Richard Morris,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(born 8 October 1947) is a British writer and archaeologist who explores landscape, the archaeology of churches and battlefields, and cultural and aviation history. He is a professor (emeritus) at the

University of Huddersfield The University of Huddersfield is a public research university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has been a University since 1992, but has its origins in a series of institutions dating back to the 19th century. It has made te ...

and a visiting fellow of the Institute for Medieval Studies at Leeds.

Early life

Morris was born in Birmingham and grew up in north Worcestershire, where his father was the first vicar of the motor industry parish of Longbridge. He was educated at Denstone College in Staffordshire,

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located on Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England and VI of Scotland, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale ...

, and 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 ...

, where he studied composition.

Career

Morris aimed initially at a career in music but turned to archaeology in 1971 as a member of the team excavating 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 ...

. In 1975 he become the Churches Officer of the

Council for British Archaeology The Council for British Archaeology (CBA) is an educational charity established in 1944 in the UK. It works to involve people in archaeology and to promote the appreciation and care of the historic environment for the benefit of present and fut ...

(CBA), responsible for setting up archaeological advice networks for churches and cathedrals. In 1988 he joined the Department of Archaeology at the

. He returned to the CBA as its director in 1991, there helping to launch the popular magazine ''British Archaeology''. From 2003 to 2010 he was director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds, then moved to Huddersfield to join the university's Department of History. Morris has served as a Commissioner of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

and as a trustee of the

National Heritage Memorial Fund The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) was set up in 1980 to save the most outstanding parts of the British national heritage, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. It replaced the National Land Fund, which had fulfilled t ...

, the National Coal Mining Museum for England, Bede's World in Jarrow, the York Archaeological Trust, The Blackden Trust and the Landscape Research Centre.

Writing

Interests in religion, settlement and cultural history are reflected in books, essays and articles. ''Churches in the Landscape'' (1989) explores patterns of parish church distribution and asks why places of worship occupy the sites they do. ''Time's Anvil: England, Archaeology and the Imagination'' (2012), ''Yorkshire'' (2018) and ''Evensong'' (2021) are a trio of books in which events from his and his family’s lives are put in conversation with larger and longer narratives. ''Time’s Anvil'' was long-listed for the

Baillie Gifford Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its ...

(then the Samuel Johnson Prize) and shortlisted for ''Current Archaeology''’s Book of the Year Award. Morris has also written about the air war in the 20th century, including biographies of

Guy Gibson Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson, (12 August 1918 – 19 September 1944) was a distinguished bomber pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He was the first Commanding Officer of No. 617 Squadron, which he led in the "Dam ...

VC DSO DFC (1994),

Leonard Cheshire Geoffrey Leonard Cheshire, Baron Cheshire, (7 September 1917 – 31 July 1992) was a British Royal Air Force pilot, officer and philanthropist. Cheshire fought in the Second World War. Among the decorations Cheshire received as a pilot w ...

VC OM (2000), and Sir Barnes Wallis (2023).

Collaborations

While at Leeds, Morris worked with the archaeologist Glenn Foard to produce an archaeological resource assessment of English battlefields. The project, commissioned by

(now

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

), led to a book, ''The Archaeology of English Battlefields'' (2012), principally by Foard, which characterises battlefields as archaeological sites and offers methodologies for their study. With Robert Owen he co-authored ''Breaching the German the Dams'' (2008) which re-examined aspects of

Operation Chastise Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambusters Raid, was an attack on Nazi Germany, German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by No. 617 Squadron RAF, 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using spe ...

. Research for the Gibson biography was aided by Colin Dobinson, who also provided the book's appendices and contributed to several chapters.

Music

As a student, Morris collaborated with the author-to-be Anthony Holden in an opera based on Holden's translation of Aeschylus's Agamemnon, performed at the Oxford Playhouse in 1969. ''The Bellybag'', a piece of music theatre for young people with a libretto by Alan Garner, followed. After turning to archaeology, Morris continued to compose, principally for the Abbey Shakespeare Players who perform annually at St Dogmaels Abbey in Pembrokeshire. He has written for the singer and director Linda Kitchen, the York Shakespeare Project, Hilary Elfick's ''An Ordinary Stor''m, and the west Wales Côr Aberteifi.

Awards

In 1992 Morris was awarded the Frend Medal of the Society of Antiquaries of London. He was appointed OBE for services to archaeology in 2003.

Bibliography

Books

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

Morris, Richard (2012) ''Time's Anvil: England, Archaeology and the Imagination.'' Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Morris, Richard (2021) ''Evensong.'' Weidenfeld & Nicolson''.'' Morris, R., Dobinson, C., and Frankland, N. (1995) ''Guy Gibson.'' Penguin. {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Richard English archaeologists Living people 1947 births Academics of the University of Leeds Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire