Understanding our historic landscape: community, engagement, and heritage

The market town of Newton Abbot is located within easy reach of Dartmoor National Park and the sea at Torbay and Teignmouth in South Devon.  By providing access to employment, education, training, public transport links, shopping and leisure facilities, the town provides a focal point for many of the surrounding villages.  It has three secondary schools, eleven primary schools, and a population of approximately 26, 000 which is the most diverse population in Devon (MOSAIC data 2009). The town is soon to see some major changes as there are three large-scale housing developments planned and a major redevelopment of the town centre is under consultation.  The planned new developments will have a major impact on the town and surrounding villages, and there will be a need for new and old residents to feel part of this expanding community and to develop a sense of place and identity with their surroundings.

Staff from the Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter, are developing a community archaeology project that will explore the landscape history and archaeology of Newton Abbot and its hinterland. Attention will focus on the 'historic landscape': the present day patterns of settlements, roads, fields and land-uses that may be several centuries, or even millennia, old, and which provides a remarkable record of past human achievement in activities such as agriculture, industry and commerce. These urban townscapes and rural landscapes provide an important sense of place for local communities, something that will be enhanced through this project and will help to encourage the residents of the town to access the countryside.

The project will involve community groups in researching the history of their landscape using a wide diversity of source material (e.g. maps, documents, place-names and archaeology), and provide a lasting legacy in terms of a published book outlining the history and archaeology of the town and its hinterland, heritage trails to encourage a greater access for local communities and visitors, and a 'tool kit' demonstrating how other community groups could carry out similar work.  The project will enable a variety of community groups and individuals to explore their environment through a series of workshops and walks (using existing rights of way) that embrace key features of the historic landscape. Participants will have the opportunity to acquire new skills in documentary research and fieldwork (e.g. earthwork surveys, geophysical surveying, and fieldwalking) alongside transferable skills such as teamwork, IT, and critical analysis

It is anticipated that by actively engaging a variety of community groups, and their subsequent participation in aspects of its lasting legacy (e.g. book, heritage walks, displays and interpretative materials), the project will lead to an increased appreciation and understanding on the part of local communities of the time depth that is present in their landscape.  Furthermore, it will help to increase a sense of place, community cohesion and identity.

Encouraging participation from local schools, both primary and secondary, forms an important part of the project. Newton Abbot and its hinterland is steeped in history and archaeology and has a number of sites of archaeological interest including Iron Age hillforts, Roman and medieval settlements and a motte and bailey castle. Through running activities with schools the project will also develop appropriate resources (i.e. schemes of work) that incorporate these local heritage landmarks into teaching to enable  children to interact with their heritage, develop an understanding of local history, a sense of place and pride in their locality and one that will also form part of the lasting legacy.

Penny Cunningham and Stephen Rippon, October 2010