Beating the Bounds is a local tradition dating back to medieval Britain and is a way of marking the boundary lines of the parish and common land. Today, boundary marker stones still surround areas of the Pevensey Levels, a site of Special Scientific Interest and historical importance in East Sussex. This practice-led research project asked…
Category: Research Projects
Studying Reproductive Isolation in E. calamaris for Coral Reef Conservation
Sea urchins should not only be viewed as venomous terrors of the sea. These spikey seabed dwellers are critical to maintaining the health of coral reefs. Unfortunately dead long-spined sea urchins of the species Diadema antillarum are reported to be ‘rolling like tumbleweeds’ across the Caribbean sea floor in a catastrophic die-off of an unknown…
Making Moonshine! A Radio Play
Dr Claire Kennan, Bader College Research Coordinator. In March 2023, a group of students came together to record some scenes from the play Making Moonshine! written by local resident Verily Anderson in 1957-8. Now kept safely in our archive, the play is set in ‘Swirling Castle’, a clear fictionalisation of Herstmonceux Castle. The play features…
Conservation (and a 3D Scanner!) Comes to the Castle
In early May 2022, the science lab of the Bader International Study Centre (BISC) became the nexus where hundreds of artefacts with drastically different histories, material properties, and provenance all came together. Iridescent glass fragments, WWII Royal Air Force porcelain, and archaeological iron horseshoes, all found on the grounds of Herstmonceux, currently occupy the same…
Emerging Digital Interpretive Opportunities for Visitors at Herstmonceux Castle
While the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in drastic social and economic impacts, the need for an escape through tourism remains steady. Heritage Tourism remains one of the industry’s most popular forms. Heritage Tourism can be as ‘travellers seeing or experiencing built heritage, living culture or contemporary arts’.[1] Encountering a site and its stories can transport…
A New Audio Trail for Herstmonceux Castle
…is the soundscape of the world an indeterminate composition over which we have no control, or are we its composers and performers, responsible for giving it form and beauty? Raymond Murray Schafer, The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the tuning of the World (Rochester: Inner Traditions, 1994), p.136 On 16th February 2022, we introduced a…
Herstmonceux Castle in the 1921 Census
On 6th January 2022 the 1921 census, which has been closed for a century, was made available to the public for the first time. The census is a survey which, usually, is taken every ten years to provide a snapshot of all the people and households in England and Wales. The object of a census…
Peter the Sheep (1914-1928): Eccentric Pet and Much-Loved Military Mascot
Located just outside of the castle’s walled gardens is a small yet poignant memorial. Within the carefully enclosed area, amid the flowers and plants, you will notice a single stone slab with the name ‘Peter’ inscribed. But who was Peter and why do we have this memorial in the castle grounds? In August 1914, war…
The Colonel and The Party Palace: Life at Herstmonceux Castle in the Roaring ‘20s
The decade known as the ‘roaring twenties’ is synonymous with glamour, exuberance and partying. As the world emerged from one of the greatest conflicts in our history, survivors looked to the new decade with hope and excitement, much as we are doing today as we emerge from our own global crisis. The 1920s is such…