Brenda Swinbank
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Brenda Swinbank (later Heywood; 2 February 1929 – 20 December 2022) was an English archaeologist. She was one of the first women in Britain to become a professional archaeologist, specialising in the study of
Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...
, and was instrumental in bringing to publication excavations under
York Minster York Minster, formally the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The minster is the seat of the archbishop of York, the second-highest of ...
.


Education and career

Swinbank went to
Hemsworth Grammar School Outwood Academy Hemsworth, known previously as Hemsworth Arts and Community Academy and Hemsworth Arts and Community College, is a Mixed-sex education, co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Hemsworth in the City of Wakefield ...
in
Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...
before attending
Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...
in 1946 to study Modern History, where she was inspired by Eric Birley, who invited Swinbank to stay at his house at Chesterholm, near
Vindolanda Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort ('' castrum'') just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, which it pre-dated. Archaeological excavations of the site show it was under Roman occupation from roughly 85 AD to 370 AD. Located near th ...
, and who later described her as a "really competent excavator and field archaeologist", to excavate at
Corbridge Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, west of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Northumberland, Halton, Acomb, Northumberland, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe. Etymology Corbridge was k ...
and Housesteads. During her studies at Durham she was president of the Durham College's History Society and was a member of St Aidan's Society. She graduated in 1949 with an upper second-class degree in History, and attended the Hadrian's Wall Pilgrimage before being awarded a two-year Durham Colleges Research Studentship. In 1950, Swinbank supervised excavations at Birdoswald with John Gillam, before completing her thesis ''The Vallum Reconsidered'', for which she received a doctorate from Durham University in 1954. She became the third British woman awarded a PhD for a thesis on the archaeology of Britain. Swinbank also excavated sections of the Vallum including at Cawfields and Great Chesters as part of her research, as well as
Bewcastle Bewcastle is a large civil parish in the Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. It is in the historic county of Cumberland. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 411, reducing to 391 at the 2011 Census. ...
, the Carrawburgh Mithraeum with
Ian Richmond Sir Ian Archibald Richmond, (10 May 1902 – 5 October 1965) was an English archaeologist and academic. He was Professor of the Archaeology of the Roman Empire at the University of Oxford. In addition, he was Director of the British School at ...
, and elsewhere the Roman fort of Castell Collen at
Llandrindod Wells Llandrindod Wells (; ; ; ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales. It serves as the seat of Powys County Council, and is therefore the administrative centre of Powys. The town was Historic counties of Wales, historically in ...
with Leslie Alcock, and the Roman fort at
Penydarren : ''For Trevithick's Pen-y-darren locomotive, see Richard Trevithick#"Pen-y-Darren" locomotive, Richard Trevithick.'' Penydarren is a Community (Wales), community and electoral ward in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough in Wales. Description The area ...
in South Wales. In 1956, Swinbank began a two-year assistant lectureship at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, covering the history of Europe from the Classical Period to the Dark Ages. In 1958, she featured alongside Eric Birley, John Gillam and Kate Hodgson in a
BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...
broadcast marking 1,800 years' study of Hadrian's Wall. Swinbank was also elected a fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...
in 1958. However, despite her achievements she was not granted a permanent university position, and in the autumn of that year took up an appointment as Assistant History Mistress at Ackworth School, one of a few Quaker educational establishments in England. It was not until the late 1960s that Swinbank was able to again involve herself more fully in archaeology. She connected with Peter Wenham, an archaeologist and contact of Eric Birley. In 1968 she began to lecture the Roman Britain course at St John's College in York and assist with excavations, including preparing the final report of the excavations of the
vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...
at Malton in 1971. In 1974, she joined in the post-excavation processing of the great mass of archaeological materials unearthed during the stabilisation of
York Minster York Minster, formally the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The minster is the seat of the archbishop of York, the second-highest of ...
, becoming a full-time research fellow in 1976. In the words of her biographer, these consisted of "rooms full of documents, soil samples, pieces of pottery and bone, 3,000 photographs, chunks of carved stonework and even one large block of dirt weighing several tonnes." She brought these to publication as the first volume of the York Minster materials and also, in 1992, became a director of the Yorkshire Architectural & York Archaeological Society. After this Swinbank returned to her former interests on the vallum of Hadrian's Wall, which, with the assistance of
David Breeze David John Breeze, OBE, FSA, FRSE, HonFSAScot, Hon MIFA (born 25 July 1944) is a British archaeologist, teacher and scholar of Hadrian's Wall, the Antonine Wall and the Roman army. He studied under Eric Birley and is a member of the so-call ...
, she published in the late 2000s.


Personal life and death

Brenda Swinbank was born on 2 February 1929, in
Ackworth, West Yorkshire Ackworth is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Wakefield, metropolitan borough of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, between Pontefract, Barnsley and Doncaster on the River Went. It has four parts: High Ackwort ...
, the youngest of five siblings. She married Peter Heywood, a teacher and colleague at the Friends' School in Ackworth, with whom she had two sons and a daughter who died. Following Peter's death from
prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...
in 2010, Swinbank moved to London to be closer to her sons, one of whom,
Jeremy Heywood Jeremy John Heywood, Baron Heywood of Whitehall, (31 December 1961 – 4 November 2018) was a British Her Majesty's Civil Service, civil servant who served as Cabinet Secretary (United Kingdom), Cabinet Secretary to David Cameron and Theresa Ma ...
, was the
Cabinet Secretary A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official (typically a civil servant) who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powe ...
and Head of the
Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
. By 2017, Swinbank was living with
dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...
; Swinbank's daughter-in-law,
Suzanne Heywood Suzanne Elizabeth Heywood, Baroness Heywood of Whitehall, (; born 25 February 1969), is a British executive and former civil servant. She has been the chief operating officer of the Exor Group since 2022 and the chair of CNH Industrial since 20 ...
, wrote a biography of her life based on Swinbank's own writings along with recollections from Swinbank's friends and colleagues. Swinbank died from complications of
Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
on 20 December 2022, at the age of 93. She was survived by her son, Simon, and her six grandchildren.


Legacy

Swinbank's notes from her survey of the vallum have been used by researchers at
Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...
as part of WallCAP to undertake further research at
Heddon-on-the-Wall Heddon-on-the-Wall is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England, located on Hadrian's Wall. Heddon-on-the-Wall is roughly west of the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, and just outside Throckley. In 2011 the parish had a population of ...
.
TrowelBlazers TrowelBlazers is a project aimed at increasing the representation of women in the fields of archaeology, geology and Paleontology, palaeontology. The project is run by Brenna Hassett, Victoria Herridge, Suzanne Pilaar Birch and Rebecca Wragg Sykes ...
, an organisation dedicated to increasing the representation of women in archaeology, including through publishing biographies on their website, have included Swinbank as a notable figure for her contributions to the study of Hadrian's Wall and York Minster. It is noted, however, that Swinbank was hindered by her inability to focus more on archaeology, and her work has ultimately not received much recognition beyond those specialising in Hadrian's Wall.


Publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swinbank, Brenda 1929 births 2022 deaths People from Ackworth, West Yorkshire British women archaeologists English archaeologists British classical archaeologists Alumni of St Aidan's College, Durham