Brenda Swinbank

Brenda Swinbank (later Heywood; 2 February 1929 – 20 December 2022) was an English archaeologist. She was one of the first women in Britain to become a professional archaeologist,

Education and career Swinbank went to Hemsworth Grammar School in Wakefield before attending Durham University in 1946 to study Modern History, where she was inspired by Eric Birley, who invited Swinbank to stay at his house at Chesterholm, near Vindolanda, and who later described her as a "really competent excavator and field archaeologist", to excavate at Corbridge and Housesteads.

She graduated in 1949 with an upper second-class degree in History, and attended the Hadrian's Wall Pilgrimage before being awarded a two-year Durham Colleges Research Studentship. She became the third British woman awarded a PhD for a thesis on the archaeology of Britain. Swinbank was also elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1958. including preparing the final report of the excavations of the vicus at Malton in 1971.

In 1974, she joined in the post-excavation processing of the great mass of archaeological materials unearthed during the stabilisation of York Minster, becoming a full-time research fellow in 1976. After this Swinbank returned to her former interests on the vallum of Hadrian's Wall, which, with the assistance of David Breeze, she published in the late 2000s. By 2017, Swinbank was living with dementia; Swinbank's daughter-in-law, Suzanne Heywood, wrote a biography of her life based on Swinbank's own writings along with recollections from Swinbank's friends and colleagues.

Swinbank died from complications of Alzheimer's disease at a care home in Wallington, London, on 20 December 2022, at the age of 93. She was survived by her son, Simon, and her six grandchildren.

Legacy Swinbank's notes from her survey of the vallum have been used by researchers at Newcastle University as part of WallCAP to undertake further research at Heddon-on-the-Wall.

TrowelBlazers, an organisation dedicated to increasing the representation of women in archaeology, including through publishing biographies on their website, have included Swinbank as a notable figure for her contributions to the study of Hadrian's Wall and York Minster. It is noted, however, that Swinbank was hindered by her inability to focus more on archaeology, and her work has ultimately not received much recognition beyond those specialising in Hadrian's Wall.

Publications