Archaeology, Memory and Community: Widening Engagement with Historical Archaeology

Author(s): Paul Belford

Year: 2013

Summary

Telford was created as a 'new town' in the 1960s in a former industrial area, partly to regenerate what was perceived to be a derelict landscape. The new town initially had a divisive effect on long-established local communities. This paper describes an ongoing project which seeks to heal some of these divisions by working with local communities and other stakeholders to explore some of the area's neglected archaeology and heritage. The project has evolved from a 'top down' approach to a more inclusive one; stakeholders actively contribute to research agenda and outcomes. The paper shows how the act of 'doing' archaeology can help make heritage a positive force for placemaking and the construction of identity, leading to a broader discussion on the role of communities in heritage, the ways in which community identities may shift, and how relationships between communities and historic environment professionals may evolve in the future.

Cite this Record

Archaeology, Memory and Community: Widening Engagement with Historical Archaeology. Paul Belford. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Leicester, England, U.K. 2013 ( tDAR id: 428610)

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Keywords

Spatial Coverage

min long: -8.158; min lat: 49.955 ; max long: 1.749; max lat: 60.722 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 540