Historic environment and heritage management projects, resources, commentary and analysis by Professors Ian Baxter (Heriot-Watt University) & David Gill (Kent/UEA)
English Heritage has issued its Coastal Heritage at Risk report (23 September 2022). Six castles are identified as at risk. Two are in the Solent: Hurst Castle and Calshot Castle. The dramatically situated Tintagel Castle in Cornwall sustained some £40,000 worth of damage in the winter storms of 2021/22. Piel Castle in Cumbria is facing damage due to rising sea levels. The other sites are at Bayard’s Cove Fort in Devon, and Garrison Walls in Scilly.
Coastal heritage locations in East Anglia and the south-east are also facing similar pressures due to rising sea levels and extreme weather conditions. Some of the issues are explored in the EARC Heritage Report:
Gill, D. W. J., M. Kelleher, P. Matthews, T. M. Pepperell, H. Taylor, M. Harrison, C. Moore, and J. Winder. 2022. From the Wash to the White Cliffs: The Contribution of the Heritage Sector. Eastern Academic Research Consortium (EARC) <https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent%2F01.02.96160>.
One of the themes explored in the EARC report, From the Wash to the White Cliffs: The Contribution of the Heritage Sector, is the climate crisis. The EARC region includes coastal heritage from the Wash, along the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts, the Essex marshes, and the Kent coast. The report considers heritage and coastal change; impacts of future climate and coastal change on heritage; and heritage responses to climate change and coastal change.
Gill, D. W. J., M. Kelleher, P. Matthews, T. M. Pepperell, H. Taylor, M. Harrison, C. Moore, and J. Winder. 2022. From the Wash to the White Cliffs: The Contribution of the Heritage Sector. Eastern Academic Research Consortium (EARC) <https://kar.kent.ac.uk/96160/>.
Our report on the contribution of the heritage sector to society and the economy in the south east and the east of England was published today.
Summary
This report reviews the contribution of heritage to the region defined by the counties of Kent, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. It identifies four key themes that link the heritage in the region: coastal defence; Christian heritage; historic houses; and historic landscapes and natural heritage. The region contains one UNESCO World Heritage Site at Canterbury. Heritage is supported by the development of several Heritage Action Zones and High Street Heritage Action Zones across the four counties.
Heritage features in the strategies for the two regional Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP), as well as countywide and local authority heritage and cultural strategies. The report identifies examples of good practice.
Several research themes have been identified that link to the interests of the three sponsoring universities of East Anglia, Essex, and Kent. Coastal heritage across the four counties is facing the threat of the climate crisis and assets are being lost due to coastal erosion. The impact of rising sea levels is also assessed. Heritage and cultural property crime affects the sustainability of heritage and cultural property across the region. Five case studies are presented: damage to churches, including lead roof theft; illegal metal-detecting and the disposal of finds; architectural theft; vandalism; and the use of technology to facilitate crime against heritage assets. The third research theme relates to the way that the DCI sector works with heritage organisation to record and interpret assets. The development of a county based Digital Heritage Strategy for Suffolk is highlighted.
The economic benefits of heritage are explored through the award of National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) grants to heritage projects. Between 2013 and 2020 the EARC region was awarded over £190 million for heritage projects by NLHF. In addition, the report explores visitor trends and identifies the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism economy for the region. Historic England estimates that the heritage sector accounted for 140,000 jobs in the south east, and eastern England in 2019.
The social benefits of heritage align with the UK Government’s Levelling-Up agenda. This is explored through a number of sub-themes: health and well-being; pride in place; digital connectivity; education and skills.
The report concludes with a reflection on the challenges facing heritage across the region. This includes encouraging public participation with museums and archives.
Gill, D. W. J., M. Kelleher, P. Matthews, T. M. Pepperell, H. Taylor, M. Harrison, C. Moore, and J. Winder. 2022. From the Wash to the White Cliffs: The Contribution of the Heritage Sector. Eastern Academic Research Consortium (EARC) <https://kar.kent.ac.uk/96160/>.
Work has started to dismantle the lighthouse on Orford Ness due to coastal erosion (Martin Barber and Luarence Cawley, “Orfordness Lighthouse is dismantled as sea edges closer“, BBC News 16 July 2020). It is hoped to place elements of the lighthouse elsewhere on the ness.
Journal summary: Environment and Society: Advances in Research is an annual review journal, publishing articles that have been commissioned in response to specific published calls. The field of research on environment and society is growing rapidly and becoming of ever-greater importance not only in academia but also in policy circles and for the public at large. This growth reflects the urgency of debate and the pace and scale of change with respect to the water crisis, deforestation, biodiversity loss, the looming energy crisis, nascent resource wars, environmental refugees, climate change, and environmental justice, which are just some of the many compelling challenges facing society today and in the future. It also reflects the richness and insights of scholarship exploring diverse cultural forms, social phenomena, and political-economic formations in which society and nature are intricately intertwined, if not indistinguishable.
Environment and Society publishes critical reviews of the latest research literature on environmental studies, including subjects of theoretical, methodological, substantive, and applied significance. Articles also survey the literature regionally and thematically and reflect the work of anthropologists, geographers, environmental scientists, and human ecologists from all parts of the world in order to internationalize the conversations within environmental anthropology, environmental geography, and other environmentally oriented social sciences. The publication will appeal to academic, research, and policy-making audiences alike.
2014 marks the 75th anniversary of the excavations at Sutton Hoo. The Sutton Hoo Society will be holding a conference, Defining Kingdoms: Sixth to Tenth Centuries, to mark the event on Saturday 20 September 2014. The venue is the Waterfront Building, University Campus Suffolk, Neptune Quay, Ipswich. Booking details are available via the Sutton Hoo Society website.
The programme (9.30 am – 4.30 pm) consists of:
Professor David Gill (UCS): Introduction and opening address
Dr Stuart Brookes (UCL Institute of Archaeology): Scale and scale change in early medieval England
Dr Sarah Semple (University of Durham): Burials / ancient monuments and the emergence of supra-regional power and identity
Dr Sam Newton (Wuffing Education): Sutton Hoo and the Goths
Professor Neil Price (University of Aberdeen): 536 and All That: a sixth-century climate disaster and its impact on northern societies
Dr Noel Adams (Deputy Curator, Furusiyya Art Foundation): What can the depositions at Tournai, Sutton Hoo and Malaja Perescepina tell us?
Lord Cranbrook (President, Sutton Hoo Society): Closing Address
Heritage Futures 