Historic Churches 2019

12 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 26 TH ANNUAL EDITION • the contribution made by the setting and context of the place • how the place compares with others sharing similar values. This guidance recognises that ‘people may value a place for many reasons beyond utility or personal association: for its distinctive architecture or landscape, the story it can tell about its past, its connection with notable people or events... for its role as a focus of a community. These are examples of cultural and natural heritage values in the historic environment that people want to enjoy and sustain for the benefit of present and future generations, at every level from the “familiar and cherished local scene” to the nationally or internationally significant place.’ If understanding the fabric of the building forms the bones of a statement of significance, understanding these wider elements can help to put flesh on the bones. These elements can often be encapsulated under the heading of ‘cultural heritage’, and ‘intangible heritage’. They have become increasingly interesting to visitors to historic buildings, who often want to know why a place was built, who built it and for what purposes, as well as who used it and how they used it. It is more than understanding the development of the building’s bricks and mortar, it is a people-focused way of looking at heritage. As Robert Palmer put it in his preface to Heritage and Beyond (Council of Europe, 2009); ‘We must continually recognise that objects and places are not, in themselves, what is important about cultural heritage. They are important because of the meanings and uses that people attach to them, and the values they represent. Such meanings, uses and values must be understood as part of the wider context of the cultural ecologies of our communities.’ So what is ‘intangible heritage’? In its simplest terms it’s not physical or material heritage so literally, you can’t touch it. It’s usually about the ordinary, the everyday and the familiar, rather than necessarily something grand or spectacular. It’s something identified and defined by communities, and done by, or transmitted by them, practised, shared and passed on across generations. The UNESCO (2003) definition puts it like this: Cultural heritage does not end at monuments and collections of objects. It also includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts… The importance of intangible cultural heritage is not the cultural manifestation itself but rather the wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted through it from one generation to the next. As the UK has not ratified the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, there is no definitive UK list of intangible cultural heritage, but some sense of the scope of the term can be gained from Germany. In Bavaria for example, in a tradition dating back to 1634, the town of Oberammergau has come together every ten years to perform a re-enactment of the last five days in the life of Christ, the Oberammergau Passion Play, which is now listed as an example of intangible cultural heritage. Another example, also from Bavaria, is a range of traditional techniques used by church painters for the decoration of wall surfaces in imitation of precious materials, which have probably existed for around 600 years. If we were to look at the UK, then one could see that many customs and festivals would meet the criteria for such a list; Found in a Forthampton church, this plaque illustrates the laws governing the conduct of bell-ringers from a bygone age and is an excellent example of the intangible heritage associated with a building and its history (Photo: Phillipa Holloway) The Arts & Crafts interior of St Cuthbert’s Church in Philbeach Gardens shows the decoration and craft works which were undertaken by craft guilds formed by parishioners in the late 19th and early 20th century. Such an understanding of a building’s social history helps to form an appreciation of its significance. (Photo: St Cuthbert’s archive)