Stephen Priestley

Stephen studied history at Cambridge before working as a documentary researcher for Historic Royal Palaces at the Tower of London. He was subsequently employed as a researcher for English Heritage (Historic England) on the Windsor Castle Fire Evaluation Project for three years, undertaking a large-scale project of documentary research on the medieval and post-medieval history of the castle, the results of which have been included in various publications including S. Brindle, Windsor Castle – A Thousand Years of a Royal Palace.

Stephen also worked as a research consultant for Cadw for three years between 2000 and 2003, undertaking detailed research on the building histories of various properties including Chepstow Castle, Carmarthen Castle, Caerphilly Castle, Kidwelly Castle, Llangibby Castle, Pembroke Castle, Usk Castle and Tintern Abbey, the results of which have been incorporated into revised guidebooks and published in various monographs and articles in Archaeologia Cambrensis.  He also worked as a research consultant for British Waterways, producing a detailed study of the construction and maintenance history of Pontcysyllte Aqueduct which informed the successful bid for UNESCO World Heritage Status in 2008.

Since 2003, he has worked as Director: Research for Border Archaeology, being directly responsible for the compilation of approximately 500 reports on a diverse range of sites across the UK. He also edits and oversees the compilation of reports undertaken by his experienced research team .