Katy Layton-Jones

Cultural historian and historical consultant Katy Layton-Jones grew up in South Manchester. Originally an art historian, she received her BA in Fine Art and Art History from Goldsmiths, University of London and her MPhil and PhD in from the University of Cambridge.

In 2006, Katy was engaged on the Liverpool Parks and Open Spaces research project, co-funded and supported by the ESRC, English Heritage, and Liverpool City Council. In 2014 Katy authored the National Review of Research Priorities for Urban Parks, Designed Landscapes and Open Spaces (English  Heritage, 2014) followed by History of Public Park Funding and Management (1820 – 2010) (Historic England, 2016), and Uncertain Prospects: public parks in the new age of austerity (The Gardens Trust, 2016). Her first book, Places of Health and Amusement was published by English Heritage in 2008 and her monograph, Beyond the Metropolis: the image of urban Britain 1780 – 1880 was published by Manchester University Press in 2016.

Katy has been a regular contributor to the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? magazine, for which she has written on subjects including illicit behaviour in Victorian public parks. Her radio appearances include BBC Radio 4’s Making History and The Matter of the North. Her television appearances include the BBC television series, People’s Palaces: The Golden Age of Civic Architecture and Channel 4’s Prince Albert: A Victorian Hero Revealed.