What is heritage?

Heritage is a pretty broad umbrella. The National Lottery Heritage Fund describe it as “anything from the past that you value and want to pass on to future generations.” That’s a lot when you think about it!

The vast majority of my work is around heritage – supporting organisations to protect, enhance and celebrate a vast array of ‘things’ which are part of our past and that we need to still exist in the future. Over the last few months that has included…

• Archaeology – treasures buried underground for centuries and rediscovered today to improve our understanding of how our ancestors lived and how they used our landscapes
• Species – part of wider efforts to ensure we don’t lose yet more of our precious biodiversity but also celebrating a connection to local culture where individual species are often depicted in local festivals, events, place names etc
• Ecosystems – connected landscapes where nature is in recovery within a functioning ecosystem which reduces climate change impacts
• Dark skies – literally the whole universe which, of course, is still there but is becoming less visible as we illuminate our little piece of it
• Music making – people and instruments which create music so evocative of a time, place or tradition
• Historic buildings – places with so many stories to tell (if walls could talk)
• Food production – so often intertwined with landscape, buildings and communities and essential to all of our lives
• Memories – the intangible culture of a place that exists in stories past from one generation to another

Heritage could also be art works, journeys, religion, skills, structures, celebrations, commemorations, names, books, documents, families, gardens, forests, seascapes, toys, nature, traditions and so, so much more.

Celebrating heritage is not about going back in time but it is about preserving and learning lessons from the past to enable us to make decisions for the future. It’s often (but not always) linked to place. It always has a connection to people. It hasn’t necessarily always been here – new people can bring new heritage – but our landscapes and communities are richer because of our heritage.  

I’ve got some new heritage projects on the horizon and I cannot wait to get stuck in. Please do get in touch if you would like to discuss how I can help your heritage project.

Images depicting some of the heritage I have stumbled across in recent times:
1. A child’s hands held together to make a heart shape on a tree trunk
2. A pretty spectacular wasp nest in the eaves of our shed
3. A red brick church tower against a deep blue sky
4. A rare breed Exmoor pony
5. A bowl of plums on a digital scale which reads 1604g
6. A wood pigeon on a street sign for ‘Riverside Road’ overlooking Alnmouth Estuary