Rachel Willie

Over the last few years, the soundscapes network has been working with Speke Hall, a National Trust property on the outskirts of Liverpool that was built by the Catholic Norris family in the sixteenth century. The acoustic space of the building connects to the Norris family’s faith: you can read my previous post about the …

At Last, the Leopards Read More »

Following on from our first workshop meeting in Vancouver in March, in September, we collaborated with the research team at Wellcome Collection to explore sound in the archives from a global, theoretical and historical perspective. Wellcome houses an exceptional collection of early modern rare books, manuscripts, prints and art works, and this gave us a …

Archiving the soundscape Read More »

On the outskirts of Liverpool is Speke Hall, which was built from 1530-1598 by the Norris family and is now in the ownership of the National Trust. The fabric of the hall contains many visual and acoustic conundrums. In the Tudor period, there was a fashion for building riddles and curious devices into buildings, but …

Speke riddles Read More »

In January, we had a preliminary workshop in York where we announced the formation of a new research network on soundscapes in the early world. In preparation for the soundscapes workshops we will run as part of the network, we asked deceptively simple questions about how we define soundscapes and how we engage with historic …

The architecture of the soundscape Read More »

In 1664, Richard Flecknoe made the following observations about how plays were performed in the Restoration in comparison to how they were produced in the first half of the seventeenth century: Now, for the difference betwixt our Theaters [sic.] and those of former times, they were but plain and simple, with no other Scenes, nor …

Towards a new theory of the early modern soundscape? Read More »