Opening Doors: Learning in the Historic Environment

Section E · Changing approaches to learning

E 11 · Involvement of local communities

The involvement of whole communities in their heritage is one of the most exciting developments of recent years. Not only are communities participating in planning the interpretation of historic sites, but local people are taking the initiative and creating schemes of their own. One of the most valuable approaches to an understanding of the historic environment is through the people who were or are involved with it: communities and communal memories are of key importance.

In the past, museums and heritage sites have tended to assume that their role is to prepare the form of presentation and interpretation. The role of the public has been seen as passive recipients of information. This approach relies on the idea that the heritage site is a form of spectacle in which the visitor is not actively engaged. Now to a greater extent, audiences have become performers. Anotable example of this involvement is the extraordinary series of community plays, based on events in Dorchester and its surroundings and inspired by archival research, which have been staged in the town by the Dorchester Community Plays Association.

Too often, the information presented to the public is selected according to certain predetermined formulae which may be of limited interest to many who go there but who seldom feel empowered to express their own points of view. This is particularly true of guided tours, information panels and guidebooks. ICT has helped sites to offer visitors a choice in determining the nature of their visit, but this development is at an early stage. Curators and managers may wish to consider a multilayered approach such as the one initiated in the audioguides at Bolsover Castle. This layering should ideally include vigorous consultation with the public – since each visitor will bring his or her own point of view and interest. Just as many traditional forms of communicating knowledge may be impenetrable for some visitors, so a highly simplified interpretation will be frustrating for visitors with specialist knowledge and curiosity. Multi-layered interpretation may be the most satisfying avenue, and there are signs that this sort of approach is now developing.

Local History Centres

These centres, often located and long established within public libraries, provide an important (and arguably under-funded) resource for those wishing to learn about their local environment. For example, Surrey has seven Local History Centres. Each is based in a Surrey library, and provides a collection of research materials relating to the surrounding area. The resources of the local history centres are available at any time the libraries are open. Regular sessions are also available when enthusiastic volunteers with local knowledge can help people with their research. Local History Centres already engage in education programmes but with improved funding they have the capacity to deliver many of the objectives discussed in this report.

Redhill Centre for Local and Family History exists to encourage interest in local and family history in a number of local towns and villages. It offers an extensive range of resources including census records, parish registers, large scale maps, directories and photos. The centre is a notable example of a local partnership, bringing together Surrey Libraries, Surrey History Service, Reigate and District Family History Group, Holmesdale Natural History Club, Reigate Priory Museum and the Merstham Society.

Involving the public

The public can be involved in the working of historic sites through activities planned by staff. Here the National Trusts are pioneers. Consultation with potential users – young and adult – has become a key principle in the preparation of sites for opening to the public, as at Tyntesfield. At Charlecote, the education officer works to involve the local community in the house, welcoming children from the neighbouring schools, many of whom have not visited the house with their families, and organising attractive programmes to create a sense of ownership of the house and its surroundings among the people living nearby. At the site of the Massacre of Glencoe, where the National Trust for Scotland is building a new Visitors’ Centre, the NTS is consulting with the local community about the development of plans.

At the University of Wales at Lampeter, situated in the heart of the town, a highly innovative step has been taken. A room has been made into a centre for assembling information from local people about the history of the town and the region: they are invited to contribute photographs, documents and reminiscences to create an archive of local historical and geographical information. The University sees this type of project, in which the local community is actively involved, as essential to the future development of universities and colleges.

Planning displays

Museums or heritage sites are beginning to involve the public in planning displays. At the fast-developing Empire and Commonwealth Museum in Bristol, the staff feel that in addressing the difficult historical issues facing the Museum, it needs to give up some of its power over interpretation and become more ready to work with local communities. They accept that large organisations would benefit from collaborating with local residents and specialist visitors, ethnic groups and young people, when planning how to select from and present their collections.

Tourism and the importance of locals

Heritage sites, particularly the larger ones, have traditionally concentrated on tourists rather than on visitors from nearby, even though a large proportion of visitors at most historic sites are actually locals. The recent decline in foreign tourism has underlined the importance of realising that this source of revenue is not enough, particularly for large buildings such as the Tower of London which have relied heavily on income from foreign tourists.

Some managers and curators are accepting that their local communities are just as important as long-distance visitors, with consequences in terms of both employment and interpretation. For example, many members of the Historic Houses Association, owners of large or smaller country houses, see their houses and estates as playing an important role in the economic and social life of their rural communities. Houses which host a varied programme of activities often employ large numbers of local people, in jobs which would not have been available in the past: at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire, the sporting and musical activities, the use of the house for hospitality events and its regular openings, provide numerous local jobs, shortand long-term. Providing for the locals is just as important as providing for visitors from further away.

For sites with millions of annual visitors, concentration on local schools or adult groups provides one solution to dealing with very extensive demand. At Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, for example, the expanding education programmes are directed initially at children from local schools in Westminster and Windsor, reaching communities which until recently felt very little involvement with these buildings.

Urban studies

Urban studies is another area with a strong resonance for community activities. In the 1970s a number of urban study centres were set up in London and other large cities, as places where the built environment could be studied by the whole community. Inexpensive though these were to run, they tended to be regarded as expendable. But the few surviving examples, such as the Fulham and Hammersmith Urban Studies Centre, prove how effective such places can be, and how they can contribute not only to an understanding of the built environment but to the most important issues spelt out in the Citizenship curriculum.

London Links – partnering with London Community Groups

Providing life-long learning opportunities enables the Trust to engage with people who would not normally come across its work. At four of the London properties the Trust has been working to establish links with community groups as part of a Lottery funded initiative known as London Links. With the help of professional artists, groups including people with mental health issues, homeless people and a parent and toddler group, explored the history of 2 Willow Road, Hampstead, Sutton House in Hackney and Morden Hall Park. At Ham House in Richmond, schoolchildren from countries including Kosovo and Afghanistan learnt about the history of the seventeenth century house. The children then made puppets and devised their own show about the stories they had heard.

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'After Emily Warwicker had seen a group of boys acting suspiciously by the moat after school, she went out and told them the history of the moat. A few days later they bought her an Easter egg and waited an hour outside the flats to give it to her, with £5 out of their pocket money ‘for the moat’.'