Jess Treacher receives INS studentship

Congratulations to Jess Treacher, who has been awarded the INS studentship for the duration of her PhD research which begins next academic year. In Jess’s words:

“My PhD project will explore the place-name evidence for the exploitation of tree species in Anglo-Saxon England. The importance of trees within the physical and ideological landscape as monuments and as resources, and their role in landscape management, has been increasingly recognised in recent years. However, no exhaustive survey of the toponymic evidence has yet been undertaken. I shall adopt a comprehensive approach, in an attempt to broaden our understanding of Old English and Old Norse tree vocabulary and the semantic range of individual tree-names, as well as the application of these names within a landscape setting. This research also has the potential to throw light on the importance of particular tree species as resources, and how they were managed; and it will allow analysis of regional differences and an examination of the extent to which such differences are cultural as well as linguistic.”