English heritage: A work experience

My bus trip from London was rather long and I arrived in Dover after night had fallen, in the pouring rain. Oh England.
However it was only a five minute walk to my accommodation, and I had no problems getting in and confirming my booking. The lady running the place was lovely and friendly, and soon showed me to my room so I could get a good nights sleep before beginning my first day of work. My room was small and cosy, and best of all it had an en-suite bathroom so I didn't have to leave my room unnecessarily. It also had a little electric jug so I could make myself tea! How English.

My accommodation was extremely well located, only a five minute walk from the town, and a ten minute walk from Dover castle where English Heritage was located. It was a steep climb up the hill, but the views over the harbor were breathtaking. Breakfast was included in my stay and the lovely Bulgarian lady insisted on me taking snacks for my day.

After the round of introductions to our small team - two supervisors in charge of us on the project and another lovely volunteer called Ashely  - we headed off to our first site called Richborough Roman fort. It was a wild and windy day and we were being blown sideways just standing there.

Although we were working on the small museum set up here at this site, we were allowed to go for a wander around which I very much enjoyed. Although there wasn't a lot left, these imposing walls were rather awe-inspiring. Additionally just knowing the history of this place made it exciting to be here - it is the probable landing place in 43 AD of the Roman invasion.
 I spent the morning going through my induction and reading through rules and regulations, and then the afternoon helping to clean the cases and make sure their temperature and humidity levels were what they should be. We soon learned what types of readings should be showing by comparing them to the previous checks done (if this type of work has one thing it is tonnes of records and paperwork!). Sachets not unlike those found in shoe-boxes but called Silica gel and Desi-clay are also used to absorb moisture and these also had to be checked and often replaced. This type of work all falls under the category of preventive conservation, which is just one of the many branches of work in museums and heritage.

Our second day was spent at Deal castle, a truly impressive fortress that I would recommend googling to get an idea of its true shape (a Tudor rose). Built by King Henry VIII (Yes the same one who tore down all the abbeys and chopped off heads - looks like he did build things too!) These were built due to a fear of the French sending an invading fleet. Due to this purpose, this castle was heavily fortified, featuring drawbridges, thick walls, murder holes and a ridiculous number of guns.

Since it was built, Deal castle has always had a captain, although later this title became purely honorary, the captain still lived within the castle until a few years ago. We went into his quarters to give the place a quick clean and it was horrifically dark and dismal. The idea of an old man living there by himself in this big empty castle struck me as rather sad.

Although we worked hard, we had fun too. Lunch-breaks were usually spent in the shop as it was warmest, where we would chat and drink tea. In this particular shop there were English Heritage branded alcohols for sale, including one bottle that had been opened as a tasting bottle - and that was how I first tried Mead, in a castle in England that we had all to ourselves!
I then spent the afternoon cleaning this nineteenth century linen box press. It required delicate handling so we used a pony hair brush for dusting and cleanly gently.

Cleaning was definitely the main part of this job, and although I enjoyed the meticulous care that went into this and learning about the different tools used, it also helped me realize that this was not the career path I wanted to go down. Some parts of it really did pique my interest however, such as the conservation work. Learning exactly how artifacts were conserved in their cases and the amount of thought that went into placing them (for example placing metal and wood together in a case would be very bad because of the different moisture levels they need) was extremely interesting to me. I also enjoyed working in these buildings when they were closed to the public as there was something special about wandering these ancient sites in silence. 

Our last site of the week was Lullingstone Roman Villa, where we began the task of cleaning the intricate mosaic floor. 

 Each individual tessera had to be cleaned with a hogs hair brush and vacuum nozzle without disturbing the mortar between; this required meticulous care and patience but was extremely gratifying when we stood back and saw the difference our hard work had made (it became shiny!) Being able to see the mosaic up close we were able to appreciate the amount of work that went into showcasing the Roman elite's status and wealth, something which it still manages to do today, even if their owners are long gone. 

The area was so dusty we were soon all coughing, something we were assured was normal and simply a case of the 'Lullington Lungs' as they had jokingly dubbed it. After finally cleaning the whole floor, we started on very carefully cleaning inside the cases. Ashely's exclamation of 'I'll dust the baby!' had me in fits of inappropriate laughter, but eventually we were able to get our work done. 

On Friday, which was the last day of my work experience, we were situated back at Dover castle to unload all our tools, complete paperwork and clean anything we had used (such as all the brushes). I really appreciated being able to see this project from start to finish, not only working on site but also seeing the processes that went on to get this type of project organised and finalized. Once we had spent the morning going through all this, we were given some time to explore Dover Castle, as we hadn't had time before. It was closed to the public which meant we were free to roam. Although some areas were closed due to this, in most places it simply meant we had it to ourselves.

Old tunnels beneath the castle proved to be rather exciting to explore, however after going quite deeply into them we both started to get a little nervous - what if somehow no one realized we were down there and locked up the entrance? We hurriedly made our way back to the surface.

Overall having the opportunity to experience a week working for English Heritage was really useful for me. I learned a lot and it helped me decide what I do and don't want to do. Not only this but learning about what goes on behind the scenes was very useful and I feel lucky to have had such an experience. Thank you to my awesome team that I worked with, and to English heritage itself for such an excellent opportunity! I would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking of going into the heritage and conservation fields.