Documentation of Workshop 1 (April 2008)
Research Theme 3: Transmission
Members:
Anna Badcock (Assistant Director, ARCUS, University of Sheffield)
Robert Johnston (Lecturer in Landscape Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield,)
Jane Jacobs (Professor of Cultural Geography, Department of Geoscience, University of Edinburgh)
John Schofield (Characterisation Team and Head of Military Programmes, English Heritage)
John Lee (Deputy Director of Human Communication Research Centre, University of Edinburgh)
Chris Speed (Digital Design & Architecture Unit, University of Edinburgh)
Gair Dunlop (Lecturer, Media, Arts & Imaging, University of Dundee)
Synopsis of Group's Discussions:
This project is designed to cement a new interdisciplinary network and to help develop a small pilot project which will examine new, multidisciplinary approaches to modern heritage sites. The team is studying the concept of transmission, and will use Bletchley Park as a test case.
Transmission is a term that has relevance to all cultural and natural heritage sites. It evokes the pressure upon such sites –borne of public interest and managerial obligation – to communicate their significance and meaning. In the case of Bletchley Park the task of transmission is both energised by the WWII and Cold War heritage of the site (it being a site related to the practices and technologies of transmitting, intercepting and decoding messages), and impaired by it (it being a hard-to navigate, campus-style configuration of largely war-time standard buildings, managed by an array of poorly integrated organisations each supporting their own displays/activities).
Transmission suggests a way of engaging productively with this current circumstance in order to think anew about the cultural assets of the site and how they might be animated and enlivened by a range of technical interventions in this site (be that archaeologies of the recent past, wayfinding technologies or creative representational interventions such as film).
We hope to:
- use the techniques of small-scale archaeological excavation (‘ground-breaking’) and surface collection, and the excitement of potential discovery, to engage site staff and volunteers, and record oral histories, alternative interpretations and feelings about the site. Excavation will take place in the area of the demolished F Block (?), while surface collection will follow transects across the site, taking in areas accessible to visitors and those hidden from view.
- use geophysical survey techniques will be used to examine buried features relating to the WWII buildings, and the location of the 17th-century house
- examine how other media (sound, images, film) could be used to both record and generate different atmospheres, and examine the apparent disparity between an historic hub of intense, high-pressured and secretive activity, and the present day calm, quiet and ordered visitor experience.
- use wayfinding analysis to examine how people are guided around the site today, and how this relates to, or conflicts with, the historical and highly organised flow of information (and secrecy barriers) around Bletchley Park during its WWII and post-war operation
- expand the appreciation of time depth, and devise new exploration routes around the site, drawing upon the more esoteric and less explored elements such as the remnants of the 18th-century designed landscape and architectural ‘ghosts’ (e.g. transmission mast footings, removed buildings)
The pilot project will use a number of different investigative and interpretative techniques, including film, photography, small-scale archaeological excavation, oral history, and digital and GPS wayfinding analysis. The intention is to present the results of this pilot project at the second research cluster workshop, with a view to refining the techniques and the team, and potentially developing a much larger scale project appropriate to Bletchley Park and other modern heritage sites with ‘difficult’ characteristics and/or conflicting heritage and conservation priorities.
The project will also have knowledge transfer benefits. It is hoped that this project will develop alternative ways of engaging with the site, and will provide both data and novel approaches which can be used directly by the Bletchley Park Trust to enhance the site and reach new audiences.
