Bailey McNamara, Viking and Early Medieval English Studies MA
Bailey explains how his unexpected discovery of place-names, during his undergraduate degree, led him to pursue this new area of interest in his masters.
What made you want to do an MA in this area?
“My undergraduate degree is in English. I also did that here, at Nottingham, so I was in touch with some of the academics that did the medieval modules. I didn't do very many medieval topics in my undergraduate, but I did do name studies and place-name studies and that's the reason that I chose to do the MA, so I could do more of that.”
It’s not something that I'd ever studied before my undergraduate degree. Particularly with place-names, I was surprised that it’s even something you can study!
What are you enjoying about your course?
“I've just started doing some place name stuff again, which is good, so I'm definitely enjoying getting back into that.
I'm also enjoying learning about medieval medicine. I've been doing some translation, but then also learning about the application of it and how it could be used even today. It's just something that, once again, I never even knew you could study.”
What is it that you enjoy about studying place-names?
"When you look at place name you don't ever think ‘Where does that come from?’, it's just a label, it doesn't mean anything. In my undergraduate degree, I studied these big texts and realised that if you look at a place-name, you can see it as being like a small text that you have to decipher.
It tells you a lot more than just a name. It tells you some of the practices of the time, like social practices, industry, language, things like that. There's just so much to bring out such a small thing. That's what I find so interesting about it.
We also have the Institute for Name-Studies. In the bigger Hallward Library there are some place-name texts, but if you go into the Institute of Name Studies library, it's just packed. It's got everything you can ever need. Often when you go in there are other people studying there, or there's someone like John Baker, or Jayne Carroll so you can discuss with them. There is no better place to study place-names."
What’s been your favourite taught module of the MA?
"One that surprised me was ‘Research Methods in Viking and Early Medieval English Studies’, taught by John Baker. That was probably my favourite because it was about place-names, but we also discussed a range of things, like Anglo-Saxon sculpture, which is another thing that I'd never even thought about before. Looking at sculpture was something that I found particularly interesting."
Any staff shout outs?
"Definitely John Baker, because I've known John for a while, since second-year of my undergraduate degree."
Someone that I didn't know before my MA is Christina Lee. She’s very passionate about medieval medicine. That enthusiasm comes across, and it makes you passionate about it as well. She's been brilliant.
What’s your dissertation going to be on?
"I don't know exactly what it's going to be on, that's something I need to discuss with the staff because I want to do it in something to do with place names. I just need to nail down what hasn't been done to a proper degree, but still has enough existing research so I have something to build on and discuss.”
Why would you recommend studying Viking and Early Medieval English at Nottingham?
"As I said before, there’s no better place in the country in terms of studying place names.
I was also involved in the Viking and Anglo-Saxons for Schools scheme, where I’ve taught on place-names, runes, burials, and Anglo-Saxon treasure – all sorts of things. It’s good fun. I always enjoyed it."
What does success look like to you?
"I think success is ultimately just happiness. Success to me would be getting a job that allows me to carry on doing the sort of things I'm doing now, not necessarily being an academic, but just carrying on in heritage and keep making use of my MA."
I’m not hard set on doing any sort of career, but working in heritage is definitely something that attracts me. I feel like I do know quite a bit about the Viking and Anglo-Saxon era, so I'd like to take it further and spread it to the masses!
Anything to add?
"If anyone's worried about not having a background in medieval don't worry about it, because that was me. I was into Shakespeare and things like that, but I wanted to further my place name and name studies knowledge.
I was worried about learning the languages of Old English and Old Norse, but I have found that the MA starts from scratch and there were a lot of other students who didn't know, like me.
People like Judith Jesch and Martin Findell really helped me and allowed me to take my studies further. So ultimately don't be worried about doing the MA. If you have that interest, just do it."
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