B 2 · Interest in history and archaeology
History has become a subject of great popular interest in recent years, marked by the proliferation of history programmes on television and the demand by publishers for accessible books on history. Television has become the most effective medium for archaeological digs in a dramatic format. The highly successful and carefully researched series of ‘historic house’ programmes animate old buildings of the past by evoking how they were inhabited.
Very recently, media interest in history has transferred to historic buildings, with series dedicated to places of worship and the Buildings of England volumes as well as the Restoration programmes broadcast in 2003 and 2004. Breakfast Television has included programmes on A Week at Chatsworth and Opening at Osterley.
The quality of history teaching at schools is high: in recent years OFSTED has given consistently good reports on history teaching in primary and secondary schools. In Wales, figures for study of history at high school level are burgeoning. History is, however, not necessarily a mainstream subject, and many students arrive at university with a detailed knowledge of only limited historical areas, notably the Tudors and the Nazis. The verbal evidence of staff at historic properties suggests that whereas many visitors, particularly younger ones, may not have a basic grasp of, for example, the history of the kings and queens of England, many express an intense interest in all aspects of the places they are seeing.
Popular concern for the preservation of historic buildings is evident from the support given to appeals to save them for the future. When in 2002 a campaign was launched to raise funds for Tyntesfield in Somerset, 50,000 individual contributions were made by members of the public, giving on average £40 each.
As in many European countries, at a time when many people feel rootless and dissociated from the society and places where they live and work, there is much interest in researching one’s origins. This fascination is evident from record offices which find themselves besieged by people seeking information about their forebears. When the Public Record Office opened its website Your Ancestors in 2001, it crashed on the first morning because of the enormous number of enquiries. It remains extremely popular.
This interest in personal history can take many different forms. For example, the National Archives (ex-PRO) launched a new project, Moving Here, in 2003. This database, created by 30 partners including archives, museums and libraries across the country, records why people from the Caribbean, Irish, Jewish and South Asian communities moved to Britain, and illustrates their experiences through photographs, recordings, maps and personal possessions.
Interest in archaeology is also on the rise. The Council for British Archaeology has achieved astonishing success with its archaeology clubs for young people, of which there are now around 70 local branches around Britain. It has a reputation as one of the fastest-growing youth organisations in the United Kingdom. The Newport Ship, a vessel of around 1645 discovered in the summer of 2002 during excavations on the bank of the river Usk, attracts some 10,000 people a day.
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'History has never been hotter. From the Vikings to the Great Fire of London, television can’t get enough of it.'
The Guardian, 29 October 2001
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