Dawn Marie Hadley (born 1967) is a British

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

and archaeologist, who is best known for her research on the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

and Viking-Age periods, the study of childhood, and gender in

medieval England England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the medieval period, from the end of the 5th century through to the start of the Early Modern period in 1485. When England emerged from the collapse of the Roman Empire, the econ ...

. She is a member of th
Centre for Medieval Studies
and the department of archaeology at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

Biography

Education and career

Born in Walsall, Hadley studied Modern History at the Universities of Hull and Birmingham. She was a temporary lecturer in History at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. In 1996, Hadley was hired by the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Firth C ...

as a lecturer. From 2009 to 2018, Hadley was a professor at the University. She served as Faculty Director of Post-Graduate Studies from 2009 to 2013. She was promoted to Head of Department in 2014. She also was Acting Vice-President for Arts and Humanities at the University from 2017 to 2018. Hadley joined the University of York in 2018. She has written several publications on Anglo-Saxon culture and society and Viking-Age history. Her primary research focus is the study of childhood, gender, migration, and funerary rituals. Hadley is Director of White Rose College of Arts and Humanities, Universities of Leeds, Sheffield, and York.

Current research

Hadley's most recent research includes contributions to The Rothwell Charnel Chapel Project, the ''

Sheffield Castle Sheffield Castle was a castle in Sheffield, England, constructed at the confluence of the River Sheaf and the River Don, possibly on the site of a former Anglo-Saxon long house, and dominating the early town. A motte and bailey castle had been c ...

'' project and ''Tents to Towns: the Viking Great Army and its Legacy'' project. Hadley, along with Dr Jennifer Crangle and Dr Elizabeth Craig-Atkins (

), led the Rothwell Charnel Chapel Project''’'', which focuses on the 13th century charnel chapel at Holy Trinity Church, in

Rothwell, Northamptonshire Rothwell is a market town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is close to three larger towns, situated 4 miles .4kmnorthwest of Kettering, 7 miles 1kmsoutheast of Market Harborough and 8 miles 2.8kmsouthwest of Corby. Rothwell's neares ...

. The below-ground chapel house contains one of two remaining medieval

ossuaries An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Hadley co-directs the "Viking Torksey project" on the 9th century Viking winter camp at

Torksey __NOTOC__ Torksey is a small village in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 875. It is situated on the A156 road, south of Gainsborough and north-west of the city o ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...

with Prof. Julian Richards, and its extension ''Tents to Towns''. Building on the late

Mark Blackburn Mark Blackburn is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. Mark Blackburn played with the St. George Dragons during the mid 1980s, and was a first grader for three seasons between 1987-1990. He was a res ...

's identification and characterisation of the site, the new project focused on the legacy of the Viking army in the area, its interaction with the local community, the development of Anglo-Saxon towns, and the changing nature of commerce during the Anglo-Saxon period at Torksey. Hadley has co-authored a new book with Prof. John Moreland (

) on

, which was destroyed (

slighted Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is ...

) during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of Kingdom of England, England's governanc ...

. The book is based on the research project led by Hadley and Moreland on previous excavations of the castle site.

Media

From 1998 to 2010, Hadley appeared on five episodes of the British TV series, ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television pro ...

''. She also appeared as herself in the TV Movie Documentary, ''Saxon Hoard: A Golden Discovery'' in 2012.

Awards and honours

In November, 2006, Hadley was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Selected publications

Books (authored)

* * * * *

Books (editor)

* * *

Journal papers

* * * * * * *

Excavation reports and archives

Hadley has directed or co-directed excavations and projects bringing together the findings of legacy archives and has made available the archives and reports of such projects including the following: Sheffield Castle (South Yorkshire): https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/sheffieldcastle_uos_2020/ Sheffield Manor Lodge (South Yorkshire): https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/1003816/downloads.cfm?group=2354 Torksey (Lincolnshire): https://doi.org/10.5284/1018222 West Halton (Lincolnshire): https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/143182/

References

External links

Virtual reality brings ninth century Viking invaders' camp to lifePublic Engagement Public engagement case study: Theatre collaborations with Professor Dawn HadleyRare English charnel house can now be seen online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hadley, Dawn 1967 births British archaeologists British women archaeologists Medievalists Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Living people