Research interests
Helen's main research interests focus on Medieval landscapes, their development and exploitation. She completed her PhD research on landscape development and settlement evolution of the Lincolnshire Marsh in 2007. Within this theme her current research is compiling a web-based database of Deserted Medieval Settlements. She is also interested in the development of techniques to record and analyse landscapes using GPS and GIS. She is currently writing up the large-scale landscape survey of the Ancient Egyptian city of tell el-Amarna, Middle Egypt.
Helen was the co-director of the Brodsworth Community Archaeology Project which offered training opportunities to students and the wider public at the same time as researching the landscape development of an area of eight parishes of South Yorkshire (2004-2015). Between 2011 and 2019 she also lead the investigation of the Templar Perceptorary at Faxfleet, East Yorkshire.
She is also undertaking a project to make accessible information about the recorded Deserted Medieval Villages in England - with the website 'Beresford's Lost Villages'.
Postgraduate supervision
Helen's primary interest is in landscape archaeology, including marginal landscapes, wetland landscapes, military landscapes, seigniorial landscapes, and landscape archaeological techniques.
She would also be interested in supervising postgraduate research on teaching and learning in archaeology and history, including the provision of field schools, employability, and using technology as a teaching aid.
Completed PhDs
- Maybury, T. 2011. A century of change on the Lindsey marshland : Marshchapel 1540-1640. University of Hull
- Hiscott, R. 2015. The permissibility of the practice of inscribing graffiti in Beverley Minster, with specific reference to the eastern side of the reredos.
- Prescott, R. 2023. Reframing ‘the Anarchy’: Castles, Landscapes and Society in Twelfth-Century Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.