THE sun is out and Dover Castle has opened its gates once again to visitors. Across the glittering sea, the coast of France is clearly visible. It’s hard to imagine a happier place to interview the chief executive of English Heritage (EH). The castle not only speaks of the importance of what the organisation cares for, but—as a working fortification from prehistory to the nuclear age—is vividly representative of the historical scope of its responsibilities.
At the heart of the castle is the pharos or lighthouse, the tallest standing Roman building in Britain. ‘I love it,’ says Kate Mavor. ‘It is an icon of continuity; it has seen everything from the Norman Conquest to the Second World War.’
For the interview, we retreat into the great keep of the castle. Its main interiors are dressed as they might have appeared in the 12th century and we settle on a bench in the throne room. Miss Mavor immediately plunges into the role of the organisation she runs. ‘We tell the story of England —6,000 years of history. We look after it and bring it to life.’
These undertakings, she insists, are inseparable. ‘People will only preserve things if they understand them. We have to explain, therefore, why things matter. One of our purposes in this regard is to conserve things to help people understand their own history.’
Miss Mavor’s path to EH began early. ‘I have always been interested in history and was taken to historic sites when I was a child. When I had young children, I went visiting with them, in turn. The diversity of visitors and the different ways they engage with historic places is something we have to be aware of and cater for.’
Denne historien er fra July 21, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra July 21, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
