COTAC Insight 4 COTAC Insight 4: Understanding and Appreciating the Region of East Anglia ISSN 2753-9083
With a focus on The Region of East Anglia this well-illustrated multi-part Insight, was undertaken by Ingval Maxwell and Barry J Bridgwood for COTAC in support of its aim to advance a broader knowledge of built heritage matters by those involved in learning, training and educating, including the interested public.
Insight 4’s intention is to offer an awareness, appreciation and understanding that will assist a broad spectrum of readers enhance their comprehension of the East Anglia Region’s interlinked issues. The various Parts deliberate on different aspects that have, over time, combined to establish its unique character and distinctiveness.
All 11 Parts are available as pdf downloads by clicking on the illustrative Part links. as below.
Note: Each of Parts 7.1 to 7.4 has been created as three incorporated document sections – making, overall, 19 study Parts.
Insight 4: Introduction: Overview of Parts 1 - 7
The significance, value and essence of the East Anglia Region lies in its substance and a distillation of its visual appearance emerging from various influences. This, through how it has used natural materials, social and technological influences and working methods to create its interrelating veneers of regional character and identity. These influences are sequentially explored in Parts 1 -4 with Annexed Parts 5 and 6. Building upon Parts 1-4, each Part 7.1 -7.4 is offered as self-learning material consisting of Summary Notes, Questions and Answers, and a related 24-Image Slide Set.
Insight 4: Part 1 The Essence
The significance and essence of the East Anglia Region lies in its substance and a distillation of its visual appearance through gaining an appreciation of how it has used materials, and methods of incorporation, to establish a regional character or vernacular. This study aims to explore and contextualise these different issues by offering an overview of its various unique components and physical features.
Insight 4: Part 2 Interpreting Setting
Part 2 sets out to explore how the natural environment shapes and determines the regional environment and how the consequential impact of commercial success, in return, shapes the natural. As a result, the regional setting changes progressively as increasing demands are exercised upon it, whilst its urban centres have also continued to expand and accommodate the resultant variations and pressures.
Insight 4: Part 3 Building Materials
To understand a region and its people it is also vital to gain an interpretation of its social history along with its underlying geology and ecology: how these have impacted on the population and how those naturally available elements have been exploited, developed and used over time. Without that comprehension it is difficult to gain clarity of understanding of whom and what they are and what they have become. These issues can be readily demonstrated through the built environment that has been created.
Insight 4: Part 4 The Modern Setting
Within East Anglia a series of significant and successive developments occurred throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Each creating their own important physical imprint on the historic essence of the Region; their combined effects create a challenge when trying to appreciate, understand and analyse collective impacts on cultural, technological and intertwined developments.
Insight 4: Part 5 Country House Annex
The listed information contained in this Part 5 aims to offer a wider appreciation and understanding of the Country Houses and Estates from the 14th to the 19th Century section of Part 2. The selective information has been briefly summarised from the Historic England Listed Building list entries for the four counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire where a full record of what has been officially recognised is available.
Insight 4: Part 6 Airfield Annex
This Part 6 Illustrated Inventory has been compiled and prepared in support of the brief introduction to the development of Military airfields across the Region offered in Part 4 of the Insight. The sheer scale and complexity of what was imprinted across the landscape in a dramatically short period of time is well revealed by what is listed.
Insight 4: Part 7.1 Learning the Essence of the Region
Part 7.1 of COTAC’s Insight 4 is aimed at encouraging Lay and Learning readers who may wish to gain a greater appreciation of the East Anglia Region. It does this through combining background Learning Notes and attached Part 7.1.1 Questions with suggested Answers, based on the supporting 24-image Part 7 Annex A Slide Set (Thumbnails as below). Users are encouraged to consult the associated “Part 1 The Essence” when considering their response before checking suggested Answers at the end of Part 7.1.1.
Insight 4: Part 7.2 Learning to interpret Setting
Part 7.2 of COTAC’s Insight 4 is aimed at encouraging Lay and Learning readers who may wish to gain a greater appreciation of the East Anglia Region. It does this through combining background Learning Notes and attached Part 7.2.1 Questions with suggested Answers, based on the supporting 24-image Part 7 Annex B Slide Set (Thumbnails as below). Users are encouraged to consult the associated “Part 2 Interpreting Setting” when considering their response before checking suggested Answers at the end of Part 7.2.1.
Insight 4: Part 7.3 Learning Building Materials
Part 7.3 of COTAC’s Insight 4 is aimed at encouraging Lay and Learning readers who may wish to gain a greater appreciation of the East Anglia Region. It does this through combining background Learning Notes and attached Part 7.3.1 Questions with suggested Answers, based on the supporting 24-image Part 7 Annex C Slide Set (Thumbnails as below). Users are encouraged to consult the associated “Part 3 Building Materials” when considering their response before checking suggested Answers at the end of Part 7.3.1.
Insight 4: Part 7.4 Learning the Modern Setting
Part 7.4 of COTAC’s Insight 4 is aimed at encouraging Lay and Learning readers who may wish to gain a greater appreciation of the East Anglia Region. It does this through combining background Learning Notes and attached Part 7.4.1 Questions with suggested Answers, based on the supporting 24-image Part 7 Annex D Slide Set (Thumbnails as below). Users are encouraged to consult the associated “Part 4 The Modern Setting” when considering their response before checking suggested Answers at the end of Part 7.4.1.
