Experiencing Britain's Ruins: 'Revenants and Remains' at Five Northern English Religious Houses and Beyond
Lead Research Organisation:
Manchester Metropolitan University
Department Name: English
Abstract
This project aims to enhance the public 'experience' of Britain's ruins by applying research findings derived from PI Prof. Dale Townshend's AHRC Leadership Fellowship, 'Writing Britain's Ruins, 1700-1850: The Architectural Imagination' (AH/M00600X/1; 2015-16), to contemporary practices of heritage interpretation, ruin tourism and creative literary response. Over a 12-month period, PI Townshend and Co-Is Dr Michael Carter and Dr Dominique Bouchard, both of English Heritage (EH), will deliver, administer and ultimately evaluate 'Revenants and Remains', an innovative and exciting programme of free, public-facing digital and real-life activities focused upon, but also radiating outwards beyond, 5 key EH sites of monastic ruin in the north of England: Byland Abbey, North Yorkshire; Furness Abbey, Cumbria; Lanercost Priory, Cumbria; Rievaulx Abbey, North Yorkshire; and Roche Abbey, South Yorkshire. Responding directly to identified needs within the heritage sector at these sites, this multi-faceted programme for knowledge exchange (KE) and impact generation aims to rearticulate, recreate and embed aspects of the original literary-historical research (1700-1850) in present-day virtual and real-life contexts, showing the relevance of its findings to contemporary acts of ruin tourism so as directly to enrich the general public's knowledge, appreciation and experience of national history and architectural heritage.
The aims of the 'Revenants and Remains' programme are as follows:
1) To attract new local audiences of all ages to these 5 sites of ecclesiastical ruin through the popular and high-recruiting theme of ghosts ('revenants') and corporeal and architectural vestiges ('remains')
2) To engage the interest of these new public audiences in the rich, often controversial histories of these sites, primarily as they are told through the thematically cognate topics of death, burial, ruination, the afterlife and the supernatural
3) To enrich, enhance and change local and national visitors' knowledge, perception and experience of architectural heritage through a thematically coherent set of on-site interpretations
4) To extend the applicability and, thus, the potential impact of the 'Revenants and Remains' programme outwards beyond the 5 selected locales through the production and curation of more general KE-focused digital content, as well as through the hosting of a workshop for heritage professionals and stakeholders
So as to realise these aims, 'Revenants and Remains' comprises the following 5 objectives:
1) The organisation of on-site youth-engagement activities for 11-25-yr-olds
2) The organisation and running of guided tours for adult visitors to the 5 chosen sites themed around the topic of 'Revenants and Remains'
3) The organisation and running of creative writing workshops at each of the 5 selected sites
4) The curation of themed digital content of a more general nature
5) The running of a workshop on the theme of 'Gothic Tourism / Haunted Heritage' for British heritage professionals.
Thus creating and engaging new audiences for the original research, enriching the visitor's experience of Britain's ruins and ultimately contributing towards the sustainable management of the historic environment, the project aims to forge pathways to impact that were neither foreseen nor, indeed, possible during the course of 'Writing Britain's Ruins'.
The aims of the 'Revenants and Remains' programme are as follows:
1) To attract new local audiences of all ages to these 5 sites of ecclesiastical ruin through the popular and high-recruiting theme of ghosts ('revenants') and corporeal and architectural vestiges ('remains')
2) To engage the interest of these new public audiences in the rich, often controversial histories of these sites, primarily as they are told through the thematically cognate topics of death, burial, ruination, the afterlife and the supernatural
3) To enrich, enhance and change local and national visitors' knowledge, perception and experience of architectural heritage through a thematically coherent set of on-site interpretations
4) To extend the applicability and, thus, the potential impact of the 'Revenants and Remains' programme outwards beyond the 5 selected locales through the production and curation of more general KE-focused digital content, as well as through the hosting of a workshop for heritage professionals and stakeholders
So as to realise these aims, 'Revenants and Remains' comprises the following 5 objectives:
1) The organisation of on-site youth-engagement activities for 11-25-yr-olds
2) The organisation and running of guided tours for adult visitors to the 5 chosen sites themed around the topic of 'Revenants and Remains'
3) The organisation and running of creative writing workshops at each of the 5 selected sites
4) The curation of themed digital content of a more general nature
5) The running of a workshop on the theme of 'Gothic Tourism / Haunted Heritage' for British heritage professionals.
Thus creating and engaging new audiences for the original research, enriching the visitor's experience of Britain's ruins and ultimately contributing towards the sustainable management of the historic environment, the project aims to forge pathways to impact that were neither foreseen nor, indeed, possible during the course of 'Writing Britain's Ruins'.
| Title | 'Revenants and Remains' Digital Ebook of Creative Writing |
| Description | Participants in the 'Revenants and Remains' programme were invited to submit their creative writing to the project email address. These were then edited and published online, on the project website, as a downloadable ebook. |
| Type Of Art | Creative Writing |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | The generation of new creative outputs; the encouragement of creative expression; the nurturing of new forms of creative interpretation; the fostering of new modes of engagement with Britain's ruined heritage. |
| URL | https://revenantsandremains.mmu.ac.uk/creative-writing/ |
| Title | 'Revenants and Remains' Digital Gallery of A-Level Photographic Students |
| Description | 2 x digital galleries of the photographs that A-level photography students took during our interventions at Lanercost Priory and Furness Abbey. These are permanently hosted on English Heritage's 'Shout Out Loud!' website. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | For a full account of the impact of these activities, please read the student comments that accompany each of the images. |
| URL | https://www.shoutoutloud.org.uk/project/revenants-remains/ |
| Description | Revenants and Remains: Final Project Report (6 September 2023) In this report, we share figures pertaining to, and feedback received from, the various components of the 'Revenants and Remains' project. As the accompanying analysis shows, the project's use of the supernatural as a means of engaging a diverse range of audiences in the experience and appreciation of heritage has been extremely effective (see, in particular, the survey responses included in sections 1 and 5 below). 1. Guided Tours Between early October and late November 2022, the project team led guided tours at 5 ruined abbeys in the north of England, namely Roche Abbey; Furness Abbey; Byland Abbey; Lanercost Priory; and Rievaulx Abbey. These tours recruited the following numbers, comprising a mixture of English Heritage members and non-members: Roche Abbey (Saturday 1 October): 23 (Sunday 2 October): 47 Furness Abbey (Saturday 8 October): 37 (Sunday 9 October): 32 Byland Abbey (Saturday 5 November): 41 (Sunday 6 November): 42 Lanercost Priory (Saturday 19 November): 31 Rievaulx Abbey (Saturday 26 November): 30 (Sunday 27 November): 46 Total Number of Participants: 329 At the end of each tour, we distributed a paper survey, a copy of which can be found here We received back 95 completed responses, i.e. a 28.8 % of those who attended. Results indicate the following: • 100 % agreed that they enjoyed the tours: resounding success • 95.7 % agreed that the project's use of the supernatural had made them more interested in the particular site's history • 92.6 % agreed that the use of the supernatural is an effective means of engaging and interesting people in history • 92.6 % agreed that participating in this project had inspired them to find out more about Britain's ruined architectural heritage (no disagrees; remainder unsure) • 91.6 % agreed that learning more about medieval religion, the supernatural and historical beliefs concerning the afterlife had opened up new perspectives about history for them (no disagrees; remainder unsure) • 93.6 % agreed that participating in this project had helped them to understand more clearly the connections between Gothic literature - the writing of horror and terror - and medieval or 'Gothic' architecture • 50.5 % agreed that the supernatural themes employed by this project engaged their interest more than another theme would have done (the remainder 'disagree') • 64.2 % agreed that their participation in this project had changed the way that they think about British history (the remainder 'unsure') • 97.8 % agreed that an awareness of medieval rituals around death, burial and remembrance had enriched their responses to architectural heritage • 94.7 % disagreed that the Gothic should be reserved for horror films and other forms of popular entertainment, and should not be used for the interpretation of heritage (1.05 % agreed; remainder unsure) • 92.9 % agreed that they would like to receive more information about the supernatural, where relevant, at other heritage sites around the country (remainder 'disagree') 2. Creative Writing Workshops Over the same period of time, performer and award-winning poet and novelist Rosie Garland led creative writing workshops at each of the 5 sites. These events recruited as follows: Conisburgh Castle (for Roche Abbey, Saturday 1 October): 11 Furness Abbey (Saturday 8 October): 12 Byland Abbey (Saturday 5 November): 9 Lanercost Priory (Saturday 19 November): 12 Rievaulx Abbey (Saturday 26 November): 9 Total Number of Participants: 53 Several of the mostly adult participants indicated that they had not done any creative writing since leaving school. As Rosie Garland commented, 'I love being a creative writing workshop facilitator. At the start of a session, participants have blank notebooks perched on their laps. Then, with gentle prompting and encouragement, the magic happens. By the end of the session, those empty pages are teeming with words that weren't there before. This alchemy happened in every one of the five writing workshops for the Revenants and Remains project. Organisers wondered if only people who already identified as writers would attend. Anything but. Sure, poets and fictioneers came along. We also welcomed folk who admitted they'd not written creatively since their schooldays (a long while back for some participants). We talked about what ruins meant to them and read some famous poems, such as 'Ozymandias' by Percy Bysshe Shelley. And then they wrote! Nervous to begin with, it was wonderful to see them growing in confidence. By the close of each session, folk fed back how much fun they'd had, and were eager to share their writing. And what wonderful stories they told.' All participants in the workshops were invited to submit their poems, short stories and fragments via the project email address. The material received has been published in the Revenants and Remains ebook that can be downloaded from the creative writing section of the 'Outputs' tab on this website. 3. Ghost-Story Performances Robert Lloyd Parry of Nunkie Productions performed ghost stories by the Cambridge antiquary M. R. James at four of the selected sites. Numbers of those in attendance are as follows: Roche Abbey (Saturday 1 October): 10 Furness Abbey (Saturday 8 October): 20 Byland Abbey (Saturday 5 November): 11 Rievaulx Abbey (Saturday 26 November): 18 Total Number of Participants: 59 A small proportion of those who attended also participated in the guided tours and creative writing workshops. For the most part, however, this constituted a discrete audience. 4. Podcasts: Revenants and Remains: The project team recorded and produced 7 hour-long podcasts, with topics and speakers drawn from participants to Writing Britain's Ruins (British Library, 2017). These were uploaded to the castos.com platform, and distributed through this to all major podcast providers worldwide. To date ( 6 September 2023), this series of podcasts has received over 500 total listeners / downloads, the majority of these drawn from the UK; Japan; United States; and India. 5. Youth Engagement Photographic Workshops: In November 2022 and January 2023, Photoworks ran two ghost-photography workshops at Lanercost Priory and Furness Abbey, which were led by artist and curator Sarah Sparkes. Sarah works with magical or mythical narratives, vernacular belief systems and the visualisation of anomalous phenomena. Her work is often research-led, and explores the borderlands where science and magic intersect. She runs the visual arts and creative research project GHost, hosting seminars and exhibitions to manifest and interrogate the idea of the ghost The workshops (five in total) were attended by approximately 30 further education students studying Photography at Furness College and Newcastle College. The events were supported by site manager Lucy Ronald (Furness Abbey); Property Manager (Cumbria) Juliet Fellows-Smith (Lanercost Priory); and Lorna Batty of English Heritage's Shout Out Loud national youth engagement programme. Aiming to inspire creative acts of interpretation and to engage young people in the appreciation of ruined architectural heritage via the supernatural lore and legend that has become associated with each ruin, Sarah guided participants in the production of a portfolio of photographic work, her selection of which we publish here. Commenting on her experience of running these workshops, Sarah claimed that 'as an artist fascinated by ghosts, it's been incredibly rewarding to lead workshops for Revenants and Remains. Learning about the haunted medieval and Gothic history of each site from Dale and Michael while among the atmospheric ruins was an inspiring experience for both the students and myself and this is clear in the photographs they have produced.' The photographs that the participants produced have been published in two formats: first, as illustrations to accompany the creative writing in the Revenants and Remains ebook that can be downloaded from the creative writing section of the 'Outputs' tab on this website; and second, in two online galleries hosted on English Heritage's Shout Out Loud website. Revenants and Remains at Furness Abbey: click here Revenants and Remains at Lanercost Priory: Participants' commentaries on their own photographic interpretations of the sites attest to how much they benefitted from the experience. This was confirmed by the surveys that Photoworks administered before and after the workshops, copies of which can be found here and here For a comprehensive analysis of the results received from these surveys, please click here |
| Exploitation Route | As we explored in our workshop for Heritage Professionals that was run on 5 April 2023, this project may serve as a case study for employing the supernatural as an effective and legitimate means of heritage interpretation, engagement and appreciation. Indeed, English Heritage has come to refer to the Youth-Engagement aspects of our programme as the 'model' or 'template' for future initiatives. The success of the venture, and the applicability of the interventions for other forms of heritage interpretation, has been further confirmed by 1) English Heritage's decision to run, in collaboration with PI Townshend, a scaled-down version of the original 'Revenants and Remains' project at other ruined religious houses across the country in October-December 2024; and 2) an invitation for PI Townshend to collaborate with the National Trust for a project entitled 'Gothic at the National Trust' (talks and planning currently ongoing) |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Education Environment Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| Description | Since the award is still active, we are not yet in a position to comment authoritatively on this. However, a preliminary response at this time would suggest that the findings of the project may be used in the following ways: 1. Informing policy in Heritage Organisation on the use of the supernatural as an effective and legitimate means of engagement and interpretation 2. Our project has successfully articulated a template that is likely to be used for future youth-engagement initiatives for English Heritage. In time, and following our workshop for Heritage Professionals on 5 April 2023, we hope that this might be extended to, and adopted by, other heritage organisations, including the National Trust and Historic Royal Palaces. 3. The podcasts that we have produced have been used in pedagogical environments in India. 4. There is clear evidence of our programme having attracted more visitors to the 5 selected sites. Many of these visitors were not English Heritage members. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal Economic Policy & public services |
| Description | Impact of 'Revenants and Remains' programme on Interpretative Policy at English Heritage |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | The feedback received from surveys distributed after the guided tours on our original 'Revenants and Remains' programme indicates the efficacy, reach and significance of our interventions in the heritage industry: We received back 95 completed responses, i.e. a 28.8 % of those who attended. Results indicate the following: • 100 % agreed that they enjoyed the tours: resounding success • 95.7 % agreed that the project's use of the supernatural had made them more interested in the particular site's history • 92.6 % agreed that the use of the supernatural is an effective means of engaging and interesting people in history • 92.6 % agreed that participating in this project had inspired them to find out more about Britain's ruined architectural heritage (no disagrees; remainder unsure) • 91.6 % agreed that learning more about medieval religion, the supernatural and historical beliefs concerning the afterlife had opened up new perspectives about history for them (no disagrees; remainder unsure) • 93.6 % agreed that participating in this project had helped them to understand more clearly the connections between Gothic literature - the writing of horror and terror - and medieval or 'Gothic' architecture • 50.5 % agreed that the supernatural themes employed by this project engaged their interest more than another theme would have done (the remainder 'disagree') • 64.2 % agreed that their participation in this project had changed the way that they think about British history (the remainder 'unsure') • 97.8 % agreed that an awareness of medieval rituals around death, burial and remembrance had enriched their responses to architectural heritage • 94.7 % disagreed that the Gothic should be reserved for horror films and other forms of popular entertainment, and should not be used for the interpretation of heritage (1.05 % agreed; remainder unsure) • 92.9 % agreed that they would like to receive more information about the supernatural, where relevant, at other heritage sites around the country (remainder 'disagree') The other evidence of significant impact is attested to by the responses of the young adults (i.e. A-level photography students) who participated in our ghost-photography workshops. For a full account of the impact of our project upon the young people, please see the PDFs of surveys and responses linked on the website below. |
| URL | https://revenantsandremains.mmu.ac.uk/gothic-tourism/ |
| Description | Creative Writing Workshops |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Over the same period of time, performer and award-winning poet and novelist Rosie Garland led creative writing workshops at each of the 5 sites. These events recruited as follows: Conisburgh Castle (for Roche Abbey, Saturday 1 October): 11 Furness Abbey (Saturday 8 October): 12 Byland Abbey (Saturday 5 November): 9 Lanercost Priory (Saturday 19 November): 12 Rievaulx Abbey (Saturday 26 November): 9 Total Number of Participants: 53 Several of the mostly adult participants indicated that they had not done any creative writing since leaving school. As Rosie Garland commented, 'I love being a creative writing workshop facilitator. At the start of a session, participants have blank notebooks perched on their laps. Then, with gentle prompting and encouragement, the magic happens. By the end of the session, those empty pages are teeming with words that weren't there before. This alchemy happened in every one of the five writing workshops for the Revenants and Remains project. Organisers wondered if only people who already identified as writers would attend. Anything but. Sure, poets and fictioneers came along. We also welcomed folk who admitted they'd not written creatively since their schooldays (a long while back for some participants). We talked about what ruins meant to them and read some famous poems, such as 'Ozymandias' by Percy Bysshe Shelley. And then they wrote! Nervous to begin with, it was wonderful to see them growing in confidence. By the close of each session, folk fed back how much fun they'd had, and were eager to share their writing. And what wonderful stories they told.' All participants in the workshops were invited to submit their poems, short stories and fragments via the project email address. The material received has been published in the Revenants and Remains ebook that can be downloaded from the creative writing section of the 'Outputs' tab on this website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| URL | https://revenantsandremains.mmu.ac.uk/creative-writing/ |
| Description | Ghost-Story Performances at 5 Ruined Abbeys |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Robert Lloyd Parry of Nunkie Productions performed ghost stories by the Cambridge antiquary M. R. James at four of the selected sites. Numbers of those in attendance are as follows: Roche Abbey (Saturday 1 October): 10 Furness Abbey (Saturday 8 October): 20 Byland Abbey (Saturday 5 November): 11 Rievaulx Abbey (Saturday 26 November): 18 Total Number of Participants: 59 A small proportion of those who attended also participated in the guided tours and creative writing workshops. For the most part, however, this constituted a discrete audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| Description | Guided Tours |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 1. Guided Tours at Five Ruined Abbeys in the North of England. Between early October and late November 2022, the project team led guided tours at 5 ruined abbeys in the north of England, namely Roche Abbey; Furness Abbey; Byland Abbey; Lanercost Priory; and Rievaulx Abbey. These tours recruited the following numbers, comprising a mixture of English Heritage members and non-members: Roche Abbey (Saturday 1 October): 23 (Sunday 2 October): 47 Furness Abbey (Saturday 8 October): 37 (Sunday 9 October): 32 Byland Abbey (Saturday 5 November): 41 (Sunday 6 November): 42 Lanercost Priory (Saturday 19 November): 31 Rievaulx Abbey (Saturday 26 November): 30 (Sunday 27 November): 46 Total Number of Participants: 329 At the end of each tour, we distributed a paper survey. We received back 95 completed responses, i.e. a 28.8 % of those who attended. Results indicate the following: • 100 % agreed that they enjoyed the tours: resounding success • 95.7 % agreed that the project's use of the supernatural had made them more interested in the particular site's history • 92.6 % agreed that the use of the supernatural is an effective means of engaging and interesting people in history • 92.6 % agreed that participating in this project had inspired them to find out more about Britain's ruined architectural heritage (no disagrees; remainder unsure) • 91.6 % agreed that learning more about medieval religion, the supernatural and historical beliefs concerning the afterlife had opened up new perspectives about history for them (no disagrees; remainder unsure) • 93.6 % agreed that participating in this project had helped them to understand more clearly the connections between Gothic literature - the writing of horror and terror - and medieval or 'Gothic' architecture • 50.5 % agreed that the supernatural themes employed by this project engaged their interest more than another theme would have done (the remainder 'disagree') • 64.2 % agreed that their participation in this project had changed the way that they think about British history (the remainder 'unsure') • 97.8 % agreed that an awareness of medieval rituals around death, burial and remembrance had enriched their responses to architectural heritage • 94.7 % disagreed that the Gothic should be reserved for horror films and other forms of popular entertainment, and should not be used for the interpretation of heritage (1.05 % agreed; remainder unsure) • 92.9 % agreed that they would like to receive more information about the supernatural, where relevant, at other heritage sites around the country (remainder 'disagree') |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| Description | Public Lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was a public lecture entitled 'Revenants and Remains: The Architectural Imagination', which was delivered at Wentwood Woodhouse country house, Yorkshire, in October 2023. The lecture was based directly on the research that informed the follow-on grant, and sought disseminate it further. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Public Lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was a public lecture at the 'Literally Gothic' literary festival on the island of Alderney, Channel Islands, in October 2023. As with the Wentworth Woodhouse event, I gave a public lecture on the research that underpinned this follow-on project, and ended the talk with a detailed account of the 'Revenants and Remains' project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Workshop with Heritage Professionals |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This was a workshop for professionals working in the heritage industry, both in the UK and in Canada. It was attended by 20 people: academics from the UK and Canada (online attendance), as well as heritage professionals from English Heritage; the National Trust; Cambridge University Library; British Library. At this workshop, Dr Michael Carter and I discussed the work that we did on the 'Revenants and Remains' programme, and, with the others in attendance, workshopped ideas around the theme of 'Gothic Tourism / Haunted Heritage', with particular focus upon the ways we might extend this approach into other aspects of the modern-day heritage industry. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://revenantsandremains.mmu.ac.uk/gothic-tourism/ |
| Description | Writing Britain's Ruins Podcast Series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | The project team recorded and produced 7 hour-long podcasts, with topics and speakers drawn from participants to Writing Britain's Ruins (British Library, 2017). These were uploaded to the castos.com platform, and distributed through this to all major podcast providers worldwide. To date, this series of podcasts has received over 500 total listeners / downloads, the majority of these drawn from the UK; Japan; United States; and India. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023,2024 |
| URL | https://revenants-and-remains.castos.com/episodes/the-haunting-of-britain39s-ruins-an-introduction-1 |
| Description | Youth-Engagement Photographic Workshops |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | In November 2022 and January 2023, Photoworks ran two ghost-photography workshops at Lanercost Priory and Furness Abbey, which were led by artist and curator Sarah Sparkes. Sarah works with magical or mythical narratives, vernacular belief systems and the visualisation of anomalous phenomena. Her work is often research-led, and explores the borderlands where science and magic intersect. She runs the visual arts and creative research project GHost, hosting seminars and exhibitions to manifest and interrogate the idea of the ghost The workshops (five in total) were attended by approximately 30 further education students studying Photography at Furness College and Newcastle College. The events were supported by site manager Lucy Ronald (Furness Abbey); Property Manager (Cumbria) Juliet Fellows-Smith (Lanercost Priory); and Lorna Batty of English Heritage's Shout Out Loud national youth engagement programme. Aiming to inspire creative acts of interpretation and to engage young people in the appreciation of ruined architectural heritage via the supernatural lore and legend that has become associated with each ruin, Sarah guided participants in the production of a portfolio of photographic work, her selection of which we publish here. Commenting on her experience of running these workshops, Sarah claimed that 'as an artist fascinated by ghosts, it's been incredibly rewarding to lead workshops for Revenants and Remains. Learning about the haunted medieval and Gothic history of each site from Dale and Michael while among the atmospheric ruins was an inspiring experience for both the students and myself and this is clear in the photographs they have produced.' The photographs that the participants produced have been published in two formats: first, as illustrations to accompany the creative writing in the Revenants and Remains ebook that can be downloaded from the creative writing section of the 'Outputs' tab on this website; and second, in two online galleries hosted on English Heritage's Shout Out Loud website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022,2023 |
| URL | https://www.shoutoutloud.org.uk/project/reverence-and-remains-at-lanercost-priory/ |