Department of History

At a glance, 2026–27

Head of department: Professor Thomas Wycherley
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Building: The Cloister Building, Bellhouse Lane
Academic staff: 50
Students: 520 undergraduates, 110 taught and 80 research postgraduates

The Department teaches history from the fall of Rome to the present, with particular strengths in early modern Britain, the history of ports and shipping, and modern European history. History of Art joined the Department in 2011 and teaches from the University’s own collections of prints and drawings.

With the University Archives, the Department runs the masters degree in Archives and Records Management, and many of its students write dissertations from the Academy’s own records, which survive almost unbroken from 1583.

Subjects

Medieval history
Early modern history
Modern British and European history
Global and maritime history
History of art
Archives and records management

Courses

Undergraduate

Postgraduate taught

Book History and Print Culture MA T103, joint
History MA T104
History of Art MA T105
Archives and Records Management MA T106

Postgraduate research

History MPhil and PhD R102

History in the course finder

Research

Ports and people: Novigrad, the Pontar trade and the maritime communities of the North Sea, 1500 to 1900.
Institutions and their records: Corporations, colleges and guilds, and how they kept and lost their papers.
Health and the city: Epidemics, sanitation and the history of medicine in English towns.
Image and print: The making and circulation of prints, maps and illustrated books.

Research students are supervised in every area listed. See research at Oxenfurt and the University’s centres and institutes.

Contact

The Cloister Building, Bellhouse Lane, Oxenfurt OF1 3DJ
Email history@oxenfurt.uk · Telephone 01632 960624
The department office is open from 09:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday.