BCD Special Report on
Historic Churches
19
th annual edition
15
Learning from
Churches
Ben Greener
H
istoric churches
are an integral
part of the landscape. We drive
past them every day, their towers
and spires providing landmarks, reference
points and signs of home. We spy them in
the distance from train carriages or walk
by them on our way to work, then wander
through their churchyards at lunchtimes.
And, from time to time, for a range of reasons,
many of us step inside them to learn more.
Crossing the threshold and learning more
about buildings helps us to connect the past
and the present. It provides an insight into our
shared heritage, from the local to the global,
and brings the past alive. While school trips
and visits to heritage sites are nothing new,
there’s a groundswell of interest in the historic
environment and a growing enthusiasm for
understanding and exploring the past.
Announcing the launch in February
this year of ‘Heritage Schools’, a £2.7 million
initiative funded by the Department for
Education linking schools with heritage
experts, education secretary Michael Gove
remarked that historic places and buildings
‘
are the physical remains of the rich,
controversial and thrilling story of England’.
Simon Thurley, the chief executive of English
Heritage, added that visits to historic sites
endow ‘present and future generations
of children with a vivid understanding
of the place in which they grew up’.
What canwe learn
from churches?
Churches, with their vast range of styles and
huge number of buildings, represent the
biggest learning resource through which we
can access and explore the past. There are
few villages, towns or cities without a place
of worship. The Church of England alone is
responsible for over 16,000 of them. Taking
other denominations into account swells the
figure to around 47,000 cathedrals, churches,
chapels and meeting houses across the UK.
They are a recurring feature in both
rural and urban settings. Is it any wonder
that we often grow used to them? Yet they
represent a treasure trove of stories, memories
Divine Inspiration project leader Helen McGowan and pupils from St Bartholomew's School, Coventry (Photo: CABE/Alys Tomlinson)
