Dr Leona Skelton

Associate Professor

Department: Humanities

Her doctoral research at Durham University investigated the regulation of key bio-physical flows of water, manure, blood, urine and industrial waste products in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century British townscapes, revealing remarkably well organised and effective systems of environmental regulation.

At the universities of York and Bristol, she worked on two AHRC-funded post-doctoral, environmental history research projects: 1) ‘Local Places, Global Processes’, on twentieth-century Kielder, in the North Tyne valley in Northumberland, revealing how local people’s economic, social and cultural lives were reshaped by successive environmental changes; and 2) ‘The Power and the Water’, on the environmental history of north-east England’s River Tyne (1529-2015), reconnecting the sub-themes of the river’s fish life, sanitation, pollution, riparian industry, riverine knowledge, regeneration, conservation, recreation and environmental governance. In 2015-16, she worked on an EPSRC-funded water sustainability project with civil engineers and social scientists, ‘TWENTY65’.

Leona is Co-Investigator on a three-year, AHRC-funded project, ‘Past Floods Matter’, working on historic flood mitigation and the Internal Drainage Boards (1770s to present) and she is also researching the environmental history of English brewing as a biotechnology, 1603-1830.

Campus Address

Rm 323, Lipman Building
City Campus
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE1 8ST

Email Leona

@LeonaSkelton1

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
'The Land is in Good Heart': Flood Mitigation and the Drainage Boards in Cumbria, 1844-1985, Skelton, L. 15 Jun 2020, In: Global Environment
Material Matters: Improving Berwick upon Tweed's Urban Environment, 1551-1603, Skelton, L. 19 Jan 2018, Economy and Culture in North-East England, 1500-1800 , Woodbridge, Boydell & Brewer
Mastering North-East England's 'River of Tine': efforts to manage a river's flow, functions and form, 1529-c.1800, Skelton, L. Mar 2017, Governing the Environment in the Early Modern World, Abingdon, Taylor & Francis
Regulating the Environment of the River Tyne’s Estuary, 1530-1800, Skelton, L. 1 Dec 2017, Environmental History in the Making, Switzerland, Springer
Stories of Life, Work and Nature Before and After the Clean-up of North-East England’s River Tyne, 1940–2015, Skelton, L. 1 Dec 2017, Telling Environmental Histories, Basingstoke, Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan
Tyne after Tyne: An Environmental History of a River’s Battle for Protection 1529–2015, Skelton, L. 1 Mar 2017
Environmental Change: A Local Perspective on Global Processes, Skelton, L., Moon, D. 31 Mar 2016, Local Places, Global Processes, Oxford, Oxbow Books
The Kielder Oral History Project: Three Case Studies, Skelton, L. 31 Mar 2016, Local Places, Global Processes, Oxford, Oxbow Books
Sanitation in Urban Britain, 1560–1700, Skelton, L. 21 Dec 2015
Beadles, Dunghills and Noisome Excrements: Regulating the Environment in Seventeenth-Century Carlisle, Skelton, L. 2014, In: International Journal of Regional and Local History

PGR Supervision

Adam Dixon The Impact of Transport Infrastructure on Twentieth Century Tyneside Start Date: 01/04/2023
Helen Leighton-Rose From Kirk to Secular Committee: The Impact of Changing Administration of Immoral Crime, Sexual Activity and Poverty upon South Eastern Scottish Borders Women’s Lives, 1707-1870. Start Date: 01/01/2020

Qualifications

History PhD June 01 2013
History MA January 01 2009
BA (Hons) June 30 2007
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy FHEA 2018
Fellow of the Royal Historical Society FRHistS 2017

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Research at Northumbria

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