About our Project
We are delighted to showcase our project Learning the Landscape through Language: Place-Names and Childhood Education. The project, managed by members of the Institute for Name-Studies (INS) at the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, is a one-year initiative aiming to bring together university staff and education and learning professionals in Shropshire to explore and develop ways of enhancing childhood learning through the use of place-name material. Place-names offer fantastic insights into the development of landscape and local identity and have the potential to contribute to the curriculum in a variety of ways.
The project ran until the end of June 2021, and training took place in January and February 2020. This included a follow-up session in which teachers fedback their ideas to us, so that we can then produce resources that could meet their requirements. We are very keen to hear from teaching professionals who might be interested in participating in this exciting project, and we very much look forward to working with you to develop resources that are designed specifically for the benefit of Shropshire children.
Why Shropshire?
At the Institute for Name-Studies, we've been working on Shropshire place-names for decades, and we'd like to share our research in ways that are meaningful for Shropshire educators and students. Shropshire shares a border with Wales, and its place-names can reveal information about historical languages, identity, community and migration.
John Baker
John is Associate Professor in Name- Studies, based at the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. John's research focuses on English place-names, and, with Sarah Beach, he has recently published the latest volume in The Place-Names of Shropshire series.
Jayne Carroll
Jayne is Associate Professor in the History of English, and the Director of the Institute for Name-Studies at the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. Jayne's work is mainly focused on interdisciplinary place-name studies.
Susan Kilby
Susan was a post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Name-Studies at the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. She is especially interested in understanding the relationship between medieval communities and the rural landscape.
For Families
If you'd like to find out more about any of the place-names on our site, please contact us by email at namestudies@exmail.nottingham.ac.uk.
For Teachers
If you'd like to find out more about our teaching resources, and how we can help you to incorporate place-names into the National Curriculum at your school, please contact the Society by emailing namestudies@exmail.nottingham.ac.uk. You can also view our free resources.
Resources
You can also click here to see what other Shropshire teachers and educators had to say about working with place-names.
Check out our resources
For more ifnormation about this project and our work with schools, please visit our external website: