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 species; as well as the ...

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

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

and

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

periods, the study of childhood, and gender in

medieval England England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the Middle Ages, medieval period, from the end of the 5th century through to the start of the Early modern Britain, early modern period in 1485. When England emerged from the co ...

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

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

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 The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

. 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, Fir ...

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 ...

'' 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 situated northwest of Kettering, southeast of Market Harborough, and southwest of Corby. Rothwell's nearest railway station is at Kettering on the Midland Main Line. Roth ...

. 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 th ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. 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 Lincoln, an ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

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

Mark Blackburn Mark Blackburn may refer to: *Mark Blackburn (numismatist) Mark Alistair Sinclair Blackburn, (5 January 1953 – 1 September 2011) was a British numismatist and economic historian. He was educated at the Skinners' School in Tunbridge Well ...

'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 is sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It ...

) during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. 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 in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...

''. 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 Academics of the University of Sheffield Academics of the University of Leeds Academics of the University of York Alumni of the University of Birmingham Alumni of the University of Hull British women archaeologists British women medievalists Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Living people Medieval archaeologists People from Walsall