Professor Nancy Edwards
Emeritus Professor
Affiliations
Contact info
Biography
I was appointed a Lecturer in Early Medieval Archaeology at Bangor in 1979 and became Professor of Medieval Archaeology in 2008. I retired in December 2020 and am now Emeritus Professor of Medieval Archaeology. I continue to supervise some research students.
I am a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. I am also an Honorary Professor at Cardiff University and the University of Durham.
I completed my BA in Archaeology, Ancient and Medieval History at Liverpool University in 1976. I then moved to the University of Durham where I gained a PhD in Archaeology. My thesis examined early medieval sculpture in the Irish Midlands.
Research
My research is multidisciplinary embracing Archaeology, History and Art History. I am particularly interested in early medieval Wales c. AD 400–1100. I also have a continuing interest in early medieval Ireland and Scotland as well as aspects of the history of archaeology.
My book, Life in Early Medieval Wales (funded by a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship) was published by Oxford University Press in 2023.
Much of my research continues to focus on early medieval inscribed stones and stone sculpture in Wales. I am interested not only in the monuments themselves but also in their landscape contexts and what they can tell us about the early medieval society, identity, the Church, patronage and wealth. I have published two volumes of A Corpus of Early Medieval Inscribed Stones and Stone Sculpture in Wales, Volume II, South-West Wales (2007); Volume III, North Wales (2013).
I am currently working, with Gary Robinson (Bangor University) and Howard Williams (University of Chester), on a biography of the ninth-century Pillar of Eliseg. I have also become interested in early medieval graffiti as part of my research on the sculptural assemblage from St Patrick’s Chapel, near St Davids.
Areas of Teaching & Supervision
- Published
Characterizing the Welsh Roundhouse: chronology, inhabitation and landscape
Edwards, N. M., Ghey, E., Edwards, N., Johnston, R. & Pope, R., 1 Nov 2007, In: Internet Archaeology. 23Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Early medieval Wales: a framework for archaeological research.
Edwards, N. M., Edwards, N., Lane, A., Bapty, I. & Redknap, M., 1 Jan 2005, In: Archaeology in Wales. 45, p. 33-46Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
The Pillar of Eliseg, Llantysilio. Incomplete inscribed cross and cairn.
Edwards, N. M., Edwards, N., Robinson, G., Williams, H. & Evans, D. M., 1 Jan 2011, In: Archaeology in Wales. 50, p. 57-59Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
A rediscovered piece of early medieval sculpture from Silian, Ceredigion
Edwards, N. M. & Vousden, N., 19 Jun 2015, In: Archaeology in Wales. 53Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Categorizing Roundhouse Settlements in Wales: A Critical Perspective.
Edwards, N. M., Ghey, E., Edwards, N. & Johnston, R., 1 Dec 2008, In: Studia Celtica. 42, 1, p. 1-25Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Celtic Crosses.
Edwards, N. M., Edwards, N. & Koch, J. T. (ed.), 1 Jan 2006, Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. 2006 ed. ABC-CLIO LtdResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
- Published
From antiquarians to archaeologists in nineteenth-century Wales: The question of prehistory
Edwards, N. M., Gould, J., Evans, N. (ed.) & Pryce, H. (ed.), 1 Dec 2013, Writing a Small Nation's Past: Wales in Comparative Perspective: 1850–1950. 2013 ed. Ashgate, p. 143-164Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
- Published
Viking-age sculpture in north-west Wales: welath, power, patronage and the Christian landscape
Edwards, N., 1 Jan 2011, Tome: Studies in Medieval Celtic history and Law in honour of Thomas Charles-Edwards. Edmonds, F. & Russell, P. (eds.). 2011 ed. Boydell, p. 73-87Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
- Published
Transforming Landscapes of Belief in the Early Medieval Insular World and Beyond: Converting the Isles II
Edwards, N. (ed.), Flechner, R. (ed.) & Mhaonaigh, M. N. (ed.), 31 Oct 2017, Brepols Publishers. (Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages)Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
- Published
Edward Lhuyd – an archaeologist’s view
Edwards, N., 1 Jan 2010, In: Welsh History Review. 25, 1, p. 20-50Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review