A Newly Discovered Account of Ben Jonson's Walk to Scotland: an Annotated Edition, Contextual Essays and Resources for Heritage Interpretation

In February 2009 James Loxley discovered a manuscript containing an account of Ben Jonson's celebrated 1618 walk to Edinburgh among papers deposited in Chester Archives. Although this walk was one of the most eye-catching episodes in Jonson's life, we have had little knowledge of exactly when it was undertaken, why, and what might have transpired along the way. The 7,500 word account promises to change this situation profoundly. Entitled 'My Gossip Joh[n]son his foot voyage and mine into Scotland', it appears to have been written by a hitherto unsuspected companion. Furthermore, it provides a day-by-day narrative of the travellers' adventures, including crucial information on where and with whom they dined and stayed, and their adventures along the way. Given the rarity and academic value of such a source, and it is of the utmost importance that a fully annotated text is made available to all those to whom it might be relevant as quickly as possible. For this reason, Loxley and Julie Sanders have undertaken to collaborate on the production of such an edition.

But the account presents substantial challenges. For a start, the manuscript's provenance is uncertain, and in form and content it is quite unlike the items that make up the rest of the collection in which it was found. The account is unsigned, and there is no internal evidence that would allow us easily to determine its authorship. It is also not certain that the hand in which it is written is that of the traveller himself. So significant archival and palaeographic work is necessary to explore these questions. The profusion of names in the account presents a further challenge: more than 240 separate individuals are mentioned, many of whom are neither well known or well documented in secondary sources. Full investigation of these people will allow the editors and future researchers to draw out potentially significant patterns of association and affiliation. Our research will therefore require substantial work on archival sources in order to allow us to annotate these names as thoroughly as possible.

The project will also seek to set the account in a series of relevant contexts, in order to establish its significance for an academic audience that includes not only Jonson scholars, or specialists in early modern literature, but also those with interests in cultural geography and the history of the people and places visited. The critical edition will therefore be published with contextual essays, addressing the cultural significance of walking in early modern England, the influence of this journey on Jonson's work, the light it shines on non-metropolitan social networks, and early modern literary celebrity. In undertaking this contextual work, the team will take due account of recent interdisciplinary developments in the study of early modern travel, and in particular in their theoretical and methodological implications; we will also ensure that our work is informed by the extensive research undertaken for the new Cambridge edition of Jonson.

But we also want to ensure that such an engaging account is made available to a wider range of beneficiaries. The narrative identifies the places visited by Jonson and his companion, and gives intriguing details of their activities at many of them. A large proportion of these places are now in the care of heritage bodies, or are the object of historical interpretation for modern visitors by owners and custodians. This account illuminates the history of those sites in themselves and as places to visit, and could add colour and detail to their interpretation. Working with a specialist consultant, we will convene a presentation and workshop to disseminate our discoveries to custodians and interpreters, to discuss with them the relevance and usefulness of such sources to their interpretative work, and to feed into resource packs which we will provide to participants and others for use in developing their own materials.

The account of Ben Jonson's walk found in the Aldersey manuscript is of potential value to a range of extra-academic beneficiaries. Such detailed accounts of the day-to-day life of great renaissance writers are very rare, and we do not have anything similar for any of Jonson's contemporaries or peers. The light it sheds on Jonson's activities, character and reputation, and the further speculation it provokes, could reasonably be expected to interest theatre professionals looking to stage his work. Writers might find in it attractive source material for historical fiction. Informed general readers might find it intriguing, given its rarity, the subject's place in the literary canon, and its role as an early instance of cultural tourism. In fact, there has already been significant interest and attention from extra-academic sources: a 5,000 word article was published in issue 5554 of the Times Literary Supplement (11 September 2009) and a full page feature appeared in the Scottish and online editions of the Times on the same day. The TLS piece generated correspondence over four issues in the month after publication.

There are, therefore, already good foundations for further impact as editorial and critical work on the account progresses. Rather than attempting to pursue all these at once, however, we will focus our efforts during the lifetime of the project on one major set of potential beneficiaries. In detailing Jonson's journey the account makes mention of a large number of places that are today either in the care of heritage organisations, or that are otherwise objects for heritage-focused interpretative work by their custodians and regional cultural agencies. The account also includes significant references to a number of institutions which are still in business today and whose eventful history is a crucial part of their identity. We will seek to make contact with relevant representatives of these agencies and institutions, as well as contractors involved in designing interpretative materials, to bring the account of the journey to their attention.

Rather than simply notifying them of our research, we plan to explore with participants how this account can provide both material for, and a stimulus to, their interpretative work in three related ways. Firstly, it offers new information and insight into these sites and their history; secondly, it is an instance of the wider genre of early modern travel narrative, with a significant antiquarian - or heritage - focus of its own; thirdly, it offers an opportunity to examine the place and utility of literary sources and language in heritage interpretation more generally.

We will invite these representatives to an event including a presentation and ensuing workshop discussion focused on these themes. In order to enhance the discussion, we will also seek the participation of companies and consultants who specialise in providing interpretative services and expertise across a range of different sites. Building on what we learn at this event, we will produce a resource pack based around the account, featuring both generic materials, suggestions for use, and information and extracts tailored to the recipient's specific position. We hope that these beneficiaries will be able to use the pack to enhance their interpretative strategies and materials, increasing visitor numbers and the quality of the visitor experience.

We are aware that in focusing on this particular group of beneficiaries we will need a good sense of their situation and views in order to ensure that the process will be of use to them. In order to achieve this, the project will employ as a consultant a leading UK heritage interpretation designer and practitioner, James Carter, who will advise us on the design and organisation of our approaches to, and interactions with, the custodians and interpreters of the sites