Matthew Jenkins

Research project

Matt’s research investigates housing in York during the long eighteenth century and focuses on two major areas, perceptions of the streetscape and interior space. The historian Peter Borsay singled out Micklegate in York as one of a number of  ‘archetypal Georgian streets’. However by examining the physical evidence of the standing buildings a different picture emerges. The composition of Micklegate and many other streets in York was extremely varied, with timber-framed houses from the medieval and early modern periods jostling with examples of polite Georgian architecture. The PhD uses the methodology of buildings biographies, which enables physical evidence to be combined with documentary sources to illuminate how both the owner and the house influenced each other. While the focus will be on individual houses, these are used to question broader ideas of the urban renaissance, showing how the diverse streetscape can be characterised by contrasts as well as uniformity. The composition of the different houses would also have affected how interior space was encountered. The PhD will show how an in-depth investigation of individual streets can enhance our understanding of the experience of life in the eighteenth-century town.