"Hogwarts: A History"?

This past Saturday, I fulfilled a dream of mine: I was accepted in Hogwarts. Or at least, I paid the entrance fee and was allowed admittance into Alnwick Castle, the location used for many shots of Hogwarts in the first and second Warner Brothers’ films. Before going, I assumed that the experience would offer me little more than the chance to indulge in the behind-the-scenes magic (sorry I really couldn’t resist that one) from the films, but to my, and I think my travel companions’, surprise the visit to the castle did offer some more substantial history.

            Although we visited the exhibits and staterooms in the castle, the highlight of the experience was the “Battleaxes to Broomsticks” tour that’s offered daily. Our very excited, not to mention in medieval character, tour guide Ryan took us around various sites inside the castle and described the various scenes from the first two Harry Potter movies that were filmed in those locations. Occasionally, he mentioned small facts about the structure of the castle itself, but for all but the final stop of the tour, the focus was the Harry Potter movies.

I won’t go into all the details (it’s far more fun when you’re actually there and when you have a very exuberant tour guide leading you around), but one story in particular stood out to me. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), there’s a beautiful shot of the castle all covered in snow while Hagrid drags in a giant Christmas tree. You know all that beautiful fluffy white snow? Yeah, it’s fake. That scene was shot in July, which meant that the film crew had to create snow. Their solution was to wet shredded paper and blow it around the inner bailey. The only problem with this plan? They didn’t account for the blustery summers of Northumberland. So the tiny shreds of paper blew all over the castle walls, grounds, and visitors. For weeks afterwards, cleaning crews had to pick all the paper off the stones of the castle, because they would have caused permanent damage if they had been left for any length of time.

Above: "Battleaxes and Broomsticks" tour guide Ryan center, with the England Field School '13

I relate that story because it is an example of an unpleasant history. It is by no means a difficult or dark history, but it isn’t a completely happy, triumphal tale either. As my friends and I left the castle discussing how little history we felt we learned, it occurred to me that while we did not learn much about the family or the people who have worked at Alnwick Castle throughout the centuries, we did hear a good bit of history. Just because something happened in the recent past or it’s a little more lighthearted does not mean it is worthless. To the contrary, as a preservationist I was appalled at the damage the very films that drew me to the castle had wrecked on the structure. The “myth” of Harry Potter drew me to “Hogwarts” Castle, but in the process of indulging my childhood fantasy, I found myself learning about the history of Alnwick Castle. Before the day was over, I realized I may not have learned a great deal about the real people who inhabit Alnwick Castle, but that I had in fact heard “Hogwarts: A History.”*

*Hogwarts: A History is the name of the most common reference book regarding Hogwarts Castle in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

For more information on Alnwick Castle: http://www.alnwickcastle.com/default.aspx

Law and Order: Public History Unit is Back!

Law and Order: Public History Unit returns in Advocacy in Action, Episode 8. Students from the University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus discuss what they learned and why public history matters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm7v6S99KNI

Living in the Shadows: Dracula's Presence in Whitby

Yesterday the England Field School went to the town of Whitby, home of the historic ruins Whitby Abbey. While the ruins were a nice historic site to see what fascinated me the most was how the town of Whitby has adapted overtime to become a huge tourist spot. The most interesting draw of tourism comes from the Bram Stoker novel Dracula and all of its subsequent movies.

Throughout Whitby there is no shortage of Dracula. While walking around I saw a business called the Dracula Experience and other stores selling Dracula paraphernalia. The town of Whitby is a brief location in the book and has been in at least one Dracula film so it makes sense that it is looked at as a business opportunity for locals. However I had mixed feelings about the use of historic sites selling Dracula's connection to Whitby as a form of business. Whitby Abbey's museum gift shop located in the Chlomley House sells many versions of Dracula and has things like stuffed bats. Even some of the family events put on by the abbey have to do with the book. Is it good museum practice to sell fiction? At first I was a little miffed at this but then I realized that without this book there would be an entire group of people who didn't even know about Whitby Abbey. By coming to this site they get to see the spot where Dracula came to shore, but they also have the opportunity to learn and question about life at an abbey. From our talks with museums professionals throughout this trip I realize that the last thing any one should be getting upset about is people visiting a historic site.

Despite my acceptance of Dracula's presence at Whitby Abbey, I know that not everyone feels the need to accept it at there institution. The one that stands out the most in my mind is the Church of St. Mary. When I went inside the Church of St. Mary I came across this sign:

(Photo Courtesy of Andrew Abeyounis)

For anyone who plans on coming to Whitby I say embrace the Dracula story and have fun, but also remember that there is so much else that the town has to offer. You can also check out stories of Captain Cook at the Captain Cook Miseum, visit the Jet Hertiage Center, and make sure to learn some of the actual history behind Whitby Abbey and the Church of St. Mary.

Advocacy in Action Episode 7: Law and Order: Public History Unit

In South Carolina History Advocates' latest episode of Advocacy in Action, we interviewed students from the University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus about their experiences in the workshop they participated in with graduate students from the University of South Carolina. These are their stories. . .

For more information on South Carolina History Advocates, visit schistoryadvocates.org or see youtube.com/SCHistoryAdvocates for more Advocacy in Action videos. 

Guest Post from Beth

For our first week in Cornwall, we partnered with the University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus. Bethany Partridge, one of the Cornish students, is guest contributing this post about her experience with public history.

Having the USC students over from America was a really great experience. It was so interesting to compare practices and ideas about Public history in the international field - and of course to have some great days out in the process! I have found Public History to be a fantastic module choice, as it has allowed me to get involved with so much extra-curricular stuff. I got involved with the National Maritime Museum Cornwall during my first year at University doing the public history module. In the first year it was more about shadowing different departments to get a feel for how the institution worked, and then writing a report on it. I chose to work with them again the following year but this time actively creating useable research and work. My topic was 'Historical Piracy in Cornwall', and I produced an online exhibition and bucket text, later adding to this a curators choice and an article for their magazine which I am still woking on. The work has been so useful and also gained me loads of extra opportunities - in fact I start an eight week summer placement with them in July!

The Land of the Cornish

When I travel I feel it is important to understand the local life. Yes, it is a necessity to see the main attractions, but I believe strongly that you will appreciate a place more by traveling through the backdoor.

So far we have had a chance to do just that. For the first week, our field school has stayed in what I call a small town named Penryn (Google it and you will see what I mean). What is most fascinating about Penryn is that it is located in the county of Cornwall. Now if you are anything like me you would have not known the uniqueness of the Cornish. Generally speaking, if one claims Cornish heritage they tend to be quite prideful of their ancestry and local history. In fact, they even have their own language (granted the percentage of people that can speak it is quite low, let alone no one seems to agree with a single pronunciation). Interestingly enough, there is another side of "being Cornish." Some believe and argue that the county of Cornwall should be a separate entity of England (they even fly a different flag). This is because when the Roman empire occupied England, Roman rule was not effective out in Cornwall.

Cornish Flag (borrowed image)

With that said, I will let you form your own opinions, as that is not something I want to critique either way. Rather, I feel the purpose of explaining that is to try and provide a sense of our experiences with the locals. Being in a land where students can tell you their grandmother was a bal maiden in the mine down the street or their grandfather worked in the port since he was a little boy, really brings a lot of character to your surroundings. For instance, when we toured the Levant mine, we were told a story of how during a tour with primary school children a student interrupted by exclaiming that the man in the picture was his grandfather. How cool is that! Even the education director at the National Maritime Museum of Cornwall expressed the importance of partnering with the community to make sure their history was told. The Maritime Museum even has borrowed family heirlooms to display as part of the telling of the Cornish story.

More than anything, I feel that being immersed in such a unique culture has already brought a lot of understanding of a different culture. Granted we still speak the same language, but yet the way we think and what we take pride in can be entirely opposites. Cornwall was never a place on my radar that I planned to visit, yet after our backdoor experience I now have a new found admiration of all things Cornish (particularly their pasties...)

One of the MANY places to buy a pasty.

Second line is an example of the Cornish language

Cornish pride in a bottle

“Translating English into English”: Learning How to Navigate through England

Having come to England once before, I knew some English to English translation would be required during the trip; however since my last trip was over ten years ago, what I didn’t remember was how challenging travel translation can be. In my own defense, my last trip did not require any driving/road navigation so maybe that’s why I had no idea how puzzling driving through England would be. Or maybe London, where I was almost exclusively on my last trip, is simply different from the rest of England. Whatever the reason for the surprising nature of English travel, I’ll describe some of the more interesting experiences I’ve had on the roads of Cornwall.

To start Monday morning, the group had to walk to the Porters’ Lodge in order to take a taxi to the rental car place. This was the first time I had been out walking around on a weekday. Consequently, there were quite a few more cars driving around. As I jumped back onto the curb to avoid the second oncoming car, I realized I kept looking in the wrong direction before crossing the road. Since I look both ways before crossing the street, you wouldn’t think this would be a very big deal. But looking right and then left before crossing the road in England is incredibly helpful in that whole not-getting-hit-by-a-car thing.

So after we actually got in the rental car, I found myself in the very back seat. From back there, driving on the left side of the road didn’t faze me. Then after we stopped for a road map, my Geographic Information Systems skills were called upon, and I became the official navigator. (I should mention here that my GIS skills consistent of one semester, where I primarily learned to make maps on a computer. We did about one day on cartography and absolutely nothing on reading maps.) Now riding in the passenger’s seat, the whole driving on the left side of the road thing was really weird. Every once in a while, I would look up from reading the map as we were making a turn and think, “Oh no! We’re turning onto the wrong side of the road!” Of course, then I would realize we were supposed to be on the left. Despite my limited map-reading skills and constantly reminding myself that we should be on the left side of the road, I did manage to get us to our destination, without any wrong turns.

More comfortable on our drive back, I began to notice more of what was around us as we drove. Here’s where we found the need to translate English into English. We saw a road sign that read, “Changing priorities ahead.” Now, I just think that’s a funny thing to have on a traffic sign, but here it actually indicates that a different lane has right-of-way up ahead. Out in the countryside, we say a sign with a picture of a cow on it that read, “Queuing on the bends.” To be frank, our translation skills have failed us thus far, and no one knows what this sign means. Do the cows queue at the bends? Do cars queue waiting for the cows to cross? I’m not sure, but this sign is not even the best translation incident of the day.

Early on in our ride, several of us thought we heard a cow mooing. I thought it was someone’s cell phone at first, but on the ride back from our site visit, we realized that it was, in fact, the car mooing at us. I also discovered that the car only mooed when a tiny symbol appeared on the screen. After tossing the car’s manual into the backseat for the second time to see if anyone could figure out how to work the in-car navigator, we finally found a small remote. As it turns out, the car’s Tom Tom did work, but it was not a touch screen interface. The mooing noises were actually part of the car’s alert system, and a previous driver had obviously selected that noise because all the other alert noises are so awful.

In conclusion, I’m slowly jumping less and less after realizing we’re on the left side of the road, and my Tom Tom programming skills are improving. We still can’t identify all of the car’s alert symbols, but I think we know enough to continue safely traveling. Mostly though, I’m realizing how incredibly important it is to examine my assumptions, even about something as simple as crossing the street.