Heritage Places Strategic Initiative
Over the next decade, as part of our Heritage Places initiative, we’re forging long-term partnerships with towns, cities and regions across the UK to unlock the potential of their heritage. Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Council Area is one of the places that we’re supporting; a borough with a wide range of built, natural, cultural and industrial history to share and celebrate.
Georgian Armagh is home to the highest concentration of listed buildings anywhere in Northern Ireland and across the borough there are five conservation areas, including Dromore and Richill. The Council has two UNESCO World Heritage bids in progress, alongside programmes to protect precious habitats like Lough Neagh and Gosford Forest Park.
Our initial funding is supporting Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Council with a programme of research and engagement, to better understand what heritage means to local people.
A new post of Heritage Engagement Officer has been recruited to co-ordinate this research, running workshops, gathering data and getting out and about across the borough. In partnership with heritage sector consultants, the project is offering a variety of opportunities for individuals, under-served groups, businesses and schools to share ideas – empowering them to shape a decade of transformation.
Aoife Cleland, from Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, says: “I feel so privileged to be involved in our Heritage Places project. Discovering how our communities are passionately engaging with the heritage of their local area has been inspiring. Providing our residents with the opportunity to help shape the future of the borough’s heritage has been an interesting journey and I cannot wait to see where the project takes us next!”
Follow the progress of the project on Facebook or discover more ways we’re supporting heritage across Northern Ireland.
