Opening Doors: Learning in the Historic Environment

Section E · Changing approaches to learning

E 4 · Hidden Stories

Whose traditional heritage?

This report suggests that one of the most effective ways of expressing the diversity and richness of British history, with its positive and negative features, is through the historic environment.

Popularised versions of ‘traditional heritage’ are closely associated with certain religious and social preconceptions. One vision of England developed in the nineteenth century depicts (among other things) a rural idyll including village greens, cottage gardens and rich cornfields as painted by John Constable. In Scotland a similar vision, developed at the same period, includes the Highlands, tartans and bagpipes, Robbie Burns’s poems and Walter Scott’s novels. These visions have been deconstructed by academics over the past thirty years, but these are often the messages conveyed by heritage sites.

Recent political changes have made some important differences to the interpretation of a widened range of historic buildings and environments. In Wales there has been a shift in terms of the consideration of the historic environment away from a concentration on Edwardian castles towards such aspects as Welsh chapels, whose history has received relatively little attention.

There is every reason to suppose that a new approach would be welcomed. The recent MORI poll commissioned by English Heritage for Heritage Counts 2003 indicated that the complex appreciation for heritage of ethnic minority groups is not being met by existing heritage organisations or prevailing definitions of heritage. Additionally, the majority of the population expressed their wish to see more representation of the diverse cultural components of our history.

Reflecting diverse cultures

Our built heritage – and our gardens and parks – are full of artefacts and features which witness the contribution of diverse socio-cultural groups. Finely-crafted furniture, the working tools of the servant classes, magnificent art objects from India, plants from all over the world, bear witness to the roles of various historical social groups. One emerging approach is an interest in the history of the encounter between different cultures, the impact of the movement of people and their role in influencing the dominant national culture. Many historic buildings reflect the impact of different cultures on each other, from the domination of these islands by the Roman Empire and the intimate connection with Europe through Catholicism to the rise and disintegration of the British Empire and the consequent waves of immigration into Britain. Over the past centuries, and still today, we see people moving sometimes halfway across the world, led by dreams of wealth, or as slaves, or refugees flying from political tyranny or religious persecution. All this is reflected in historic buildings and their associated landscapes.

This is a theme that has been developed by the Black Environment Network (BEN), a registered charity which addresses questions of national identity and multi-culturalism and works for full ethnic participation in the built and natural environment. (‘Black’ is used as shorthand for all ethnic community groups.) Through its Training and Consultancy Service, BEN collaborates with organisations such as the Historic Houses Association and the Gateway Gardens Trust, to find ways of building bridges between different cultural traditions, recognising that the ideas of sameness and uniqueness are in continuity. It proposes that all national cultures are unique, but only as unique combinations of historical multicultural elements. Its approach is based on intelligent and sympathetic reconciliation and discovery, rather than confrontation.

BEN stresses that ‘British heritage’ is full of diverse socio-cultural elements. These may derive from Roman, medieval or Georgian trading activities and imports, pattern books or travellers’ stories, or they may be part of the story of the British Empire – a story we should no longer hesitate to tell. At a historic country house, such objects might include Roman pottery, Japanese lacquer, Chinese-inspired garden buildings, French furniture, Indian textiles, African masks. The histories embodied in these artefacts often reveal the history of arrival and bear witness to the legitimate presence of British citizens whose country of origin is not Britain. The movement of plants, brought here by plant hunters commissioned by patrons with a fascination for nature, or for straightforward economic reasons, parallels the movement of people. Gardens, containing trees and plants from all over the world, are full of evidence of intercultural encounters.

Those responsible for interpreting historic sites in the United Kingdom can close the gap that is the multicultural history of Britain and take steps to enrich the experience they offer by articulating the diverse socio-cultural heritage which belongs to all of us.

Common ground in a shared history

Artefacts from different cultures are evidence of intercultural encounters and focusing on these objects opens up access to culturespecific education. Going beyond this, addressing the history of our multicultural society means shaping education to reveal the absorption of elements of different cultures into our everyday lives. The description of a society as multicultural describes the past and ongoing meeting of cultures, with the ‘dominant multicultural culture’ having the most influence in shaping national life. It points out that the dominant culture carries diverse socio-cultural components within the lives of all its citizens. Fish and chips is Jewish. We celebrate Christmas with North American turkeys and potatoes. We count with Arabic numbers. The concept of zero, without which there would be no computers, originates from India. We British would wither without millions of cups of Chinese or Indian tea. It is within a vision of the continuity of cultures that we can embrace hope for a harmonious nation and positive relationships with world cultures, something indispensable to the reality of global trade.

It is not enough to focus only on interpreting overseas elements in the British heritage. Confining interpretation for minority ethnic audiences in this way risks creating a limited view of the past. Restricting what is presented to imported cultural artefacts and to stories of oppression is not enough.

The message that historic sites can offer is that they are about people and how they live their lives. Beyond recognising and celebrating intercultural links and encounters, it is valuable for interpreters of historic properties to illuminate how daily activities in these places – eating, sleeping, building, burying, fighting, ruling – reflect how all cultures absorb aspects of other cultures and make them their own. This complex historical development is vividly expressed through the built environment.

The sector, with the help of Government, should be helping all individuals in a multicultural society to explore a broad range of subjects through the historic environment. Heritage Link members, recognising this need, have convened an Inclusion Working Group to develop priorities for the sector.

Addressing social exclusion

The position of ethnic minorities are in the spotlight but their exclusion can only be addressed adequately when all of us recognise that including everyone in our narratives concerns the future of all of us as a civilised society. It is only within this context that the position of ethnic minorities will find its rightful place. Paying attention to the history of neglected social groups is not about doing a favour to small groups of people. It is part of the overall work of building an inclusive society of which we can all be proud.

We need to take considered action to address the full range of social groups that have little opportunity to enjoy and participate in the historic environment, for educational, cultural, social or economic reasons. Single mothers and carers (including children caring for parents or siblings) cannot afford to travel any distance or to pay admission charges. Isolated older people need to be accompanied and supported. We need to ensure our buildings are accessible to people who are disabled. Groups from different social backgrounds may find that the experience of visiting a historic building is daunting to them: they do not see what a cathedral or country house has to offer them, or may feel that their normal behaviour may not be acceptable in such places. It may seem easier not to try to open the door.

The message has not yet got out sufficiently that major organisations such as the National Trust have begun, for example, to open up and interpret the working sides of grand houses and give social history a new emphasis.

Local studies

It is a popular perceptual mistake that the historic environment refers only to ‘grand heritage’. The history of designated sites is inextricably part of a wider landscape, reaching into the local environment of everyday life. There is now more opportunity than ever to participate in building the awareness of the multiple layers of history. Schemes such as Heritage Lottery Fund’s Local History Initiative or Young Roots give significant resources to community groups and individuals, enabling them to buy expertise and document individual life histories. Many schools have championed the use of local streets, churchyards and shopping centres as rich parts of the historic environment. Understanding the great diversity of styles, materials and functions all around us now can make each of us relate more intimately to the places where we live and work. Studying the style, design and sources of our local buildings is one way of bringing the historic environment to all sections of the community.

English Heritage and the Black Environment Network

Black Environment Network is currently collaborating with English Heritage on a campaign, the BEN Historic Environment Programme for England, to reveal the multicultural history of Britain for the benefit of everyone. Its major partners include the National Trust, the Council for British Archaeology and the Countryside Agency. Part of its remit is to generate and support community-led projects as part of the strategy to take some of the load of responsibility for informal education off the shoulders of historic environment organisations.

The People and Historic Places Project

The Historic Houses Association is working in partnership with Black Environment Network to expand the educational work of privately-owned country houses. The ‘People and Historic Places’ project , the first national pilot project addressing access by ethnic minorities to opportunities at historic houses has now been completed and a report is available, sharing the lessons learnt. BEN and the HHA have created partnerships between historic houses and their nearby minority ethnic communities to encourage wider enjoyment of these places. Elders from the Edinburgh Chinese Elderly Support Association have visited Drumlanrig Castle; members of the Scottish Filipino Association of Edinburgh have been to Traquair House; Bengali, Bangladeshi and Pakistani students from City College in Birmingham to Tissington Hall in Derbyshire; and family members of the Junction Community Pentecostal Church in Clapham to Syon Park in Middlesex.

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