Methodology

This was the first time I had taken part in a research based module so when the option arose for the entire class to work on the Shieldfield project, I knew that this would be a good way to create a starting point for a research techniques.

As a group we decided which parts of the area to research. I had already noticed that Shieldfield had two beautiful examples of gothic architecture in the form of two churches, Christ Church and Saint Judes, so I offered to research Churches in Shieldfield. I started off by asking myself a set of questions after deciding Christ Church,

1. When was Christ Church built?
2. What kind of people worshiped at Christ Church?
3. What is the significance of the architecture of the building?
4. Are the churches in the area still used today?

Our research stared as a group as the majority of us needed to use maps and directories. The city library was an invaluable source for these materials but it became apparent that, in terms of the maps of the area, we needed more options. I was lucky enough to get maps ranging in date from 1861 to the present day. I requested the maps from my dad who works in the surveying department of a university and he kindly asked an acquaintance to help me. Although I was not enitrly sure if the maps would help my section of the research I knew that they would be usful to other sections of the research, such as Stephanie’s portion on the boundaries of Shieldfield. 

The first piece of information of I found on Christ Church was from the text attached to the church’s photograph on Flickr. “It was built in the decorated Gothic style.The church opened in 1861 designed by A.B. Higham. Built in memory of William Boyd a local banker.”

Using this information I knew that I could find Christ Church on a map from 1861 or later and the name of the architect. 


My next step was to find out information about Christ Church, to focus of my research. By looking in the Courent, a local nineteenth century newspaper, I hoped I would find out more about The Church. Within the article about the laying of the first stone of Christ Church I found the full name of the Architect. From there I could use the 1961 census to find out more information about the architect. Finding out the dates he practiced architecture and also the place in which he was born helped me to work out why his information was not widely known.