Category: Subjects to explore

There’s not long to go now until Wiki Loves Monuments returns in September 2018, when you can start uploading your photos of heritage monuments in the UK and try to win one of our prizes!

As we’ve been running the competition for several years now, we already have external photos of quite a few of the top tourist sites.  But we’re still missing images of many interesting local or lesser-known sites. And we have very few high-quality photographs of interiors.  With that in mind we thought we would write an update on last year’s blogpost on heritage open days to suggest places you can go to take photos of interiors.

England

For England, check out the Heritage Open Days website here. The open days this year are on 6-9 & 13-16 September and you can search for events in your area here or by region here. This is the first time that the events will be held across two weekends, as more and more places are participating.

This year there are a number of archives taking part, which you can see on this map, and there are lots of other suggestions on the website for outdoor events, family friendly events, museum events and much more. You can also read about National Trust properties which are participating in the Heritage Open Days programme on their website.

The theme of this year’s event is Extraordinary Women to mark the centenary of Women’s Suffrage, and there are a number of places to visit that tell the stories of great women such as Gertrude Bell and Marianne North.

Other events giving you a rare look into heritage sites in September include Open House London (22-23rd September).

Scotland

In Scotland the website to look at is Doors Open Days. You can see the list of events here. For more ideas, see this page.

Wales

Events in Wales are organised by Cadw. See the list of events here. For more ideas, see this page.

Join us

If you are planning on taking photos at one of these events, why not get in touch and let us know? If you are a member of Wikimedia UK (only £5 a year! Join us here). You can also borrow photographic equipment for free to help you take photos for the competition. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have questions about how to get involved or submit your photos!

John Lubbock

The First World War caused carnage on a scale not seen before or since. In its aftermath, thousands of memorials were erected in Britain as in the other countries involved. They started as a way for communities to mourn their dead, given that the vast majority of bodies were never repatriated, and became a focal point for local remembrance ceremonies which continue a century on.

I have been editing Wikipedia since 2009 with a particular interest in military history. About two years ago, I was looking for a project related to the First World War centenary and noticed that Wikipedia’s coverage of war memorials was patchy. I decided to start with the works of Edwin Lutyens.

Lutyens is probably best known today for his country houses, but the war profoundly affected him and much of his work from 1914 onwards focused on commemorating the casualties. He designed around 50 memorials in towns, cities, and villages across England as well as one in Wales and dozens of memorials and cemeteries in France and Belgium. His most famous memorial in Britain is the Cenotaph on London’s Whitehall and this served as the model for many of his other works, including memorials in Southampton, Rochdale, and Manchester. I began by creating articles for those of Lutyens’ memorials that didn’t already have one, starting with the Gerrards Cross Memorial Building.

I started there because I’d been to Gerrards Cross with a friend and fellow Wikipedian Chris McKenna and because it’s an anomaly among Lutyens’ memorials (it was the only war memorial he designed with a functional purpose). Being a perfectionist and having a full-time job, it took me a few months but all 43 of Lutyens’ free-standing war memorials in Britain now have a Wikipedia article and I’m working my way through those that already had articles. These are taking longer because they tend to be big city centre monuments with a lot of detail to cover. So far I’ve taken five war memorial articles (Northampton, Devon County, Spalding, North Eastern Railway, and York City) to featured article status, the highest level of recognition an article can be granted by the community, which comes after months of detailed review and criticism. Eventually, I’m hoping that those will be joined by several more and that these can be showcased on Wikipedia’s main page, hopefully on major anniversaries.

So how can you get involved?

Well, war memorials are everywhere. Even tiny rural villages often have a war memorial and in my opinion these are often more poignant than many of the memorials in big cities – in some cases, you can see more names on the memorial than houses in the village, which truly shows the scale of the First World War. The simplest and easiest way to get involved is to take a photo of your local war memorial or any other war memorial you pass. The good news is that many of them are listed buildings and Historic England are listing more throughout the centenary, which means you can enter photos of them into the Wiki Love Monuments Competition. It is the world’s largest photography competition, and was started to share images of our heritage. If you add your photos of war memorials near you, you are helping the whole world share in this important part of history.

For the more adventurous, many of the listed memorials will be notable enough that you can write a Wikipedia article about them. Memorials in big cities or by famous architects will probably already have an article but there might be new information you can add. There are over 1500 memorials currently listed and Historic England are aiming to list another 1000 – there will presumably be dozens or hundreds more in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland – so the chances are you won’t have to look far from home for inspiration.

Use the Wiki Loves Monuments map to enter photos into the competition.

Heritage sites are opening their doors around the UK during september, giving you a chance to see some quirky, iconic and hidden places that the public does not ordinarily get to see. Most of the events are free to attend.

Around the UK, the open days are slightly different. In Northern Ireland the events take place this weekend, on the 9th and 10th of September. Over 300 properties are open during the weekend, and you can check them out here. They include Dunlace Castle, Greencastle, Drumalis country house and Rams Island.

Open Doors in Wales is run by Cadw, the Welsh heritage body, and you can browse the events on their website here. Events run throughout the month of September, so check to see when particular places are open. Many events are on the 9th and 10th also, such as open doors at Ruthin Castle hotel, Aberdulais Tinworks, Penrhyn Castle, Dharmavajra Kadampa Buddhist Centre and Tredegar House.

In Scotland, the open days are the 23rd and 24th, and the Doors Open days website has a list of places you can see during the weekend. It has a handy map so you can browse places nearby:

Around England you can search for events on the heritageopendays.org site. Events run from Thursday 7th to Sunday 10th September. Open buildings include Nottingham’s Victorian police station, Wren Library in Cambridge, Alderman Fenwick’s house in Newcastle and the Tees Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough.

In London, Open Doors takes place on September 16/17. You can apply to visit Downing Street, Gray’s Inn and Lancaster House as well as the lesser known Buddhapadipa Temple, Crystal Palace Subway, National Liberal Club, Valence House and Stationers’ Hall. There are over 800 buildings open to the public in London alone, which you can browse on the Open House London site.  

Of course, all this creates an amazing opportunity for people to go and take photos of heritage for #WikiLovesMonuments 2017! So what are you waiting for? Don’t forget to add your images with the Wiki Loves Monuments online tool.