Heritage for the masses (From Borehamwood Times)

Heritage for the masses

4:02pm Wednesday 7th January 2009

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Hertfordshire has a new gateway to the past. Suruchi Sharma finds out about the national heritage website bringing the area’s history into the 21st Century.

Thousands of archaelogical records have entered the 21st Century on a new online database.

Hertfordshire County Council has put its historic records on the Heritage Gateway website, which includes the Hertfordshire Historic Environment Record (HHER), with information on artefacts and archaeological work that has taken place in the county.

The records have always been available at the council’s offices in Hertford, but they are now available to anyone using the internet.

Heritage Gateway is a project between English Heritage, the Institute of Historic Building Conservation and the Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers.

It aims to encourage people to learn about England’s history and is part of a programme of reforms proposed by the Government to promote heritage in communities across the country.

The HHER contains more than 14,000 records on buildings and landscapes of historic significance.

Among them are Stone Age and Bronze Age sites, late Iron Age and Roman remains and medieval moated sites.

It also contains information on the county’s historic parks, timber farm buildings and sites of Second World War remains.

The website also has an archive of more than 2,000 unpublished fieldwork reports, together with journals, publications and photographs. This includes more than 3,000 aerial photographs which can be seen by the public through appointment at the council’s Hertford offices.

County councillor Stuart Pile, executive member for rural affairs, said: “This is an exciting development which will be a great advantage to anybody, anywhere, who wants to search the vast array of records available on archaeological sites, finds and research in the county.”

Alan Lawrence, curator at Elstree and Boreham Wood Museum, in Drayton Road, said: “Anything that encourages people to learn more about the heritage in their area is a wonderful idea.

“The whole purpose of it is to make people more aware of what is around them. As a result they may want to come down to the museum itself to learn more about what they have read about.

“What I have seen so far online shows at the moment the website is not yet populated with enough information. I’m sure there is a lot more that can be put on as there is a great amount of history in this area.”

For more information visit the Heritage Gateway website.

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