The Upland Heritage of Hill Farming in the Cheviots:
Spreading the Word
Who We Are
Cheviots: Spreading the Word is a multidisciplinary heritage initiative led by Professor Chris Gerrard from the Department of Archaeology at Durham University. In this project, Chris is working alongside Anthea Wood, a local artist in the Wooler area, Karen Froggatt from the Glendale Gateway Trust and podcaster Olivia Oldham.
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Our project builds on the highly successful 'Inspiring Rural Heritage' (IRIS) which explored the contribution of local farmers in sustaining their rural upland environment in the UK, Italy, Spain, France and Montenegro. There we saw for ourselves the threat of depopulation, the loss of traditional skills and land-use change driven by the climate emergency and 'natural capital' approaches to land management.
Hill-farmers from the Cheviot Hills in Northumberland were at the heart of the UK case study for IRIS. Over 19 hours of in-person interviews were recorded with shepherds, farmers, land managers and communities. This was complemented by fresh historical and archaeological research which investigated the deeper past to the landscape we see today. Taken together, this evidence has shed light on the enormous range of local expertise and traditions, and fostered new collaborative opportunities for the future.
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Cheviots: Spreading the Word takes our results a step further by embedding our new understanding in local communities, particularly schools, community groups for older adults, and visitors to the Northumberland National Park. Through our work, we want to safeguard living heritage without freezing or fixing it, to ensure that it remains vital and continues to evolve.
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What will we be doing?
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Podcast
We will create a podcast series featuring our conversations with local experts and researchers. Our themes will include sheep breeds, traditions of stock management, shepherd dogs, farms and farmers, archaeological and historic sites, as well as all kinds of current debates on the future of the uplands. Clips and episodes will be widely promoted.
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Interactive Resources
We will co-produce user-friendly materials for in-person delivery to local schools and community groups to help support learning about local farming heritage and the local environment. People, places and their stories will be our inspiration for an animated video, jigsaws, role play scripts for children and much else besides.
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Display
We will design a graphic display for the Cheviot Centre which can be enjoyed by everyone. The Centre is a welcoming hub for visitors as well as for local people and we will link the display to our podcasts and audio clips so that the content can be enjoyed wherever you are in the world.