Heritage Open Days 2013

Jesus Centre, Northampton

Attraction | "The Church in the Cinema"

The main entrance Photo, Northampton, England

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During the recent Heritage Open Days, my husband and I went to have a look at the Northampton Jesus Centre which is situated in a fabulous old Art Deco cinema. Entrance to this – as to all other attractions during HOD – is free of charge. The Jesus Centre can be found looming over the intersection of Abington Street and the Lower Mounts/York Road. We arrived at around 2.30pm, took a few pictures of the white and blue Art Deco exterior and then stepped into the lobby with all the nervousness of irregular and infrequent church goers. We were greeted by a very smiley elderly couple sitting just inside who checked we were there for the tour and then told us to head up the stairs and to ask at the desk i...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on October 6, 2013

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Heritage Fair at St Sepulchre Church, Northampton

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During the recent Heritage Open Days, I made a short list of the places in Northampton that I most wanted to see and top of the list was the St Sepulchre Church. I had visited briefly during a previous HOD weekend as part of a tour of the city’s Jewish heritage. That tour had been a bit of a mess, with more than a hundred people shuffling round the city looking at bizarre places as we went. I liked what I’d seen and I wanted to go back for more. When we got to the church on the Saturday afternoon, all the signs said the church was open for the Heritage Open Days but the vicar had apparently completely forgotten that heritage lovers would be swarming around wanting to see his church and he had booked a...Read More

During the recent Heritage Open Days, I made a short list of the places in Northampton that I most wanted to see and top of the list was the St Sepulchre Church. I had visited briefly during a previous HOD weekend as part of a tour of the city’s Jewish heritage. That tour had been a bit of a mess, with more than a hundred people shuffling round the city looking at bizarre places as we went. I liked what I’d seen and I wanted to go back for more. When we got to the church on the Saturday afternoon, all the signs said the church was open for the Heritage Open Days but the vicar had apparently completely forgotten that heritage lovers would be swarming around wanting to see his church and he had booked a wedding right in the middle of the afternoon. As a result, despite all the old laws about churches having to be accessible to the public during weddings (just in case someone’s going to pop up with a ‘just cause or impediment’ to the marriage) all the visitors were told that they couldn’t go inside.

We were told that the church would probably be open again in about 45 minutes and since there was a Heritage ‘fair’ going on in the church hall, we decided to go and have a look. If we killed a bit of time, maybe we’d be able to get into the church once the wedding was over.

The Heritage Fair had about a dozen stalls laid out and quite a large area for teas, coffees and snacks. It was a typical red-brick church hall and if you closed your eyes, it was easy to imagine it cycling through a rota of coffee mornings, scout groups, play group and Weightwatchers. Would I have bothered to go to a Heritage Fair if the church had been open? No, in all honesty I probably wouldn’t have bothered. There were stalls set up by various local interest groups – collectors of post cards, local memorabilia and the like were showing their projects and their collections. A few stalls were selling things but most seemed to be rather quietly recruiting for their clubs.

We had a long chat with a man from the Friends of Northampton Castle. There is nothing today that would ever give you a clue that Northampton was once one of the most important towns in England had had either the third or fourth biggest castle in the country. I write ‘third or fourth’ since I’ve seen both claimed. I was surprised that the man from FONC who claimed it was the third biggest didn’t know what the second biggest was. Don’t try to baffle me with statistics if you can’t tell me what the bigger ones are. Today there’s almost nothing to see except one old gateway. What wasn’t destroyed by Charles II after the Civil War, didn’t survive the town planners and the path of the railway which cut through the site.

We really enjoyed talking to the man from FONC and I realised that if I was at home more often and had more free time, I’d almost certainly want to join a local history group and learn more about the area. We live in a village which claims its church is the oldest Saxon church in Europe and I really ought to find out more. I have none of the usual ‘family tree’ and genealogy interest – I don’t care and I’m not interested in finding my roots but I am very interested in imagining how life would have been at different times in history.

After our castle chat we sat down for a while for weak, cheap tea and coffee to kill a bit more time before heading out to see if the church was open again. We were really disappointed to discover that the bride had only just arrived and not even gone inside the church yet. With only an hour on the parking meter and the time nearly up, we gave up on St Sepulchre church and decided to come back the next day as there were many more things to see and do in the town.

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Getting the Most out of the Heritage Open Days

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One of my favourite events in the year is the annual Heritage Open Days. This event – or should I say these events since there are many – take place during September, running on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday with something to appeal to almost everyone around England. Slightly different dates and organisations cover the other constituent countries of the UK and London usually gets its own dates but I’m in Northamptonshire, so I attend the English HODs.Heritage properties across the country throw open their doors to visitors, free of charge during the HODs. Some are very old, historic buildings, many much more modern. All have something special about them. Some are places you c...Read More

One of my favourite events in the year is the annual Heritage Open Days. This event – or should I say these events since there are many – take place during September, running on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday with something to appeal to almost everyone around England. Slightly different dates and organisations cover the other constituent countries of the UK and London usually gets its own dates but I’m in Northamptonshire, so I attend the English HODs.

Heritage properties across the country throw open their doors to visitors, free of charge during the HODs. Some are very old, historic buildings, many much more modern. All have something special about them. Some are places you can see any time of the year by just walking in off the street, others are fee-paying attractions handled by the National Trust or English Heritage, and some – such as Northampton’s fabulous town hall – only open on the HODs. One year I went to a place that was a nursery school where they told me that opening for the HODs was a condition of their listed building status and that they never open to the public at any other time. If you want to get in to these places and nose around, you need to take advantage of the opportunity when it strikes. Even if you visit a place that’s always open, you may well find they’re making a special effort to make the HODs special so it’s still worth a look.

I first discovered the HODs about 4 years ago and for the next couple of years I ran around like a headless chicken doing everything I could to see the maximum number of places. This year, for the first time, the HODs fell on the weekend when my husband wasn’t working so I didn’t have to do it all on my own. We decided to keep things simple and head into the town centre rather than driving all over the countryside since the weather was looking a bit gloomy and we didn’t want to get caught in the middle of nowhere in a downpour.

The best way to prepare for the HODs is to check the website really carefully – it’s www.heritageopendays.co.uk – and get all the details. Many of the properties taking part do not open every day. Some require pre-booking and will not accept anyone who shows up on the day. Some have varied restrictions on family groups or may not be suitable for wheelchair users or people who are not too good on their feet. Others may have just a few limited start times for their activities. Take the time to check and it will help avoid disappointment. Pick the things you most want to do then look at the map and work out if you can realistically cover them all in one day. If you can’t, create a plan to guide you through your visits. One year I got through five properties in an afternoon and travelled about 40 miles between them all. I don’t recommend that or your head may well be spinning by the time you finish.

Food and drink are a key part of heritage tourism and one of the few ways that the properties taking part can earn a little bit of money from the event. When we’re planning a day of visiting places that charge entry, my husband usually makes us a packed lunch to take with us, but when the HODs are free, I like to make sure we spend a bit of money on teas and coffees and the obligatory cream scone.

Find a pair of comfy shoes – you don’t want to have to stop early because your feet are aching and there’ s nothing like standing around being talked at to make feet ache. Wear comfortable clothes – just because you’re visiting a grand property, doesn’t mean you have to dress up as if you’d been invited for tea with the lady of the manner. Make sure your clothes are appropriate to the weather but be prepared for change. Mid September can be gloriously sunny or can rain like Noah needs to start building. So sunblock and a waterproof are both a good idea. I’d suggest to pop a paperback or your Kindle in your bag in case you’re left with a long gap before a tour starts and need to keep yourself amused. If you plan to come home and write about what you saw for Igougo, you might want to take a notebook and you’ll probably want to take your camera. Make sure it’s charged up and you’ve got a spare pen before you leave home.

After we failed to get into the church which was top of my ‘must visit’ list, thanks to the vicar booking a wedding in the middle of the Saturday afternoon (the busiest time for the HODs) and ‘forgetting’ that half of Northampton would be coming to look around, we gave up and headed into the town centre where we knew we’d find lots to look at. We didn’t cover as many places as we expected after the tour of the old Art Deco cinema that’s now the home of the Jesus Centre took a lot longer than we expected. Many places close at 4 pm so don’t be too lazy and not set out until after lunch like we did. And remember when you’re making your shortlist that there’s nothing to stop you going back on Sunday to catch up on anything you missed on your first day.

If you are lucky enough to find yourself in England in September, I highly recommend checking the dates for the HODs. They can save you a small fortune on National Trust entry fees and offer you fascinating insights into the country’s past.
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Borjia's (The Memorial Hall)

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Restaurant | "A moving memorial"

Borjia's (The Memorial Hall) Photo, Northampton, England

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After nine years living in the area, we can count on one hand the number of times each year that we go into Northampton town centre. This once great town was historically significant in much of our nation’s history but somehow it lost its way. Before the 1600s we had the third or fourth largest castle in the land (I’ve heard both claims) but when the locals backed the ‘wrong side’ in the Civil War, Charles II had the castle destroyed to teach them a lesson. Not long after the historic centre of the city was ravaged by fire and sadly nothing much seemed to have improved after that. A friend recently sent me a Youtube clip in which someone had parodied the idea of Hitler refusing to visit Northampton b...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on September 16, 2013

Borjia's (The Memorial Hall)
17 Castilian Street
Northampton NN1 1JS
01604 637555

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