Back to the Classroom!

As a volunteer heritage steward I continue to find new and stimulating ways to learn about our county’s heritage.

One such way was made possible recently simply by enrolling upon one of the “GROW” courses offered by Lincolnshire County Council through Heritage Lincolnshire. The course was entitled “Lost Medieval Villages and Abbeys and Priories in Lincolnshire” and was run over two separate evenings at the headquarters of Heritage Lincolnshire in Heckington.

The Trust’s building is a lovely example of Victorian heritage in itself, being a former Church of England village school. Developing a Steward’s keen eye for such things, I could see that many of the school’s original architectural features had been retained! The wooden folding classroom divider with glass panes and the large classroom spaces,(so difficult to heat in winter) reminded me of time spent at a similar school as a child! Also, despite not being used as a school for several years, the playground still bears a clearly visible hop-scotch grid!

However, back to the GROW course! The first part of the course concerned the lost Medieval villages. I had only a vague knowledge of these villages prior to attending the course. I was aware of the village at Brauncewell, beside the A15 north of Sleaford. (Incidentally, I recall that my first awareness of Heritage Lincolnshire’s existence was several years ago when an invitation appeared in the local press for interested parties to meet at the site for a morning’s interpretive visit with a member of the Trust.) The first slide shown on the course was an aerial photograph of Brauncewell and showed the village in astonishing detail – far better than by merely passing by the site on the road would have allowed! The helpful explanations of what we were seeing on the slide effectively “brought the village to life” as details including road and pathways, cottages together with their associated agricultural small-holdings, became clear. The illustrations contained within the Luttrell Psalter- a unique and local Medieval manuscript, were used by the tutor to identify the everyday activities of villagers of the period. To aid this understanding, we were shown a short video, produced by a local history society, in which the various activities were authentically re- enacted. The village remains that we viewed were then transformed through us gaining an understanding of the activities of the individuals who once populated it.

The second part of the course introduced us to the remains of Medieval abbeys and priories in Lincolnshire. The evening’s study was illustrated with photographs and aerial photographs of abbey site which made it easier to identify the plan of typical monastery buildings. Considering the age of the buildings, I was impressed by how intact at least some of these abbeys are. Particularly memorable is the 14th century abbey at Thornton, near Grimsby, whose brick gatehouse appears to be very sturdy indeed.

Overall the course had the effect of firing me with enthusiasm to visit sites of both lost villages and abbeys. This particular course was made available free of charge which was an added bonus.

As I have stated in earlier blogs, becoming a volunteer Heritage Steward has proved to be a very rewarding experience for me – so much more than I had initially imagined.

The Trust is to be commended for their dynamic approach in making learning such an accessible element of their business.

Colin, Heritage Steward