In Partnership with the University of Gloucestershire
At Tewkesbury Voices: Retain and Explain, we are proud to collaborate with the University of Gloucestershire’s Cotswold Centre for History and Heritage (CC4HH) in a shared mission to explore and make visible the often untold stories within Tewkesbury’s past.
This partnership brings together community-led heritage work and academic research, connecting the lived history of the town with new scholarship and critical inquiry. It’s a powerful way to deepen our collective understanding of how local and global histories intersect.
Student Research Project: Legacies of Slavery in Tewkesbury
As part of this collaboration, Dr Christian O’Connell, Academic Course Leader in History and Senior Lecturer in American History, has guided two University of Gloucestershire students, Ella and Morgan, in a focused research project exploring Tewkesbury’s links to the transatlantic slave trade.
Their work investigates the historical roles of the Clarke, Reid, and Fowke families, shedding light on the town’s connections to wider imperial and colonial networks. This project will culminate in a public exhibition at Tewkesbury Museum in June 2025, offering the community an opportunity to reflect on and engage with this important aspect of local history. You can view their work here.
Featuring Work by PhD Researcher Sarah Crowe
We’re also delighted to host a series of thoughtful and compelling pieces written by Sarah Crowe, a PhD student at the University of Gloucestershire. Her contributions, five articles in total, offer further depth and perspective to the themes we’re exploring, connecting personal stories, archival research, and wider historical narratives. Sarah has written the following pieces for us:
- Sir William Codrington, 1719-1792.
- Sir William Codrington and Tewkesbury Town Hall.
- Lady Ann Clarke, 1742-1800.
- John Reid Esq, 1756-1813.
- Henry Fowke Esq, 1758-1818.
Sarah’s work adds a valuable scholarly dimension to our platform and exemplifies the strength of university–community collaboration.
A Shared Commitment
Our work with the University of Gloucestershire is part of a growing effort to retain and explain Tewkesbury’s diverse heritage, acknowledging its full scope, including challenging histories, and celebrating the power of research and storytelling to bring the past into meaningful dialogue with the present.
We are excited to continue this partnership and to share more with you as these projects develop.
Tewkesbury Voices 