Cyfeillion / Colleagues,
Wishing everyone a peaceful and restorative break over the holidays. ‘Curious Travellers’ has had a very busy year – here are some of the highlights.
This time last year many of us were scrambling to do final edits on contributions to our Special Issue of Studies in Romanticism, which was launched at the conference for the British Association for Romantic Studies in Glasgow in July: Project MUSE – Studies in Romanticism-Volume 63, Number 2, Summer 2024. The volume looks at Romantic-period travel and the Celtic languages, and has some really excellent essays. It was launched at the same time as my monograph Curious Travellers: Writing the Welsh Tour, 1760-1820 | Oxford Academic – the (belated!) partner volume to Nigel’s Stepping Westward. Three more monographs were completed by team members this year and should be arriving, like buses, in 2025: Edwin Rose’s Reading the World – University of Pittsburgh Press, serendipitously due out in time for our Gilbert White Exhibition in the spring; Rhys Kaminski-Jones’s Welsh Revivalism in Imperial Britain 1707-1819: True Britons and Celtic Empires (Boydell) – Pennant gets more than a mention! – and Ffion Mair Jones’s fascinating exploration of Pennant in his Welsh context, which considers his curiously patchy legacy in his home country: Thomas Pennant (1726- 1798): Cysylltiadau Cymreig (University of Wales Press). It has been great to hear ideas from these works in progress at various events such as BARS and our forum in Aberystwyth in September, where we also heard from Paul Evans, whose biography of Pennant is well underway, and Michael Freeman, who discovered an account book belonging to Pennant’s father – we now know that Thomas was brought up on extraordinary quantities of butter! Lisa Cardy and Luca Guariento joined our colleague Martin Crampin to present updates on our collaboration with the National Library of Wales, tagging the wonderful images in the Extra-Illustrated Tours – this crowdsourcing resource (‘Picturing Pennant’) is about to go live. Do have a go when it’s fully operational!
All of this has run alongside the mammoth task of editing the Tours of Scotland and Wales – a project which takes us into so many weird C18th rabbit-holes, our weekly catch-up sessions have a definite Alice in Wonderland vibe. Herring, a bolshy Bishop, or Roman lead-smelting techniques? Offa, Iona, or a scarlet mushroom? All in a day’s work…Ffion Jones’s edition of the little manuscript notebook that lies behind the Journey to Snowdon is now complete; we also hope to be releasing chunks of the other texts to various willing readers to ‘test-drive’ in the New Year – thanks to all who have offered to help.
We have also been out and about. In April we launched our Travels at Home exhibition in Greenfield valley Heritage Park, Holywell; there’s a beautiful exhibition booklet which we can send anyone who is interested (a link to a downloadable version on our website will be available in the New Year). Throughout the spring, our commissioned artist Sean Harris worked with Year 5/6 pupils at Ysgol y Llan, Whitford – just over the road from where Pennant is buried. He introduced them to Pennant and so much more (observing, drawing, reflecting on the environment) and together they created an exhibition (Curlews by candlelight: Sean Harris and Ysgol Y Llan at Whitford Church | Curious Travellers) and a splendid Whitford Ornithology (also available to send and downloadable in the NY). Up in Skye, Eilidh Mackenzie is exploring the uplands with a class of Gaelic-medium pupils, and thinking about shielings, transhumance and the summer journeys of modern tourists (Curious Travellers | ATLAS English). Both artists have made history (and natural history) feel vividly present in the students’ own locales – we are privileged to be working with them. In addition, throughout the year, Sarah Baylis has worked with community groups in Whitford and Holywell: her interviews with many longstanding members of the Thomas Pennant Society have brought great insights into how much heritage and history really matters on the ground. We remain very grateful to the TPS, and to Whitford Church, for their enthusiasm and support. Huge thanks to Martin Crampin for creating the new Whitford Church website – Whitford Church – Official website of St Mary’s and St Beuno’s Church – a guide-book is also in progress:
Our collaboration with the Natural History Museum has gained new momentum this year: we’re delighted to have Steph Holt now officially on board for a day a week. Steph has been liaising across the different departments where Pennant specimens are held – uncovering some surprises (algae! barnacles!) and bringing the collection into focus. She is also leading on the Pennant/Gilbert White exhibition in Selborne (launch date – 8th April 2025 – please come!) and has transcribed and edited the original letters from White that lie behind the Natural History of Selborne. Our outreach focus next year will be on Pennant as a naturalist, and we look forward to ‘thinking with things’ as we explore the stories and the journeys behind the specimens.
There is more, but this is more than enough! Please note that we have moved from Twitter/X to Bluesky (@curioustravellers.bsky.social); do look at our blogs and news sections on the website (Curious Travellers | Thomas Pennant and the Welsh and Scottish Tour (1760-1820)), and get in touch with any thoughts, comments or suggestions for new blogs. To finish: thanks to everyone who has helped us throughout the year – and once again, we pay tribute to the work of a truly brilliant research team.
Gan ddymuno Nadolig Llawen ichi i gyd, a phob hwyl yn y Flwyddyn Newydd.
Mary-Ann, Nigel, Lisa and the CT team.
