Dr Christopher Donaldson is a Research Associate in the Department of History at Lancaster. His research primarily focuses on the literature and culture of British and European 18th and 19th centuries, with emphasis on phenomena such as literary tourism and the creation of literary heritage sites.
  • Over sands - Waugh

    ‘Over sands to the Lakes’

    When travelling north from Lancaster station, I always try to sit on the left side of the train. I don’t do this out of superstition, but because the left, or west-facing, side of the train affords the best view of two sites I’m always pleased to see.

  • Adlestrop railway - Attribution: Ben Brooksbank

    Remembering ‘Adlestrop’, 100 years since

    In June 1914 a train bound from Paddington to Kidderminster stopped at a small station in the Cotswolds. No one was waiting on the platform; no one, by all accounts, alighted; but in the minute that passed before the carriages pulled away one passenger recorded that ‘thro the … extraordinary silence’ he ‘heard a chain of blackbirds songs … by banks of long grass willow herb & meadowsweet.’¹

  • Walter Scott

    Walter Scott and the Scottish Referendum: Waverley; or, ’tis 200 years since

    In a recent speech at the University of Edinburgh’s Playfair Library, Scotland’s Deputy First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, mentioned the inspiration she felt at seeing, in an ante-room, a writing desk once used by Sir Walter Scott.