Outreach

Collecting your Covid-19 memories

North Hertfordshire Museum has been collecting objects and archive to help tell the story of the impact of Covid-19 on our local community. If you live work or study in North Hertfordshire we want to collect some personal stories and experiences from you in the questions below. Your answers will form part of our Covid collections to help show life during the Covid era in the future. Please email northhertsmuseum@north-herts.gov.uk. with your responses.

Name

Age

Job

Town, village or postcode

Tell us about something you are personally proud of during the Covid pandemic and why

Tell us about something you are really looking forward to after lockdown ends and why

Tell us about something you did for the first time during lockdown

How did you adapt to do things differently during the lockdown? (This could be something in your work or personal life)

What will you remember the most about your life during Covid?

Any other information that you think will be important for future generations to know about this period

 

 Privacy

Your answers will form part of our Covid Collections to help show life during the Covid era in the future. As such they may be used as historical resources by researchers, or by the North Hertfordshire Museum in displays. Your data will be stored securely and not used in its entirety by North Hertfordshire Museum i.e. if used we may say ‘Michael a builder from Hitchin said’ or ‘Claire from Baldock told us’ or ‘a resident from Brand Street explained’. For any queries or concerns please email northhertsmuseum@north-herts.gov.uk.

 

Walkern may not be part of North Hertfordshire (although Box Wood in the north-western corner of the modern parish was a manor at the time of Domesday Book, part of which now lies in the North Hertfordshire parish of Weston), but I have been helping out its Local History Society for three years. My role has been to advise their project of test-pitting across the village, which is currently on hold because of the CoViD-19 outbreak. Last year, I gave the Society a talk summarising what had been discovered during three seasons of test-pitting across the village; the document you can download at the end is an expanded version of that talk.

The historical background

Walkern is a parish in Broadwater Hundred (one of the ancient divisions of Hertfordshire), first recorded as Walchra in Domesday Book. The name is Old English wealc-ærn, ‘a fulling mill’; these were sometimes known as ‘walk mills’ (wealc-ærn means ‘walk-house’) and were water-mills where cloth was thickened by being pounded. Intriguingly, Domesday Book does not mention a mill, but the mills it records elsewhere were usually flour-mills, as these were a source of revenue for the lord of the manor. The current water-mill at the south end of the village, where the main road crosses the River Beane, was built in 1828 but one is known to have existed early in the twelfth century when its revenue was granted to the parish church.

Bryant’s map of the village, published in 1822

Writing in 1700, Sir Henry Chauncy wrongly, but picturesquely, gave the etymology as being ‘from the moist and ousing Springs which reinforce the River of Bean or Benefician, with a Stream that driveth a Mill out at the South End of the Town; for Wall in the Saxon Language signifies a most or watry Place; and ’tis recorded in the time of William the Conqueror under the Title of Terra Tainorum Regis.’

The church had pre-Norman origins, and it may have been the minster serving the territory of the Beningas, a people who gave their name to Benington. It became a barony under Henry I, with a castle. There was a medieval deer park of over 300 acres. The bad weather and cattle murrain of 1341 led to hardship, with large areas of the open field left unploughed.

Archaeological data

Archaeological data is an important but often misunderstood element in local history. To many people, it is a collection of pretty finds; to others, it is an impenetrable mass of data about prehistoric times. Needless to say, both views are completely wrong. Archaeologists study the physical remains of the past, be they artefacts (including the pretty finds, if any exist), buildings, excavated pits and so on. They may be hundreds of thousands of years old or they may be only thirty years old: age is not important. The basic aim is to put all this data into a chronological sequence and to investigate what it can tell us about the past.

When looking at the archaeology of a single place, the best place to start is to see what is contained in the Historic Environment Record (or HER: they used to be known as Sites and Monuments Records or SMRs). This is a database maintained by the County Council’s Historic Environment Unit, which is used to help planners make decisions about the suitability of development applications.

Classes of entries in the Historic Environment Record for Walkern in 2017

The Hertfordshire HER for Walkern contained 109 entries when the test-pit project was launched in 2017. Over half of the information about the village came from cropmarks (33) and surviving buildings (24). Only 13 finds had been recorded, while only eight archaeological features had been excavated or recognised in foundation trenches.

Adding in data from the Portable Antiquities Scheme database (finds.org.uk) gives 78 extra data points. Most of these (41) are post-medieval in date (after about 1540); there is one prehistoric object, eight Roman, one ‘central medieval’ (about 800-1100), seven high medieval (1100-1350), eight late medieval (1350-1540) and 12 late medieval to post-medieval (1350-1700).

This is not a lot of data overall. There is almost nothing about prehistory (a possible prehistoric ditch has been recorded, while several cropmarks may show the ditches of ploughed-out burial mounds) and even the Roman period can boast just over a dozen entries when it is often one of the best represented periods. So, is it possible to say anything about the development of Walkern through time? With the results of test pits carried out across the village, we can begin to build the outline of a story.

Read about the results of the test pitting here.

Creative, Relaxed, Yourself


This project will support the mental health of young people aged 14–18 through engagement with the collections at six Hertfordshire museums (Watford, Royston, North Herts, St Albans, Stevenage and Welwyn Hatfield). It is an early intervention for those at risk of, or already suffering from stress, anxiety or depression as identified by schools and health professionals.

Museums are recognised as venues which can have a major effect on health and wellbeing. Working with collections which ideally need interpretation including newly acquired objects we will use arts practice to draw out stories which reflect participants’ own experiences.

Participants will develop a sense of belonging to their local community, combatting isolation and engendering increased wellbeing. It has been amply demonstrated through academic research that the arts have a positive effect on wellbeing, this is not art therapy, simply an opportunity to express oneself in a safe, supportive and non-judgmental environment.

The project provides for Mental Health awareness training for staff and volunteers at participating museums. There will be ongoing celebration/sharing of work by individual groups but the culmination will be a coherent online record set up in consultation with the participants.

What is it?

9 weekly 2-hour workshops.

We provide pizza, so won’t go hungry!

Who is it for?

Anyone ages 14-18 who needs a bit of time out in a friendly, relaxed space.

When is it?

Wednesdays after school, beginning in the New Year.

What will I be doing?

Different venues will be hosting different creative activities – it might be photography, art, writing, music, collage.

Most importantly, you don’t need any experience; everyone is welcome, including complete beginners.

It is NOT a formal art class.

Where does it take place?

Our sessions will be happening at North Hertfordshire Museum, in Hitchin. Others will take place in Royston, St Albans, Stevenage, Watford and Welwyn Garden City.

What if I miss the school bus?

We may be able to provide transport.

How do I find out more?

Call or text 07746 578292, email us or talk to you teacher.