Sharing memories of model village
SIGHTS and sounds and memories of Elsecar were shared at the village’s heritage centre at the weekend.
Residents were invited to bring objects, photographs and memories to a community event as part of a new project to share the village’s history with visitors and future generations.
It came after Barnsley Museums were been awarded a grant of £244,111 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for a project entitled Building Bridges and Forging Ahead that will celebrate the history of Elsecar through new community and volunteering activities.
And as part of that, the project is sharing and recording its heritage, through its links to the Fitzwilliam family from nearby Wentworth Woodhouse, its industrial background and more rural past times.
The project team and volunteers are working closely with local schools, families, community groups and partners from across Barnsley and South Yorkshire.
Saturday’s launch event saw people invited to share their memories and objects, particularly of Elsecar Main Colliery and the New Yard Workshops, but also of wider life in the village, relating their own experiences, or those of friends, family members and ancestors.
It marks the beginning of a new community-driven project to collect stories of the area to share in a new-look visitor centre and gallery.
Other activities as part of the project include: New school workshops exploring science and industry including Elsecar’s 1795 Newcomen Engine, the world’s oldest steam engine that is still in place; creation of a 1980s digital reconstruction of parts of the village, adding to the Elsecar 1880 immersive experience; multi-sensory tours; creation of new volunteering opportunities, to work across the village and its landscape and habitats; and a public art project later in the year to mark the 200th anniversary of the construction of two iron suspension bridges designed by Marc Brunel, for the Island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.