Ickleford
Earlier this year the Museum Service was fortunate to receive grant-aid to buy a William Ratcliffe painting called Reflections Ickleford, which shows part of the now-demolished Hyde Mill, Ickleford.
Cas outside Ickleford School with the copy of the Ratcliffe painting we have given them (it’s a photo on canvas, and came out really well)
Some of the generous Heritage Lottery funding was also for project work in Ickleford, to enable local residents to learn more about the history of their village, and particularly about Hyde Mill. Working with local volunteers, the Museum Service helped with displays in the church on the Open Village weekend, visited the school, and helped with the excavation of the mill site. The photos show some of the work which has taken place so far; watch this space for the rest of the project.
Display in the church on 23 June at Ickleford Open Village, showing the Hyde Mill pop-up panels.
Amanda helping young visitors at the Ickleford Open Village event
Looking at some of the excavated material from the Hyde Mill site
Jo Ward (seated), our Audience Development consultant, giving out her questionnaires at Ickleford Open Village
At Ickleford School last month, with our excellent pop-up panels (thanks to the HLF)
Back to Ickleford School to present the painting and a mounted Victorian map of the village
You will have seen, if you follow our blog or have come on one of our tours, that many staff are busy at work behind the scenes making preparations for the new museum. This does not mean, however, that we have withdrawn from the wider world. The “Discovering Ickleford” Heritage Lottery Funded project has recently involved our Learning Officer Cas and Cultural Services Manager Ros working with the local community and schoolchildren there. David Hodges, one of our curators, is working with local football clubs to develop a travelling exhibition about the history of football in the area to go with some of the fantastic objects in the football collection. Our Archaeology Officer, Keith, is out on the annual dig with the Norton Community Archaeology Group exploring the site of a Bronze Age Henge.
Hidden Landscapes Exhibition Poster
One of the other projects in which we have had some involvement is culminating in a exhibition which opens on 9th August. “Hidden Landscapes” presents the findings from the Hidden Landscapes Project, carried our by visual artist Christina Bryant. Christina spent 12 months exploring chosen sites located along the urban fringes of Letchworth Garden City. Her interest is in the spaces that straddle the urban and the country, the ‘wilderness’ that lies just beyond the codes and surveillance of the town. Her focus was on areas showing evidence of current or recent human occupation, recording, mapping and surveying the rubbish and debris from the selected locations. She met with me, as a museum curator, to talk about curation and display of objects, and worked closely with our archaeology officer Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews in order to understand and use the painstaking methods of an archaeologist to help explore what links us with our everyday landscape.
The exhibition runs from 9th – 30th August at the Letchworth Arts Centre, and on August 15 at 7.00, Christina will be at the Letchworth Arts Centre speaking about what she has uncovered. The exhibition is a fascinating blend of drawings, maps and finds from the various sites which include: Norton Common, the old quarry on Wilbury Hills and the A1(M) underpass.
Christina is keen to get local people involved with the project as much as possible. In addition to the exhibition, she is organising a ‘wilderness excavation’ at one of the sites on Saturday 17th August, 2-4pm, which anyone will be welcome to attend. This will give people a chance first hand to experience her project.