Trials on Using Floodwater from Disused Mines as a Heat Source Move Forward

Trials on Using Floodwater from Disused Mines as a Heat Source Move Forward

mikenevell

The use of water from abandoned coal mines to heat homes and historic sites has taken a further step forward. The Welsh government has agreed to spend £450,000 on a project which it hopes will help cut Welsh energy bills and Wales’ carbon footprint. The money will be used by the Coal Authority, who manage disused pits in Britain, to locate the best areas in Wales for such a project.

Potential sites will be tested for the effectiveness of extracting water from disused mines and putting it through a heat exchanger, where some heat is recovered, before it is amplified by a heat pump. This can then be used to heat homes and/or industrial heritage sites. Mine water heating is low-carbon, but not carbon-free because the water has to be further warmed using a heat pump, which operates like a fridge in reverse. A similar programme in Gateshead, England, developed by the Coal Authority at a cost of £9m, has become the largest mine water heat scheme in the UK.

For further details follow this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-62154271

or this link for the Gateshead project: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60772187

For the Coal Authority website follow this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/the-coal-authority

Promoting Heritage Harbours Initiative

Promoting Heritage Harbours Initiative

mikenevell

National Historic Ships UK, Historic England, and the Maritime Heritage Trust are working together on a ‘Heritage Harbours’ initiative to promote greater awareness and support for this maritime heritage. Heritage Harbours are places of historic maritime significance that retain original features, buildings, and facilities important for supporting historic vessels and maritime skills, which help connect the public to the UK’s maritime past.

‘Heritage Harbours’ is not a form of legal designation like listing a building or registering a park. Rather, the term underlines the historic importance and potential of harbours identified by this label. The Heritage Harbours concept emerged from a desire to safeguard and restore the infrastructure and skills necessary to support maritime heritage, including historic boats and ships still in use or preserved. All three organisations are committed to exploring how the Heritage Harbour concept might be developed and promoted in practice.

First introduced to the UK in 2019 by the Maritime Heritage Trust, working in partnership with National Historic Ships UK, the Heritage Harbours idea has been embraced and built upon by communities across the UK. This has seen the establishment of local steering groups, forums, and volunteer led initiatives, as well as investigatory work into what individual Heritage Harbours could offer in the future.

For more details see the full statement by National Historic Ships UK, Maritime Heritage Trust, Historic England here: https://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/page/heritage-harbours

Barnsley Museum Launches 3D Fly-through of Elsecar Industrial Village

Barnsley Museum Launches 3D Fly-through of Elsecar Industrial Village

mikenevell

Barnsley Museum have launched a fly-through reconstruction of the 19th century Elsecar industrial village. The stunning fly-through is a digital rendering showing Elsecar and the surrounding area at its industrial peak around 1880 with ironworks, collieries, canals, railways and settlements all visible.

Prepared by Barnsley Museum and produced by digital creator Martin Moss of Dextra Digital, it is based on research carried out by Historic England as part of the Elsecar Heritage Action Zone, together with local volunteer historians and experts across the UK, which has transformed our understanding of the importance of Elsecar. It is also a legacy project of the Great Place Wentworth & Elsecar Programme, supported by Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

To view the fly-through follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KYqMX5EfGs

A reconstruction of the Elsecar Ironworks around 1880. Image courtesy of Barnsley Museum

North Pennines AONB Partnership Looking For Historic Environment Project Manager

mikenevell

The North Pennines AONB Partnership is looking for an organised and experienced project manager with a background in management of the historic environment and in community engagement, to lead the development stage of its new lead mining heritage project – Land of Lead and Silver.

Land of Lead and Silver is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England. The project focuses on lead mining heritage of the North Pennines, and on the skills required to record, conserve, maintain and interpret this heritage for future generations. It starts with the stories associated with this heritage and aims to tell these stories in ways which connect with new audiences, building support for this heritage and recruiting volunteers for the future.

Subject to successfully securing funding from NLHF for the delivery stage of the project, the contract would be extended for a further four years.  Please follow this link for more information and to apply:

https://www.northeastjobs.org.uk/job/Project_Manager_Historic_Environment_Officer_/225940

#BeMoreDigitasl Conference 30 June 2022

mikenevell

Charity Digital are hosting their annual conference, #BeMoreDiguital, on 30th June 2022 in London, in person. The Charity Digital Conference is created by charities, for charities. It aims to help build confidence and skills for charities across the UK, regardless of their digital maturity or digital expertise. It is an opportunity to grow together, to learn from each other, and to ensure the sector’s collective success, and copuld be useful for those running industrial heritage sites.

The topics covered include sessions that touch on the following: fundraising and marketing; strategy, tech and data; impact; small charities; keynote session.

More details here: https://charitydigital.org.uk/topics/topics/join-us-for-the-bemoredigital-conference-2022-10141?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Marketing%20Newsletter

Science & Industry Museum Manchester Receives £3 Million Donation

Science & Industry Museum Manchester Receives £3 Million Donation

mikenevell

The Science and Industry Museum in Manchester has received a £3million donation from The Law Family Charitable Foundation to fund the future of its iconic Power Hall gallery. The donation, the museum’s largest philanthropic gift to date, will support the gallery’s regeneration.

In recognition of The Law Family Charitable Foundation’s generosity and the significant benefit it will have for visitors, the gallery will be known as the Power Hall: The Law Family Gallery, when it reopens to the public in 2024. The Grade II listed Power Hall building was built in 1855 as the transhipment shed for Liverpool Road Station, the world’s first purpose-built intercity passenger railway station. It houses one of the UK’s largest collections of working stationary steam engines, most of them built in Manchester.

The gift is in addition to the £4.3 million given by the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to transform the whole museum’s environmental sustainability and place zero carbon technology at the heart of the museum’s visitor experience. £2.6 million from that grant will enable the Power Hall (currently undergoing urgent restoration thanks to £6 million from the DCMS) to reduce C02 emissions by 60% by 2030 through enhanced roof insulation and glazing to improve energy efficiency, an electric boiler and water source heat pumps to heat the space and power the historic engines sustainably, and a new building management system to monitor and control energy use of this iconic gallery.

Further details here: https://www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/about-us/we-are-changing/power-hall

SPAB Looking for Platinum Jubilee Weekend Celebration Images

mikenevell

The SPAB Mills Section would like to share any pictures from the Platinum Jubilee Weekend Celebrations that took place at windmills and watermills across Britain In June 2022.

If you have taken any images of mills or celebrations at mills, please email them with your name and the name of the mill to millsinfo@spab.org.uk by Friday 10th June. SPAB would like to share them with SPAB Mills Section Members in the July issue of Mill News.

Heritage Digital Academy Free Online Summer Training Events

Heritage Digital Academy Free Online Summer Training Events

mikenevell

Heritage Digital Academy are offering free online training events on all things digital for heritage organisations across the UK for summer 2022. These sessions are design to help individuals develop new digital practices and build key skills that can be brought back to their organisation.

Click on the links to see more details of the programme events:

To sign up or learn more, visit the Heritage Digital Academy Website

Made in Smethwick Community Project Looking for Volunteers

Made in Smethwick Community Project Looking for Volunteers

mikenevell

DigVentures is working with Chance Heritage Trust to host ‘Made in Smethwick’ – a lively series of events and interactive projects taking place this summer that explore the industrial heritage of Smethwick and the surrounding area. The programme is free and open to anyone to join, and includes in person walks, talks, guided visits, workshops, as well as online events – and even an interactive online mapping project that everyone can contribute to!

See all upcoming events and register for free: https://chanceht.org/events/

Note – all events have multiple dates throughout May, June, and July.

Join the Interactive The Chance Lighthouse Map Project

Nearly 2,500 lighthouses around the world were fitted with a lens made at the Chance Brothers & Co glassworks in Smethwick. Where did they end up? And how did they shaped the modern world? Dig Ventures are working with the Chance Trust want your help to map their locations, and record the historical and technical detail that bring their stories to life.

Everyone who signs up will be given training, and have the option to join us for a weekly ‘Lighthouse Lesson’. Whether you’re already a lighthouse aficionado, or simply curious about a new aspect of industrial heritage, this is an opportunity to learn new skills and put them to good use.

Find out more about this interactive project, and how you can join in: https://digventures.com/product/the-chance-lighthouse-map/

EERIAC 31 Conference June 2022

mikenevell

There’s still time to book for the East England Regional Industrial archaeology Conference on Saturday 11th June. Organised by Suffolk Industrial Archaeology Society, the conference programme is as follows:

9.30am            Registration, tea, coffee, view displays

10.00am          ‘The History of Radar at Bawdsey’ – Graham Murchie, Trustee, Bawdsey Radar, who run the Transmitter Block Museum at the very first radar station in the country.      

11.15am          ‘RAF Martlesham Heath’ – a speaker from the Martlesham Heath Aviation Society.

12.00noon       EERIAC AGM.

12.15pm          Lunch break.  

1.45pm            Re-assemble.  We will be divided into groups, so the order in which the following are taken will vary according to the group:

a)         Guided tour of the Saxon Ship Longshed, Tide Mill Way. The Sutton Hoo Ship’s Company are building a replica of the Saxon burial ship using archaeological evidence from the Sutton Hoo site on the opposite shore of the River Deben. 

b)         Guided tour of the Tide Mill, Tide Mill Way.  One of the few surviving tide mills.   

4.00pm approximately            Close of conference. 

Venue: Hutchinson Room, Woodbridge Community Hall, Station Road, Woodbridge, IP12 4AU

Download the booking form here:

eeriac-booking-form-2022-1Download