{"id":3011,"date":"2022-09-16T10:28:33","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T09:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-making-a-difference\/?p=3011"},"modified":"2022-09-26T11:09:48","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T10:09:48","slug":"vestiges-crafting-connections-through-the-heritage-of-the-peak-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-making-a-difference\/2022\/09\/16\/vestiges-crafting-connections-through-the-heritage-of-the-peak-district\/","title":{"rendered":"Vestiges: Crafting Connections through the Heritage of the Peak District"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Written by\u00a0Dr Melanie Giles<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Vestiges worked with Sheffield Museum Trust\u2019s Weston Park Museum<\/a><\/span> to help enrich the cultural and creative content of their exhibition celebrating the life and work of Peak District antiquarian, Thomas Bateman. <\/span>Collaborative discussion between the museum\u2019s curators and the project team began with a joint lecture at the<\/span> Derbyshire Archaeology Day 2022<\/a><\/span>, to over 300 attendees. The final exhibition officially opened on the 27th May 2022 and will run until 15th January 2023. So far, it has been seen by over 31,170 visitors!\u00a0Brought to Light: The Remarkable Bateman Collection<\/a><\/span> showcases not just the museum\u2019s own archaeological and anthropological collections but objects loaned from the Whitworth Gallery<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> John Rylands Research Institute<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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‘Brought to Light’ (left banners) at Sheffield Weston Park Museum<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Building on a previous SALC and Creative Manchester Cultural Engagement funded project, <\/span>Stories of Discovery<\/span><\/a>, project lead Dr Melanie Giles (dept. of CAHAE) brought poet Dr Abbi Flint and independent archaeologist and artist Dr Rose Ferraby into conversation with the museum curators.\u00a0Their work now features as an integral part of the exhibition. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The project team at the ‘Brought to Light’ launch (from left to right: Dr Abbi Flint, Dr Rose Ferraby and Dr Melanie Giles)<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Abbi\u2019s poem Flints articulates the awe that ancient lithics can provoke while accompanying the rare and sensitive display of an Early Bronze Age burial.\u00a0In Cow Low Bowl, Abbi conjures the wonder of a complete glass vessel from an Anglo-Saxon burial which Bateman cherished so much it figured in the famous oil-painting portrait he commissioned of himself and his son.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Poetry by Dr Abbi Flint in conversation with burial archaeology<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-making-a-difference\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/193\/2022\/09\/Flints-highly-compressed.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Reading of Flints by Dr Abbi Flint<\/em><\/span><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/salc-making-a-difference\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/193\/2022\/09\/Cow-Low-Bowl-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Reading of Cow Low Bowl by Dr Abbi Flint<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Melanie\u2019s poem Marvellous To Say took Bateman\u2019s own words and refashioned them into a found poem about the wondrous survival of fragile leaves and beetle wing cases, from a burial on the upland peat.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Marvellous to Say, a found poem by Dr Melanie Giles<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Rose\u2019s evocative landscape collages, Dark Peak and White Peak, now form an eye-catching centrepiece in the gallery, evoking the distinctive ecology, landform and monuments of the limestone and gritstone outcrops of the Peak District: England\u2019s first national park. They prompt the audience to think about the inspiring power of the past, by placing artefacts, archival records, human remains and burial rites in creative conversation with each other. The curators felt that this supported a new, bold and creative approach, whilst enriching the research knowledge underpinning the exhibition.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dark Peak (up) and White Peak (down) by Dr Rose Ferraby<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The poems and artwork can also be found in the Vestiges<\/a><\/span> collection.\u00a0<\/span>In addition, a specially commissioned film in the gallery features Melanie Giles on site at Five Wells chambered tomb, championing Bateman\u2019s antiquarianism as a kind of \u2018rescue\u2019 archaeology. The project also partnered with University of Sheffield archaeologist Prof. Bob Johnston, whose student-led research was transformed into an interactive Geographic-Information-System Storymap, allowing virtual access to the sites and finds featured in the exhibition, thus democratising access to heritage in both rural and urban settings.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Dr Melanie Giles at Five Wells chambered tomb<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

All of the partners took part in the public talk\u00a0Brought to Light by the Spade – Archaeologists, Artists and Poets in Conversation<\/a><\/span>,\u00a0which also drew in Peak District National Park Archaeologist Anna Badcock, to reflect on the contemporary challenges of looking after this heritage and the legacy of Bateman\u2019s work. Every attendee took away a free print copy of Vestiges<\/a><\/span> and a set of postcards to celebrate the exhibition. Finally, a museum-based workshop,\u00a0Marks and Traces – Poetry and Art Inspired by the Past<\/a><\/span>, was delivered by\u00a0Melanie, Abbi and Rose, inviting members of the public to try their own hand at poetic and artistic responses to the past. Personal tours for the workshop attendees encouraged footfall and directed creative engagement with gallery content, enabling participants to mobilise their heritage for creative inspiration.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Project duration:\u00a0March – August 2022
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Project lead:\u00a0Dr Melanie Giles (Dept. of CAHAE, SALC, UoM)<\/span><\/p>\n

External partners:<\/span><\/p>\n