Pathways to the Past
Discover the lingering footprint of history
on place and landscape with
Professor Mark Connelly
Insights | Discoveries | Encounters
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First World War battlefields
Learn MoreSee the battlefields with me as your guide, with a tour tailored to your small group's own interests. Hear the testimony of the landscape, the last remaining witness to the Great War, and see its scars and the lingering footprint of war.
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London
Learn MoreCome on a London walk with me and go back in time to uncover the mark of history stamped into every stone, street and building of this great city. Hear stories at every corner, and meet ghosts in every square and alleyway.
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Talks and commemorative events
Learn MoreExperience the excitement of uncovering the past by booking a talk or commemorative event with me for your group,society or organisation.
Meet your Guide
After 25 years teaching and researching at the University of Kent, 40 years exploring the First World War battlefields, and a lifetime fascinated by history, I have set up Connelly Contours to share with you what I have learned about the lingering imprint of history on landscape and place; because understanding this better can unlock pathways to the past. Whether I’m guiding a bespoke battlefield tour, giving a talk, leading a walk around London, or undertaking your family war service research, I am passionate about sharing the excitement of encountering the past in the present, and making history accessible and engaging for everyone.
Mark Connelly
Emeritus Professor of Modern British History
University of Kent
mark@connellycontours.co.uk
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Brigadier (retired) Trevor Minter OBE DLProfessor Mark Connelly is a leading expert on military history and particularly the First World War. I have witnessed his organisation and delivery on three battlefield tours. His delivery is outstanding; it is lively, engaging and draws on an enormous reservoir of knowledge and expertise. He has just the right touch to put across complex situations and human stories with a finely tuned sense of what is right for his audience. As a retired brigadier I have deep respect for the way he has mastered his subject, understanding war and its challenges at all levels from grand strategy to the soldier in his trench. He also prepares and researches very carefully for every tour and organises them down to the finest detail.
I commend Mark Connelly to anyone considering engaging his services in the future and am confident that they will not be disappointed.
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Trevor Allen, former Head of History and Head of Sixth Form at Leicester Grammar SchoolI was fortunate to be an early pioneer of a tour to the World War One battlefields with Mark Connelly. We visited the Ypres area and covered a huge range of sites, many of which would have been inaccessible by coach. Mark's knowledge of the places we visited is second to none. He has a feel for the importance of landscape, an understanding of the human dimension of the war, and a real appreciation of how the various campaigns and battles knit together and fit into an overall picture of the major campaigns and the war as a whole. Above all, he is a great story teller and great company. Highlights of our trip included Plugstreet Wood; Polygon Wood; Ypres Town Cemetery and Messines.
As a 'veteran' school teacher who has organised and led dozens of trips to the battlefields, this short visit with Professor Connelly to an area that I had visited many times previously, taught me a great deal and totally reinforced my belief that the only way to understand the Great War is to go out to the battlefields and actually see what is there - doing that in the company of a great historian is a privilege.