival historical interpretations relating to the content of the module and to foster original and creative thinking where appropriate.

Module content:

The United States Supreme Court was described as "the least dangerous branch" of the federal government by Alexander Hamilton in Federalist 78.  However, the acceptance of the Court's role as the ultimate arbiter of what is or is not constitutional (established in 1803 in the case of Marbury v Madison) has resulted in the Court wielding enormous power and influence within the American political system.  As such, it has played a key role in virtually every key event in American history and in shaping modern America.  

Using a thematic approach, this module will examine and discuss the development of modern America from a constitutional perspective.  We will begin with an analysis of the intentions of the founding fathers when establishing the Constitutional system in order to provide the necessary framework for our discussion of subsequent issues and events in modern American history where the Supreme Court has played a key role.  These will include the development of American capitalism, race relations (including African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Native Americans), women’s rights (including abortion), the history of crime and punishment (including the death penalty), foreign policy (including the War on Terror), issues of freedom (including freedom of speech and McCarthyism, religion and LGBTQ+ rights), gun control and the power of the president.  

Thus, this module will encourage students to develop their historical and analytical skills through discussions of issues that are not only important in understanding modern American history but also are important and relevant to society today, particularly when it comes to themes of diversity and inclusivity.  In this way, this module will build upon modules offered at Level 4 and Level 5 by utilising alternative and more challenging sources than those recommended at lower levels to consider key events from a fresh perspective.  It will therefore offer progression both in terms of knowledge and skill development (historical and transferable) consistent with appropriate benchmark statements and professional demands.

 


Module aims:

  1. To help students gain depth of understanding of major issues within the period studied.
  2. To examine, through the study in depth of a short chronological period, the range of primary and secondary sources available to the historian of that period and to enhance skills in their interpretation.
  3. To explore the strengths and weaknesses of rival historical interpretations relating to the content of the module and to foster original and creative thinking where appropriate.
  4. To enable students to develop and enhance skills that are essential both within the study of history and the wider world.

Module content:

This module explores the way in which ideas about heresy and unbelief were used to disempower religious and ethnic minorities in Europe and the wider world during the Age of Contact. The module will explore themes of heresy as inversion, the construction of ‘the other’, the relationship between ideas of heresy and witchcraft, the function of the Inquisition (including the Spanish Inquisition), the prosecution of heresy as a tool of social control and the relationship between ideas of heresy and race. Students will also be encouraged to reflect on the role of religious ideas in defining historical communities, as well as their part in the history of exclusion, intolerance and religious persecution – themes which remain relevant today.

Students will examine inquisition, heresy, anti-Semitism and witchcraft in Europe, and will be given the opportunity to explore early European colonialism with particular reference to the New World and Asia. The module is interdisciplinary and students will be supported in the creative examination of non-traditional historical sources, both to challenge persistent historical narratives of the ‘Reformation World’, and as a way of including non-European perspectives. We will work with historical documents, of course, but also literary texts as well as visual and material culture.


Module aims:

  1. To help students gain a depth of understanding of major issues and trends within the history of religion and religious thought in the period studied.
  2. To examine, through the study in depth of a specific historical issue, the range of primary and secondary sources available to the historian of the pre-modern period and to enhance skills in their interpretation.
  3. To explore the strengths and weaknesses of rival historical interpretations relating to the content of the module and to foster original and creative thinking where appropriate.

Module content:


Module aims:

  1. To help students gain depth of understanding of major issues within the period studied.
  2. To examine, through the study in depth of a short chronological period, the range of primary and secondary sources available to the historian of this period and to enhance skills in their interpretation.
  3. To explore the strengths and weaknesses of rival historical interpretations relating to the content of the module and to foster original and creative thinking where appropriate.

Module content:

This module explores the destruction and remaking of the English landscape, and our relationship with the countryside from industrialisation to the modern age, reflecting major developments such as the Industrial Revolution and the Blitz and major figures and organisations, including Wordsworth, the National Trust and Extinction Rebellion. It examines both natural and built environments tracing key changes in how landscapes are used and viewed. It considers representations of landscape through art, film, and literature.

The module traces the development of preservation movements, alongside the growth of tourism and popular leisure activities, such as walking and hiking, and the struggle for increased access to the countryside, as well as the impact of conflict and climate change. It concludes by examining these historically significant issues in the present day; exploring current debates over landscape and heritage, the challenges faced by organisations such as the National Trust, and the question of whether one particular landscape can adequately represent contemporary national identity. 

Whilst the module is structured chronologically, several key themes recur throughout: tradition and modernity; relations of country and city; tensions and division; class and generation. Although the landscape of North West England offers important examples and case studies, students will be encouraged to reflect on other regions and localities within - and even beyond - England.


Module aims:

  1. To help students gain depth of understanding of major issues within the period studied.
  2. To examine, through the study in depth of a specific chronological period, the range of primary and secondary sources available to the historian of that period and to enhance skills in their interpretation.
  3. To explore the strengths and weaknesses of rival historical interpretations relating to the content of the module and to foster original and creative thinking where appropriate.
  4. To develop core digital skills for the presentation, communication, analysis and interpretation of this historical topic.

Module content:

Working with primary sources is at the heart of the historical craft. Within this module students will enhance their analytical skills by closely, and critically, analysing a range of primary and secondary sources to explore a particular topic in depth. These sources may include oral testimony, religious polemic, scatological pamphlets, sermons, travellers accounts, letters, guild ordinances, court transcripts, memoirs, news footage, film, memorials or examples of material culture.

Students in this module will focus on two special subjects. Specific topics offered will vary from year to year, but will normally embrace aspects of political, social, economic and cultural history. Examples of special subjects include, but are not limited to: Power, Ritual and the State; Heresy and Unbelief in an Age of Reform; Weimar Germany; The US Supreme Court and the Shaping of Modern America; Genocide in History and Memory; The Norman Conquest of England and Beauty and the Blitz: The Battle for the English Countryside.

There will be a clear emphasis on skills development between the two special subjects, with students required to demonstrate that they have utilised feedback from assessment components one and two in the preparation and completion/delivery of assessment components three and four. Besides the assessment itself standing as ‘evidence’ of this skills development, students will also be required to complete a summative reflection self-assessment upon the return of assessment components one and two, which will then inform how they approach the further assessment components. 


Module aims:

  1. To deepen students' understanding of the period of history studied through analysis of primary and secondary source material.
  2. To examine, through the study in depth of a short chronological period, the range of primary and secondary sources available to the historian of those periods and to enhance skills in their interpretation.
  3. To explore the strengths and weaknesses of rival historical interpretations and to foster original and creative thinking where appropriate.
Study History at the University of Chester

Study History at the University of Chester

Who you'll Learn from

Dr Kara Critchell

Senior Lecturer in History; Programme Leader BA History
Kara Critchell

Prof Tim Grady

Professor of History; Programme Leader MRes History, MA History & MA War, Conflict and Society
Prof Tim Grady

Dr Hannah Ewence

Head of Humanities, Cultures and Environment
Hannah Ewence

Dr Thomas Pickles

Senior Lecturer in Medieval History
Dr Thomas Pickles

Dr Katherine Wilson

Associate Professor of Later Medieval European History
Dr Katherine Wilson

Prof Peter Gaunt

Professor of History
Prof Peter Gaunt

Dr Rebecca Andrew

Senior Lecturer in History
Dr Rebecca Andrew

Dr David Harry

Deputy Head of Department; Senior Lecturer in History
Dr David Harry

Dr Donna Jackson

Senior Lecturer in American History; Assessment Contact – History and Archaeology; Academic Integrity Contact – History; CAID Affiliate
Donna Jackson

How you'll Learn

The vast majority of your teaching will be in small groups, in seminars and tutorials, but you will also get the chance to meet everyone in your year in large lectures for the core modules.  When we can, we’ll take you out on field trips to historic locations or heritage sites for ‘hands-on’ learning. You’ll also undertake some structured activities online, allowing you to make the best use of your independent study time whilst developing essential digital skills. This is called The Chester Blend. 

You will be assessed through a wide range of coursework methods, all of which are designed not only to test your understanding of history but also to allow you to develop and demonstrate skills that are essential for success after university. These include essays, source analyses, literature reviews and oral presentations, but also reflective exercises, digital assignments including video essays and other digital media, poster presentations and portfolios. There are no exams on our History course.

Beyond the Classroom

On this course, you will spend the final few weeks of your second year completing work experience. This may involve a placement related to your career or you might work as a historian on a range of projects. In the past, these have included commissions from organisations such as the National Trust, the Beatles industry in Liverpool and the Civic Voice War Memorials project. 

This course offers the exciting opportunity to study abroad for a full academic year.  

Whilst abroad:

Students will undertake study at one of our partner universities; it is expected that students will choose a series of modules at the university abroad, which accrue at least (100 credits; 50 ECTS). 

Additional subjects may be taken, but these can only be used for credit if the university abroad assigns ECTS credits to them (i.e., if students pass all the required assessments associated with the relevant module at the university abroad). 

Entry Requirements

112 UCAS Points

UCAS Tariff

112 points

GCE A Level

Typical offer – BCC-BBC. Must include either Ancient History, Classical Civilisation, History, Politics or Sociology

BTEC

Considered alongside one of the A Level subjects above

International Baccalaureate

26 points including 5 in HL History

Irish / Scottish Highers

Irish Highers: H3 H3 H3 H3 H4 including H3 in History

Scottish Highers: BBBB including History

Access requirements

Access to HE Diploma, to include 45 credits at level 3, of which 30 must be at Merit or above (including 15 in History)

T Level

Considered alongside one of the A Level subjects above

OCR Cambridge Technicals

Considered alongside one of the A Level subjects above

Extra Information

Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced and A level General Studies will be recognised in our offer.  We will also consider a combination of A Levels and BTECs/OCRs.

Students from countries outside the UK are expected to have entry qualifications roughly equivalent to UK A Level for undergraduate study and British Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) for postgraduate study. To help you to interpret these equivalents, please click on your country of residence to see the corresponding entry qualifications, along with information about your local representatives, events, information and contacts.

We accept a wide range of qualifications and consider all applications individually on merit. We may also consider appropriate work experience.

English Language Requirements

  • IELTS Academic: Undergraduate: 6.0 (minimum 5.5 in each band)
  • Postgraduate: 6.5 (minimum 5.5 in each band)

For more information on our entry requirements, please visit International Entry Requirements

72 UCAS Points

UCAS Tariff

72 points 

GCE A Level 

72 UCAS points overall including a D at A-level 

Other vocational qualifications at Level 3 will also be considered, such as NVQs. 

If you are a mature student (21 or over) and have been out of education for a while or do not have qualifications at Level 3 (equivalent to A Levels), then we can consider you and our Foundation Year will help you to develop the skills and knowledge you will need to succeed in your chosen degree.

BTEC 

BTEC Extended Diploma MMP 

BTEC Diploma MM 

Irish / Scottish Highers 

Irish Higher - H4, H4, H4, H4 

Scottish Highers - CCCC 

International Baccalaureate 

24 points 

Access requirements 

Access Diploma - Pass overall 

Where you'll study Exton Park, Chester

Fees and Funding

£9,250 per year (2024/25)

Our full-time undergraduate tuition fees for Home students entering University in 2024/25 are £9,250 a year, or £1,540 per 20-credit module for part-time study.

The University may increase these fees at the start of each subsequent year of your course in line with inflation at that time, as measured by the Retail Price Index. These fee levels and increases are subject to any necessary government, and other regulatory, approvals.

Students from the UK, Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey and the Republic of Ireland are treated as Home students for tuition fee purposes.

Following the UK’s exit from the EU, students from countries in the European Economic Area and the EU starting in or after the 2021/22 academic year will pay International Tuition Fees.

Students who have been granted Settled Status may be eligible for Home Fee Status and if eligible will be able to apply for Tuition Fee Loans and Maintenance Loans.

Students who have been granted Pre-settled Status may be eligible for Home Fee Status and if eligible will be able to apply for Tuition Fee Loans.

£13,950 per year (2024/25)

The tuition fees for international students studying Undergraduate programmes in 2024/25 are £13,950. 

This fee is set for each year of study. All undergraduate students are eligible for international and merit-based scholarships which are applicable to each year of study.  

For more information, go to our International Fees, Scholarship and Finance section.

Irish Nationals living in the UK or ROI are treated as Home students for Tuition Fee Purposes. 

Your course will involve additional costs not covered by your tuition fees. This may include books, printing, photocopying, educational stationery and related materials, specialist clothing, travel to placements, optional field trips and software. Compulsory field trips are covered by your tuition fees. 

If you are living away from home during your time at university, you will need to cover costs such as accommodation, food, travel and bills. 

Your Future Career

Job Prospects

History graduates from Chester have pursued a wide range of careers reflecting the excellent transferable skills offered by a History degree, including, amongst many others, careers in teaching, law, the civil service, publishing, business, IT and research. 

Progression options

  • MA History
  • MRes History
  • MSc Museums and Heritage Practice
  • Secondary (including Lead Partner Route) with QTS PGCE

Careers service

The University has an award-winning Careers and Employability service which provides a variety of employability-enhancing experiences; through the curriculum, through employer contact, tailored group sessions, individual information, advice and guidance.

Careers and Employability aims to deliver a service which is inclusive, impartial, welcoming, informed and tailored to your personal goals and aspirations, to enable you to develop as an individual and contribute to the business and community in which you will live and work.

We are here to help you plan your future, make the most of your time at University and to enhance your employability. We provide access to part-time jobs, extra-curricular employability-enhancing workshops and offer practical one-to-one help with career planning, including help with CVs, applications and mock interviews. We also deliver group sessions on career planning within each course and we have a wide range of extensive information covering graduate jobs and postgraduate study.