Day one of this week’s @Heritage_NGOs#SouthernProgress in Sussex and I had the chance to return to the wonderful @WealddownMuseum for the first time since the pandemic. Great to catch up with @heritage_notes & chat to volunteers. Here’s a little tour 👇
Firstly big ups to the education team @WealddownMuseum - some great & engaging activities around the site. This week there’s a model railway & chance to create mini medieval buildings, vintage hobby activities & games. Activities vary each week. More here wealddown.co.uk/whats-on/famil…
It’s a working site where visitors can try their hand at traditional techniques & the team farm, cook Tudor meals & use the environment to provide materials (such as for the stove). I love that @WealddownMuseum is a place where traditional skills are practiced & passed on.
Bayleaf farmstead was a favoured house when I visited as a child - we loved the fire & the early in-house toilet.
I also love the Medieval shop from Horsham @WealddownMuseum - reconstructed, how it was found & what replaced it.
Here’s the Bayleaf Privy by the way & the nearby Tudor kitchen where you can (when it’s open) sample Tudor cooking
Here’s my perennial 80s vibe pictures of me as a child visiting @WealddownMuseum - so it’s great to bring my girls & pass on the memories - definitely an inspirational place.
This visit I popped into a new archaeological reconstruction of a Anglo-Saxon house I hadn’t seen before. It’s fabulous - separate sleeping compartment areas, tiny holes in the wall for light & pre-Norman techniques of tree wrighting. Here’s the project wealddown.co.uk/buildings/angl…
Workshop, chapel, schoolhouse & mill in the Victorian village area
And I’ve always liked the Toll Cottage
The new cafe & shop area is transformational for the entrance with great views across the site
So interesting to hear about what’s going on, challenges & projects. Thanks for having me today @WealddownMuseum@heritage_notes
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“There are places I remember, all my life, though some have changed…” an exceptionally moving blue plaque unveiling this morning for #GeorgeHarrison at his birthplace, with a speech from his wife Olivia. A once in a lifetime privilege. Well done @HistoricEngland Thread🧵👇
We began with a special tour of places associated with #GeorgeHarrison & The Beatles. There’s the pub associated with Ringo, John’s house (under renovation by @nationaltrust) & Paul’s house. Great to spend time with @Conservators_UK Emma, @Ecclesiastical Laura & @bernarddonoghue
Good morning from our @Heritage_NGOs member @DelapreAbbey who are hosting @archaeologyuk & @HistoricEngland #WellbeingandHeritage Conference. Follow along here for a few reflections on the day. Looking forward to hearing from lots of our members today throughout the programme.
Following intros from @DelapreAbbey CEO Richard Clinton & @HistoricEngland Linda Monckton we are hearing from @RedfernNeil on how we need to embed this into what our orgs do in the future. 80+ contributions. So much interest. Think about what we need to help our work thrive?
A real treat to visit @EastnorCastle today on a joint @Heritage_NGOs @Historic_Houses trip - huge thanks to James & the family for welcoming us & showing us round this extraordinary site. Come & have a look round… 👇
As the founder of the Heritage Fuels Alliance, a @Heritage_NGOs member, James has a couple of traction engines (early lorries). We chatted about issues with coal supplies for the tiny amount needed to keep these heritage vehicles running. The last mine in Wales is closing.
As a teen James started to restore a mill on the estate. With support from Defra & Natural England Funding around 2010 the workings were able to be restored & the mill is now beginning to be used to produce heritage flour. We met a farmer who brings grain to be milled.
Good morning from the @SocAntiquaries for the 50th anniversary of Protecting Wrecks with @InstituteArch @HistoricEngland @PlymUni @MSDSMarine - we are joined by @DCMS Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson
Lord Parkinson talks about the density of wrecks off our coast as an important part of our heritage & growing up fascinated by maritime stories in the North East. The 1973 Act alongside other designation options remains v important. Came from a PMB & now 57 wreck designations.
Christopher Dobbs talks to us about 45 years of wreck diving #POW50 & the human stories behind what is found. Mary Rose excavation included 500 divers. Sometimes threats are unexpected to wreck sites.
Our Chair Ingrid Samuel kicks off #HeritageDebate2023 posing the questions around heritage careers - what are the challenges & what do we do well? We want to hear about both. We have a great panel covering a range of angles.
We are taking a look at some of the great advice from the many letters that came in from heritage professionals to support debate theheritagealliance.org.uk/heritagedebate…
Good morning from Ambleside @WorldHeritageUK Summer workshop on world heritage & nature. Key themes in @lakedistrictnpa - 1. impact on landscape of agripastoral & local industrial interventions, 2. artistic & literary ideas & 3. As catalyst for landscape protection & conservation
Steve Radcliffe of @lakedistrictnpa & @WorldHeritageUK talks about the jeopardy we face in terms of nature, landscape & biodiversity. The commitment has to live with us all to recognise the crisis & contribute to its resolution. Heritage & nature integrally linked.
@lakedistrictnpa @WorldHeritageUK “Defining Nature” Jonathan Larwood @NaturalEngland - Humbolt’s idea of connection globally between nature & human induced change. The ‘scientist of the romantics’. Since then idea of biotic & abiotic - relationship to landscape, weather etc… but people connection important too.