Heritage Projects at Stanwick Lakes
Settlers of the Nene Valley
Rockingham Forest Trust recently completed a very successful 4-year Heritage Project, Settlers of the Nene Valley, funded by Heritage Lottery. The Trust, which manages Stanwick Lakes, was one of several organisations in the Nenescape Landscape Partnership Scheme that received funding for activities which explored the Nene Valley, its people, heritage, and identity in a changing landscape.
The lives of the Neolithic, Iron and Bronze Age, Roman, Saxon and Medieval settlers of the Nene Valley were explored, re-created and celebrated through a wide range of exciting heritage engagement activities for the local community, focussing on the journeys that the settlers made, where and how they lived and what we could learn from them.
We ran projects with schools, held community events and hands-on opportunities to learn new skills in the traditional crafts and construction techniques which enabled people to settle and make their home in the valley.
The ‘Trading Places’ Heritage Project
The ‘Trading Places’ heritage project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, ran for four years between October 2013 and November 2017. The project worked with the villages and towns from Wellingborough to Thrapston, providing a unique programme of activities and events in the Nene Valley.
‘Trading Places’ focussed on the local trades, skills and lives of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and involved re-enactors, storytellers, crime historians and traditional crafts people to help local communities and schools to connect with, enjoy and understand the history of their local area.
Read the Evaluation Report to find out more about the project.
Traditional Crafts Courses
An important element of the project’s work was to set up a traditional skills training programme for young unemployed people from the area; giving them opportunities and experiences to build upon. An oak ‘Training Barn’ was constructed at Stanwick Lakes in early 2014 and is now the venue for a range of public traditional skills courses. Please click here for details of the courses we offer. Blacksmithing, wood carving and leather bag making are just a few of the courses on offer.
