James David Wenn is an expert in the social and architectural history of the English people.

His cathedral school upbringing and unique combination of degrees have given him exceptional insight into the country house world. In 2019, he embarked on a research journey that revealed previously forgotten foundations in English culture. BYRGA GENIHT was founded to disseminate that knowledge.

JAMES D. WENN

CONSULTANT

JAMES SYRETT

James Ryan Syrett is a scientist by training. After graduating, he conducted research in agronomy before going on to lecture in agriculture and horticulture at university level.

It was his knowledge of the geometry of garnet that fully unlocked the English Mysteries. He now manages BYRGA GENIHT and produces all the company's media. He is also the in-house expert on plants and garden schemes.

MANAGING DIRECTOR

MA in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (Cambridge)
MA in The Country House (Leicester)

BA Natural Sciences (Cambridge)

HOW DID WE START?

James W has been solving country house mysteries since 2012, when he decoded the Marble Hall at Kedleston Hall. After leaving a humanitarian career due to contracting tuberculosis, he moved to Essex with James S and we both took jobs at Writtle University College.

A colleague asked James W if he could help identify an underground structure at Braxted Park in Essex, and on the day of his 30th birthday in April 2019, we visited the site and immediately recognised it as of supreme importance.

The research that snowballed from that visit, combined with Soulton Hall — the missing link in the story of country houses — lifted the lid on a treasure-trove of lost English culture, one that permeates some of the country's most historic buildings.

In 2023, after we both lost our jobs due to disability, we went all-in and set up BYRGA GENIHT. We are ready to tell the nation's story again, and we hope you will come along with us.