Enjoy ten days of free tours, walks, talks, exhibitions, openings and performances showcasing the county’s rich and diverse history as part of Heritage Open Days
This year, Heritage Open Days celebrates its 25th anniversary, with events running from Friday, September 13 to Sunday, September 22 giving visitors the opportunity to explore places they may never have been to or seen before. Each year, more and more historic parts of our county are opened up and 2019 is no exception. Here are just a few of the new events featuring as part of Heritage Open Days this year.
- The Norfolk Club is a long-established private members' club with roots back to the early 18th century, making it one of the oldest private members' clubs in the country. Enjoy historical tours of its home in Upper King Street, Norwich. September 19 and 20, 10.30am and 3pm; September 21, 11.15am.
- Putting on a Pageant: Norwich 1578 is an interactive lecture at The Forum, Norwich, for families and young historians, involving drama, music, gift-giving and a special guest. The audience will travel back in time and discover how the people of Tudor Norwich prepared the city for a visit from Queen Elizabeth I. September 21, 10am.
- The Marriott's Way Community Play: Stories Down the Line is an open-air production, reimagining the 150-year history of two historic former railway lines through stories and song. It will be staged amongst woodlands, embankments and abandoned railway platforms. September 21, 5pm.
- Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse Taboo Tours explore themes relating to death, mental health, LGBT+ and women. They will look at Victorian attitudes to mortality, how mental health was addressed in the workhouse, the changing attitudes to LGBT+ in the workhouse and how schoolmistresses, matrons and nurses showed their authority. September 16 to 19, 2.30pm.
- Flames to Forum: The Norwich Library Fire 25 Years On is an exhibition marking the 25th anniversary of the Norwich Central Library fire, telling the story of local people who came together to save and restore items from the fire and celebrating the new building, The Forum, which rose from the ashes. The Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library, free, September 21, 10.30am-3.30pm.
- Wheatfen Nature Reserve, the home of the late naturalist Ted Ellis, hosts a talk and guided walk with his daughter Suzie Hanna, taking visitors around the reserve and providing a unique insight into her father and the work of the Ted Ellis Trust. September 20, 10am.
- St Seraphim's Trust Tour discovers the unique story of this fascinating heritage site situated in the old railway station at Little Walsingham, which brings together the railway and religion. September, 13, 11am and Sunday, September 15, 2.30pm.
- 1,000 Years of History, Characters and Stories at Haveringland Church where locals will recall their wartime experiences and tell stories of heroism, tragedy and romance. From St William to the upstairs/downstairs world of Haveringland Hall and the airfield which surrounded Haveringland Church during the Second World War. Open doors on Sunday, September 15, Saturday, September 21 and Sunday, September 22 from 1pm to 4pm.
Booking is required for all events, except Haveringland Church and Flames to Forum. For more information about these events and more, see theforumnorwich.co.uk/hods
