Dr Peter Lindfield

Who am I?

If you don't find me knee-deep in manuscripts in some library or archive, or writing my next article or book, you'll see me going fast on a bike in the Cheshire lanes, or on the Peak District's hills.

Academic and professional qualifications

2013
Associate Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy

2008–12
PhD Art History, University of St Andrews
Thesis title: Furnishing Britain: Gothic as a National Aesthetic 1740–1840
Supervisors: Annette Carruthers and Dr Julian Luxford 
External examiner: Michael Snodin (V&A and Strawberry Hill)
Internal examiner: Professor Richard Fawcett

2006–7
MLitt (Distinction) Art History, University of St Andrews
Dissertation title: Chippendale the Elder: A Contextual Re-Assessment
Supervisor: David Jones

2002–6
MA (Hons) (First Class) Art History, University of St Andrews
Dissertation title: Vertical and Horizontal: Perpendicular at Gloucester Cathedral
Supervisor: Dr Julian Luxford

Academic collaborations

I have collaborated with Profs Dale Townshend (MMU), Fiona Robertson (Durham), and Matthew Reeve (Queen's, Canada) on a variety of projects including co-authored essays, exhibitions, collections of edited essays, and books. Outputs from these collaborations explore: ruins in eighteenth-century Britain; Gothic Revival architecture; Strawberry Hill; Lee Priory; Fonthill Abbey and Vathek; Gothic sculpture; heraldry. Future collaborations include work on the Painted Chamber at the Palace of Westminster, and Strawberry Hill as a paper house. A collaborative project looking at fakes, forgeries, and reproductions with colleagues at Yale University is currently at the planning stage.

Publications

• Books (authored/edited/special issues)

  PN. Lindfield, J. Stobart (2023). Politics and the English Country House, 1688–1800. P. Lindfield. McGill-Queen’s University Press.

  PN. Lindfield (2019). The Display of Heraldry: The Heraldic Imagination in Arts and Culture. P. Lindfield, F. Robertson. London: The Heraldry Society.

  M. Carter, D. Townshend, PN. Lindfield (2017). Writing Britain's Ruins.

• Journal articles

  PN. Lindfield (2016). A further allusion to Strawberry Hill at Lee Priory, Kent (letter). The Burlington magazine. 158(1365), pp.979-979.

  PN. Lindfield (2016). Heraldry and the Architectural Imagination: John Carter's Visualisation of The Castle of Otranto. The Antiquaries Journal. 96, pp.291-313.

  PN. Lindfield (2016). Triangular Chairs at Strawberry Hill: The Genuine and the Fabricated. The Furniture History Society Newsletter. 204, pp.2–6-2–6.

  MM. Reeve, PN. Lindfield (2015). 'A Child of Strawberry': Thomas Barrett and Lee Priory, Kent. BURLINGTON MAGAZINE. 157(1353), pp.836-842.

  P. Lindfield (2015). New light on Chippendale at Hestercombe House. BURLINGTON MAGAZINE. 157(1348), pp.452-456.

  PN. Lindfield (2015). A Passion for Gothic. Country Life. 18 March, pp.110–111-110–111.

  P. Lindfield (2014). Serious Gothic and ‘doing the Ancient Buildings’: Batty Langley's Ancient Architecture and ‘Principal Geometric Elevations’. Architectural History. 57, pp.141-173.

  PN. Lindfield (2014). The Countess of Pomfret’s Gothic Revival Furniture. The Georgian Group Journal. XXII, pp.77–94-77–94.

  PN. Lindfield (2013). Porden’s Eaton: William Porden’s Role in the Development of Eaton Hall, Cheshire, 1802–1825. The Georgian Group Journal. XXI, pp.137–151-137–151.

  PN. Lindfield (2012). The Furnishing of a Gothic Fantasy 1803–1825: Eaton Hall, Cheshire. Furniture History. 48, pp.155–180-155–180.

  PN. Lindfield (2007). The fourteenth century choir stalls at Gloucester Cathedral. Regional Furniture. 21, pp.173-82.

• Chapters in books

  PN. Lindfield (2018). Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill House (1749). In: The Gothic. pp.153-160.

  PN. Lindfield (2018). Horace walpole’s strawberry hill house (1749). In: The Gothic: A Reader. pp.153-160.

  PN. Lindfield (2016). ‘Hung round with the Helmets, Breast-Plates, and Swords of our Ancestors’: Allusions to Chivalry in Eighteenth-Century Gothicism?. B. Gribling, K. Stevenson. In: Chivalry and the Vision of the Medieval Past. Boydell & Brewer, pp.61–98-61–98.

  PN. Lindfield (2015). National Identity Through Design: the Anglicisation of the Rococo in Mid Eighteenth-Century Britain. PN. Lindfield, C. Margrave. In: Rule Britannia? Britain and Britishness 1707–1901. Cambridge Scholars, pp.1–40-1–40.

  PN. Lindfield (2012). Georgian Gothic Fabrications in the Antiquarian Style: William Kent, Batty Langley and Horace Walpole. A. Lepine, L. Cleaver. In: Gothic Legacies: Four Centuries of Tradition and Innovation in Art and Architecture. Cambridge Scholars, pp.38–59-38–59.

• Other

Invited papers

2018
‘The Gothic House in Georgian Britain’, Lecture, The Georgian Group, London

'The antithesis of good taste: Georgian Gothic', Lecture as part of English Architecture 1690–1750: To Be or Not To Be Palladian, University of Oxford

'An unprecedented contribution to Georgian Gothic: William Kent at York Minster', Lecture, York Georgian Society, York

2017
‘Walpole as Designer’, Walpole’s Tercentenary Lecture Series, University of Durham

‘Walpole’s Paper House’, Walpole’s Tercentenary Colloquium, University of Durham

2016
‘Antiquarian Furniture: Welch and Glastonbury’, Strawberry Hill Furniture Study Day, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham

‘William Beckford’s Architectural Imagination’, Annual Lecture, Beckford’s Tower Trust, Bath Preservation Trust

2015
‘Gothic Revival Architecture’, St Mary’s University, London: lecture to MA Gothic Studies students

‘Gothic Revival Architecture’, Stirling University: lecture to MA Gothic Studies students

2014
‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Eighteenth-Century Country House Architecture and Interiors’, Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire

‘Gothic Revival Architecture’, St Mary’s University, London: lecture to MA Gothic Studies students

‘Gothic Revival Architecture’, Stirling University: lecture to MA Gothic Studies students

Conference organisation

2016
Romantic Antiquarianism: A Conference Celebrating Scott’s The Antiquary: The Georgian Group, London, 27 November
Exploring Lee Priory: A Child of Strawberry Hill—A Study Day: 1 March

2015
Reading Architecture Across the Arts and Humanities, Stirling University: 5–6 December

2014
Emblems and Enigma: The Heraldic Imagination, Society of Antiquaries of London: 26 April

2013
The Eighteenth-Century Gothick Symposium, University of Oxford: 7 August

2012
Emblems of Nationhood: Britishness 1707–1901, University of St Andrews: 10–12 August

Grants

Fellowships

2017
Postdoc, AHRC International Placement Scheme, Yale Center for British Art
(3 months)

2016–19
Postdoc, Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, Manchester Metropolitan University (3 Years)

2015–16
Postdoc, AHRC-Funded Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Stirling (1 Year)

2015
Fellow, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University, Farmington, CT (2 weeks; travel grant)

2013
Fellow, Dunscombe Colt Fellow for the study of eighteenth-century British architecture and design, the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford (1 month)

2011
Fellow, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University, Farmington, CT (1 month)

2010
Fellow, British Art Center, Yale University, CT (2 months)

Personal Research Projects

2016
Marc Fitch Fund, publication grant

University of Stirling, publication grant

2012
Pugin Society conference bursary

Furniture History Society conference bursary

2011
British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies conference bursary

2010
Burnwynd History of Art research grant

Elizabeth Gilmore Holt scholarship

Conference Organisation and Publication Grants

2014
For the organisation of Emblems and Enigma: The Heraldic Imagination, Society of Antiquaries of London, 26 April, (https://heraldics2014.wordpress.com/call-for-papers/) (£2,582): 

• Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art Conference Grant (£1,582)
• St Mary’s University, School of English (£600)
• University of St Andrews, School of Art History (£200)
• The Heraldry Society (£200)

To publish the volume of selected and extended essays arising from the conference Emblems and Enigma: The Heraldic Imagination: Fiona Robertson and Peter Lindfield (eds), The Display of Heraldry (The Heraldry Society, 2018):
• Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art Publication Grant (£2000)

2012
For the organisation of Emblems of Nationhood: Britishness 1707–1901, University of St Andrews: 10–12 August (£6,828):
• The Russell Trust (£2,082)
• The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art Conference Grant (£1,200)
• University of St Andrews, CAPOD (£1000)
• University of the Highlands and Islands (£1000)
• University of St Andrews, School of Art History (£600)
• University of St Andrews, School of History (£400)
• University of St Andrews, School of English (£200)
• Scottish Society for Art History (£200)
• Royal Historical Society (£200)

Other distinctions

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (elected 2016)