Overview
Please note that the next run of this course will be in 2026
Course start date: Monday 12th January 2026
Course end date: Friday 3rd April 2026
Early Bird Price: £135 BOOK NOW
Tutor: Lynne Thompson
Course Code: HIST003
Level: Non-accredited, non-credit bearing
Assessments/Exams: None. Throughout the course you will be given ideas and questions to respond to in the online discussion area. Participation in online discussion is encouraged, but not compulsory. In addition to this students will be given an optional assignment involving the creation of a timeline for the period, where you will be asked to select a limited number of events that you consider to be the most significant, with justifications for your choices. Students who choose to do this assignment will not receive a mark, but will receive feedback on their work.
Duration: 12 weeks
Estimated Student Study Time: 5 – 8 hours per week are recommended, but time spent is flexible and at your discretion.
Fee: £150.00
Pre-Requisites: No academic qualifications or experience of studying history are required – only an enthusiasm for this subject.
Delivery: Online Distance Learning
Late Entrants: If this course is not full by the start date then late entrants will be accepted for up to two weeks after the start of the course. As a late entrant you can choose to catch up on the material you have missed or you can skip the missed weeks and concentrate on the material at the point where you join the course, but unfortunately we cannot offer fee reductions or course extensions for late entrants.
Recommended Reading**:
Each weekly unit has its own recommended reading which will be signposted within the unit.
Required Reading**: There are no required texts for this course.
**Please note: All courses are subject to sufficient numbers of students registering before they are confirmed as running. Therefore, after booking your place you are advised not to purchase any texts until you have received confirmation that the course is running.
Summary
The purpose of this course, and its partner course Country, Colonies and Culture, is to provide you with an overview of British history from the later medieval period to the eve of the industrial revolution. The courses are independent of each other and include themes and perspectives from which to appreciate the origins of modern British society, in terms of the large-scale social, economic, political, religious and cultural change experienced circa 1550-1750. This course examines debates and issues concerning (among others) how and why Britain moved from an agricultural to an industrial society; religious and political developments; and social change including family life, crime and punishment, and popular culture 1550-1750.
By the end of this course, you should have gained an awareness of historiography (what academic writers of history have said about a specific period, or topic), become accustomed to evaluating and interpreting primary source material, and understand lines of argument informed by historical concepts. If you would like, it will be possible to produce an optional written assignment and by working together in this way, you could be well on the way to achieving well-structured and clear expression in historical writing and presentation.
In sum, then, the course is intended to provide you with a taste of history, and enough knowledge and skills to proceed with confidence to other, more specialist modules later on if you wish; to help you get back to study if you are a little ‘rusty’, or to develop further your writing and reasoning skills as and if required.
Syllabus Plan
Unit 1 – Overview of the Later Medieval Period
Unit 2 – From Tudors to Stuarts
Unit 3 – The Civil War
Unit 4 – The Restoration of the Monarchy and the Glorious Revolution
Unit 5 – England and its Kingdoms: The Act of Union
Unit 6 – The Enlightenment and the Age of Reason
Unit 7 – Thomas Paine, Mary Wollstonecraft and the Rights of Man
Unit 8 – Religion: Reformation and Counter-Reformation
Unit 9 – Persecution and Toleration
Unit 10 – The Witchcraze
Unit 11 – Protestant Sects in the 17th Century
Unit 12 – Methodism and Popular Religion in the 18th Century