"A perfect Elysium and the residence of a divinity": a social analysis of country houses and policies in late seventeenth and eighteenth century Scotland

Hale, Caroline Inness (2006) "A perfect Elysium and the residence of a divinity": a social analysis of country houses and policies in late seventeenth and eighteenth century Scotland. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Archaeology, the study of people in the past through their material culture, recognises the potential of space and the built environment to create and transmit social statements. Country houses were dynamic and active elements in the history of Scotland.

Landowners did not act in a social vacuum. As society changed, houses, as the clearest physical expression of identity and status, were used to negotiate relations with others, and with the natural world. Houses were used to appeal to traditional power bases, while at the same time allowing a response to, and involvement in, the changing political and social world.

This thesis uses a multidisciplinary approach in an attempt to understand architecture not just as art, but as a reflection of, and element in, the social lives and relationships of the people who lived in, worked around, viewed and visited the country house.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Due to copyright restrictions vol.2 of this thesis cannot be made available online. Access to the printed version is available.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform; C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CC Archaeology
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Archaeology
• Supervisor's Name: Driscoll, Prof. Stephen
• Date of Award: 2006
• Depositing User: Mr Toby Hanning
• Unique ID: glathesis:2006-3201
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 17 Feb 2012
• Last Modified: 10 Dec 2012 14:05
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/3201