National Trust Research
@researchnt
News, stories, opportunities, and occasional memes from the National Trust's Research Team. You're welcome to contact us at research@nationaltrust.org.uk.
‘The aesthetic rearrangements that he personally undertook largely remain.’ And after Bob’s work with the Trust, his ‘mode for how a country house library should be presented was followed, and embraced by those who considered the books as little more than wallpaper.’
And while, as Pye writes, ‘some of his approaches appear questionable to a twenty-first-century curator,’ Bob’s work resulted in libraries within whose ‘cases the volumes were exalted and could be admired behind locked, glazed doors, through which the gilt could shimmer.’
In June 1948, Bob found the library at Stourhead in a terrible state, reporting that ‘the dust [on the shelves] has lain so thick and so long that in most cases the wood has become stained by it.’ Bob’s solution? ‘An aesthetic rather than a scholarly rearrangement of the volumes.’
In his recent article, National Curator for Libraries at the @nationaltrust.org.uk Tim Pye discusses the life of Robert ‘Bob’ Gathorne-Hardy (1902-73), the Trust's first libraries adviser, a gay man, whose ‘role with the Trust has largely been forgotten and has certainly never been fully explored.’
‘In the seven decades since Bob last worked for the [National] Trust, its libraries have been passed through by tens of millions of visitors who have been unaware of his work and legacy, or that the books on the shelves “are physical manifestations of queer historical memory”.’ So, who was Bob? 🧵
Shout-out to all our rangers on #WorldRangerDay! We couldn't do nature research without our expert ranger teams. They know landscapes and habitats better than anyone else, and work every day to find the best ways of caring for them. Thanks, @nationaltrust.org.uk rangers, you're the best.
🥳The National Trust's fourth Annual Research Report is here! Learn all about how our research is helping us Restore Nature, End Unequal Access, and Inspire Millions. You can download the report from our Research Repository ⬇️ nt.iro.bl.uk/concern/repo...
📢One week left to apply to join our team as Postdoctoral Research Fellow! We're looking for a fantastic researcher to join our Nature Towns and Cities team and work in partnership with the @exeter.ac.uk @netpositivecentre.bsky.social. Find out more ⬇️ careers.nationaltrust.org.uk/OA_HTML/a/?_...
#academia #postdoc job alert! 📢 We're looking for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to join our Nature Towns and Cities team and work in partnership with the @exeter.ac.uk @netpositivecentre.bsky.social. Fixed term for at least 2 years, £36,621 pa. ⬇️ careers.nationaltrust.org.uk/OA_HTML/a/?_...
Then, it was a mighty tree, a food, a medicine, a nation's cultural symbol. Now, it's a staircase in an English stately home. Researcher Elena of @bristoluni.bsky.social has written the fascinating life story of Dyrham's black walnut trees. plantpublichistory.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2026/04/29/f...
Same, Magpie Inkcap mushroom, same. 📸NT Images / Rob Coleman
This week is Solitary Bee Week 🐝 At Godrevy in Cornwall, we're working with @bisschrisson.bsky.social of @plymuni.bsky.social. He's researching how 'hemiparasitic' plants (that's plants that partly feed on others) can benefit pollinators like this hard-working little Miner Bee. 📸Chris Bisson
📢Funded doctoral placement alert! The @nationaltrust.org.uk and @britishlibrary.bsky.social are looking for a PhD student to work on the National Trust Sound Archive of oral history interviews. 3 months FT or 6 months PT from September. For more info, see www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/r...
Our brilliant @cam.ac.uk collaborative PhD student, Molly, has published a blog post all about her research into antislavery at Killerton. There's a rich and complex story here - empire, philanthropy, patriotism, religion, imperialism, antislavery, racism all intertwined. Find out more ⬇️
📢Funded PhD studentship alert! Are you interested in using digital tools to make heritage spaces accessible? You might be the perfect candidate for our new collaborative PhD with @uniofsurrey.bsky.social. Find out more: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
The people behind NT Research 👀 We've had a great time at Killerton this week. The team there told us all about how they're restoring woodlands and hedgerows on a vast landscape scale. We're excited to help plan the research needed to make this beautiful place accessible to everyone.
Last week Dr Stephanie Pratt, art historian and cultural ambassador for the Crow Creek Dakota Nation, and Prof Clare Taylor @openuniversity.bsky.social visited us at Dunster Castle. Their work on Dunster's collections will help us tell new stories for everyone - lots of questions still to answer!
And research into Cornish grasslands is proving that hemiparasitic plants improve bee and butterfly numbers. Hemiparasites take some of their nutrients from other plants. They slow the growth of grasses, giving other plants and their pollinators space to thrive 🐝 📸National Trust Images/Gesine Garz
This painting, 'Stourhead in its Infancy', shows the Wiltshire estate in the early 1700s - or does it? New National Trust research has shown that all's not what it seems! See for yourself in the new exhibition 'The Secret Lives of Paintings', at Stourhead from 14 March. 📸National Trust Images
Sound on 🎧to join our collaborative PhD student Ruth on her research trip to Tyntesfield last week! This silver-covered prayer book was copied in France in the early 16th century. We think it's probably the National Trust's most beautiful medieval book... @openuniversity.bsky.social 📸Daisy Gibbs
Presenting the Proceedings of the NT PhD Conference 2025! 🎉 Inside you'll find papers by our talented collaborative students, exploring topics like neurodiversity in heritage and women in 19th century libraries. Download from our Research Repository: nt.iro.bl.uk/concern/conf...
🗓️On 10th March at 6pm, #NationalTrust conservation scientist Valentina Risdonne chairs an online webinar 🖥️ on 🏡'Interiors, Exteriors & Sculptures'🏛️as part of Discovering #HeritageScience series 🔍during #BritishScienceWeek ✍️Register & see more webinars here: nationaltrust.webex.com/webappng/sit...
🤩Throwback to last summer🌅 when Ken the diver joined a group of volunteer researchers to gather fortnightly data from beneath the waves 🌊on the health of seagrass meadows🌿 at #StudlandBay in Dorset - seahorse sightings included 🐟+🐴 More details at www.dorsetcoasthaveyoursay.co.uk/studland-bay... ⚓
🎶On the Tuesday before Christmas Research at the National Trust gave to me 🎵A 500 year wait for Buckland music 🎲20+ new games for Avebury stone circle 🌿£3m for 3 transformative Green Corridors 🐾8 Paws for Thoughts Recommendations 🌳5 Be’s for Urban Trees …and nature recovery with BVLOS drones🎶
🎶On the 6th day before Christmas, Research at the National Trust gave to me 🎶 ⏱️17 micro internships 🌱9 Seed Fund projects 🌳6 years as an IRO 👏5 PhD completions 🙌3 newly externally funded projects this year ... and a Strategic Partnerships #KnowledgeExchangeUK Award 🎶
Samuel Shaw - researcher on the National Trust-led TREASURE project - explores how the Trust’s art collections can inspire floodplain meadow restoration by reconnecting heritage & ecological practice📍Attingham 📖 Link: theconversation.com/how-the-nati... #NatureRecovery #ArtAndEcology#TREASUREProject
𖥂🎮 𖥂 Delivery drones alert! With AutoSpray Systems, we're testing using long-range, heavy-lift 🏋️drones to restore peatland 🌱 by delivering 🌟✨ environmental materials to multiple remote and ecologically sensitive areas 🗺️📍ENG WLS NI www.gov.uk/government/n... #innovateUK #FutureFlight #NationalTrust
🎧Excited2help preserve England's East Coast soundscapes! Teaming up w/@mybcu.bsky.social @royalbirmcons.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk @manmetuni.bsky.social &@suffolkarchives.bsky.social on a £1.4M project to capture the region’s #SonicHeritage- from🐦birdsong to🚢foghorns—using VR🕶️,3D tech🖥️&comm'ty wkshops
🕊️ #FaithFreedomFriendship Explore the story of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther & Sir Thomas Dyke Acland – a friendship that shaped reform, education & faith 📍 Killerton Chapel #NationalTrust 📅 Sept 12–Nov 2 '25 Supported by PhD student @mollygroarke.bsky.social www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/devon/...