English and History

This joint honours programme brings English and History together in exciting and meaningful ways, letting you explore how the two subjects complement and deepen each other.

This joint honours programme brings English and History together in exciting and meaningful ways, letting you explore how the two subjects complement and deepen each other. Our academics specialise in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty‑first centuries, however you will also have the chance to study earlier periods — including early modern literature and Shakespeare — as well as modules in American studies, creative writing and the visual arts. The programme is designed to feed your enthusiasm and intellectual curiosity across literary, historical, and cultural studies.

Our English and History degree gives you real freedom to shape your studies around your interests, choosing from a broad range of topics across both disciplines to build a course that inspires and challenges you. You’ll learn in a stimulating environment supported by passionate academic staff who are committed to helping you succeed. Along the way, you’ll develop valuable transferable skills — from critical thinking to communication — that will support your future career, whatever path you choose.

In Year 1, you will have the opportunity to study forms of narrative, writing through history, and the Atlantic world since the 15th century, with a wide range of History, English, and creative writing options.

In Year 2, you will study the History of Britain and the British Empire, and research design, with a choice of a wide range of optional modules including Renaissance writings, Victorian literature, writing from the Modernist era, modern China, and African states and nations 1850-1990, Literature from 1990, 20th-century America, and weird fiction.

You then have the option to complete a professional placement and/or overseas study.

Final year students will complete a compulsory dissertation in either English or History, but which may combine elements of both. You will also have the opportunity to choose from a wide range of optional modules, such as modern poetry, utopian and dystopian writing, Shakespeare, Empire, War and Popular Culture 1880-1914, the Soviet security state since 1917, and feminist philosophy.

The critical thinking and presentation skills you will learn while studying with us, as well as the ability to communicate effectively, will provide you with the confidence and transferrable skills prized by a wide range of industries from archiving to web editing, publishing to policymaking. Many recent graduates now have marketing roles with publishers, as well as companies such as Curve Theatre and the Royal Opera House.

Graduates on our existing single honours programmes BA English Literature and BA History have progressed to roles in advertising, archiving, the civil service, creative arts, journalism, human resources, marketing, product development, management, the media (both TV and radio), public relations, publishing, research, teaching, and law.

Methods of assessment include essays, reflective commentaries, journals, online in-class tests, annotated bibliographies, in-class presentations, research projects, workbook/log books, group work, peer assessments, and the final dissertation.

Exposure to such a wide range of written and oral methods of communication builds a broad set of skills and professional competencies for maximum employability. This course is assessed entirely through coursework, as opposed to exams.