Rescuing and Presenting Lost Heritage: Promoting Public Engagement with Marks Hall and the World of the Vanished Country House

在二十世纪，英国失去了三分之一的乡村别墅。数百座豪宅被拆除，因为业主再也负担不起维护它们的费用，或者是在所谓的战时破坏和军事占领之后。仅埃塞克斯在1946年至1966年间就失去了100多座豪宅。目前，《高斯福德庄园》（Gosford Park）和《唐顿庄园》（Downton Abbey）等电视剧和纪录片重新找回了英国乡村别墅“失落”的世界，对大庄园及其房屋的社会和经济历史进行了更冷静（也更准确）的再现。该项目将解决另一个填海挑战，即拯救和解释位于向公众开放的庄园表面下的被毁豪宅的遗址和物质存在。埃塞克斯郡Coggeshall附近的Marks Hall就是这样一座失落的豪宅，在作为战时军事基地使用后，它在1950年被戏剧性地拆除，状况已经恶化。在大庄园的花园被修复之前，一个尼森小屋社区拔地而起。这个解释性项目首次尝试重新设计和再生一个失落的豪宅遗址，使用尖端的虚拟数字娱乐技术和新的档案和人工制品展示、展览、记录的记忆、档案研究、电影、大学学习资源、考古挖掘和重建花园设计的独特融合。对豪宅和大庄园的记忆有消失的危险。第二次世界大战期间或刚刚结束之后，许多在这里或附近居住和工作的人现在已经80多岁了（或更老）。虚拟娱乐、考古、园艺设计和口述历史的整合具有巨大的潜力，不仅提供了一个丰富的故事，讲述了豪宅被拆除的原因、它们的战时历史、工作人员和材料文物（包括整个内部）的分散，以及当地农村经济和社会的变化。它还提供了一扇通往古老居住遗址的大门，这些遗址有着等待恢复的早期地方和国家历史。该项目提供了一个重建和解释的机会，吸引所有年龄段的人，并告知公众关于遗产解释和流行历史的辩论。所有这些都促使当地社区、广大公众、地方政府官员、商界人士、文物组织和学术专家之间进行多样化和富有成果的知识交流，以实现互利共赢。将为所有观众提供广泛的产出和活动，包括：马克斯大厅的虚拟再现、互动网站（包括Twitter feed和博客）、教育资源、实习、巡回展览、公共研讨会、公共政策论坛、公开会议和一本书。

During the twentieth century, Britain lost a third of its great country houses. Hundreds of mansions were pulled down because proprietors could no longer afford to maintain them, or following alleged wartime damage and the occupation by the military. Essex alone lost more than 100 mansions between 1946 and 1966. Currently, the 'lost' worlds of the British country house are reclaimed by dramas and documentaries from Gosford Park and Downton Abbey to more sober (and accurate) recreations of the social and economic history of great estates and their houses. This project will tackle another reclamation challenge, namely rescuing and interpreting the sites and material presence of destroyed mansions that lie beneath the surface of estates open to the public. Marks Hall near Coggeshall, Essex, is one such lost great mansion, dramatically demolished in 1950 having deteriorated in condition after use as a wartime military base. A community of Nissen huts sprang up before the gardens of the larger estate were restored. This interpretative project attempts for the first time a redesign and regeneration of a lost mansion site using a unique blend of cutting edge virtual digital recreation technology and new archival and artefact displays, exhibitions, recorded memories, archival research, film, university learning resources, archaeological digs and reconstructive garden design.Memories of the mansion and great estate are in risk of fading away. Many of those who lived and worked in or near the estate during, or just after, the Second World War when demolitions peaked are now in their eighties (or older). The integration of virtual recreation, archaeology, horticultural design, and recorded oral history has enormous potential, offering not only a rich story of the reasons for the demolition of great mansions, their wartime history, the dispersal of the staff and material artefacts (including whole interiors), and the change to the local rural economy and society. It also offers a gateway to what are invariably ancient sites of habitation with layers of earlier local and national history awaiting recovery. The project offers an opportunity for reconstruction and explanation appealing to all ages and informing public debate about heritage interpretation and popular history. All this invites diverse and fruitful knowledge exchange between local communities, a far-flung general public, local government officials, business people, heritage organisations and academic expertise, to their mutual benefit.There will be a wide range of outputs and activities for all audiences, including: a virtual recreation of Marks Hall, an interactive website (including a Twitter feed and blog), educational resources, placements, a travelling exhibition, a public seminar, public policy forum, an open conference and a book.