Culture Syndicates CIC

  Here at Culture Syndicates, we are all about making museums more diverse and finding as many opportunities as we can to encourage young people into museums. Kids Take Over Day will be held on November 12 th, and we think it’s a brilliant way to get young people interested in working in museums. Takeover Day began in 2010, over 40,000 children and young people have taken part. Over 5,000 people, from toddlers to 25-year-olds, now take part each year. According to the Kids in Museums website ‘Many participants have gone on to become more involved in the life of the museum as a result.’ It’s a great way for heritage organisations, to gain new audiences and involve different demographic groups and try out new ways of working. It is also a good way to promote yourself on social media and as it is a national event it will give you a chance to promote your heritage attraction across the country. As for the kids they get to develop new skills and have a taste of what a heritage career

  Inspired by the ‘Ghost Stories of an Antiquary’, by M. R. James this blog reflects on our layered heritage. In M.R. James story ‘The Picture’ he describes a mezzotint of a house with a figure in front of it which on a second glance the door has opened, and the figure is gone! James was inspired by his locality of Suffolk and Norfolk a place that has at the latest count 145 lost country houses. [1] The house that this story is said to be inspired by was Livermere Hall in Great Livermere in Suffolk. [2] The site itself has a history stretching back to the 17c. The hall itself was built within Livermere Park. [3] The building of the park itself caused the removal of a whole village, now known as the deserted village of Little Livermere viewable as dark patches on ariel photographs. [4]   ‘The original house was called Broom Hall and belonged to the Coke family in the late C17 - the heir to the estate, Arundell Coke of Bury St Edmunds was hanged for the attempted murder of his b

  As Ruth leaves us for pastures new this month we decided to ask her a few questions before she goes.   1.        Tell us a little about yourself and your background. Trained in textiles technology at NTU, for the first twelve years of my career I was a fashion designer working in the Lace Market in Nottingham. A chance to move to Australia with my husband’s job meant that I was suddenly living in a rural country town on the Murray River in a place called Albury Wodonga. Six years and two kids later after having ago at many different roles (including being a workplace trainer and assessor training retail apprentices, writing apprenticeship courses and running an art business) we came back to the UK and I decided I needed to upskill to be able to re-join the textile industry so I completed a degree in international fashion business but soon realised fashion had moved on and so had I. Instead, I became a self-employed artist particularly focused on heritage buildings. Utilising

  CS Heritage Assistants: Amy,Nisha, Lyndsay,Mary,Sophie and Ruth Over the summer our heritage assistants were brought back into the fold after the pandemic we were lucky enough to secure CRF 2 funds to be able to do this the sessions were all remote using Zoom and it was the first time that the assistants were able to see each other after around 18 months. The sessions began by focusing on business updates and Covid-19 briefing to reintroduce them to the team and the new directions CS are going in. The following sessions were arranged and lasted around two hours each. ·          Challenges at sector entry ·          Supply of information and job applications ·          Networking and support networks ·          Conceptualising museum careers ·          Entry-level jobs and on-the-job training ·          Mentoring ·          Wellbeing ·          Fundraising training ·          Fundraising presentations ·          Next steps The enthusiasm shown by the heritage ass

 By Erin Dodd  The nights are drawing in. There will soon be a chill in the air, and talk will turn to all things spooky. As Halloween approaches, many heritage locations begin to spice up their cultural offerings with ghost walks, tales of hauntings and gruesome goings-on. However, for me, spooky tales and sinister spectres have become my way into the heritage sector. Indeed, I ask, what would history or cultural heritage be like without ghost stories, folklore, and urban legends? So, in the spirit of the season, I would like to share two UK heritage locations ideal all year round for those who crave a supernatural twist to their interactions with history.  My first location is Cannock Chase Forest in Staffordshire. I grew up on the outskirts of this beautiful woodland and conservation area, which has several walks, bike and horse-riding trails, and idyllic fishing lakes. [1] However, some believe it to be home to various paranormal entities. The most pervasive of these are the Black-

  Carrying on with our darker heritage themes for the month of October we delve into some witchy tales....... Because of the 17 th century witch trials, England is scattered with historical witchcraft sites, King James I began Scotland’s witch hunts leading to witch trials being held for over 100 years.  In 1603 James VI of Scotland became James I of England, after the death of Queen Elizabeth I, joining the crowns of England and Scotland in personal union. During a time of pandemic and sudden death King James wrote a dissertation titled Daemonologie that was first sold in 1597 explaining the demonic causes of witchcraft and sorcery. The book was widely read by the English, but it caused widespread panic, and many took it upon themselves to solve the perceived problem of witches. There was years of terrible torment and torture with everyone convinced that they would be poisoned by witches possessed by the devil. Daemonologie aided in the creation of witchcraft reform, which in 1

  Image: Author's own National Justice Museum. It seems apt that we announce our move into our new office at The National Justice Museum during the spooky month of October. A grade two listed building with parts dating back from when it was used as a court from as long ago as 1375 and a prison from 1449 it is not surprising that there is a long history of the macabre, in fact it has been voted one of the most haunted buildings in the UK. Rebuilt in 1769 and 1772 after the previous court room collapsed. The front steps held many public hangings Richard Thomas Parker was the last public execution there in 1864. It is said that there are bodies of convicts buried in the courtyard. In 1878 due to the prison reforms and appalling conditions the gaol was closed for good.   Ghostly sightings include cloaked figures, William Saville – a rapist and murderer, a soldier, an old lady, a Victorian man, and a dog. It is so ghoulish that it attracted the series Most Haunted to film and episode

  Why are homegrown British and overseas tourists  attracted to visiting the UK? Is it in part because there are so many tangible visible signs of a mysterious past layers of archaeology, strange stone circles and chalk figures in impossible places mix these with the intangible stories (or myths) of demons, witches, highway men and Kings you have an enticing reason to visit despite the constant drizzle!  Image: Knights of the round table  Its best from a heritage perspective we don’t delve too deep into these intangible characters as David Lowenthal explains ‘History strives to know as much of the past as possible; heritage is helped by imprecise impression and sketchy surmise.’ [1] Let us not worry if our most famous legend King Arthur was real because the wonderous stories take tourists on a fabulous journey through the west side of the UK. And conveniently King Arthur certainly did visit some of the most beautiful parts of Britain,(or did he?). For heritages sake let us not spoil

  History has many different interesting areas to study, but one era that I keep coming back to time and time again is the long-eighteenth century. One approach that has only emerged in the 1970s and has gained more traction in recent years from scholars is gender studies. Regarding the eighteenth century, I find myself returning to study gender, women, children and the home within 1650-1850, both within my History BA and my Art History MA, both degrees working cross-disciplinary by working closely with museum stores, objects, art and visual culture. National Archives. My undergraduate dissertation involved an extended trip to the National Archives where I studied original eighteenth-century inventories, reading the fragile ink-scrawled rolls of parchment before using a database to gather quantitative data from this first-hand research. My mission was to explore the effect that the great fire of London had on changing the inner contents of the eighteen-century London home. A lot of wor