PROJECT: ROMAN MIDDLEWICH
CONSTITUENCY: CONGLETON
LOCAL AUTHORITY: CONGLETON
AMOUNT AWARDED: £134,000
Important discoveries of Roman artefacts have been used to enhance Middlewich as a tourist destination and have inspired the very successful Roman Middlewich Festival, which attracted over 10,000 visitors to the first Festival in 2001, and over 15,000 in September 2003.
A series of archaeological digs in Middlewich uncovered vast quantities of artefacts and information on the town’s past. To bring this together in an accessible and enjoyable form, HLF awarded £134,000 to the Roman Middlewich Project Partnership, who seized the opportunity to use the town’s historic past as an economic, educational and cultural driver for the future.
Roman expert Tim Strickland was employed by the partnership to write a guidebook, and a town trail was set up to enable people to explore the history of the town through a series of lavish interpretation panels. Volunteers have trained as heritage guides to staff the trail and answer questions. Most of the trail is fully accessible, and where accessibility is a problem alternative routes have been identified to ensure that as many people as possible can enjoy it.
In addition to the trail, a Roman display has been set up in Middlewich Library, which provides a valuable educational resource and increases the awareness of local people of the town’s important historic past. An education pack about the Roman settlement in the town has been produced, and local schools make great use of the project resources. The project is being piloted by Cheshire County Council in 2004 as a key provider in its plan to promote history and geography in Cheshire schools.
The Roman Middlewich project has gained significant momentum amongst local businesses, with many now using the project and the festival within their own independent marketing material. More businesses are now choosing to locate to Middlewich, as a result of the raised profile of the town, and Middlewich Town Council is providing higher levels of support for businesses and potential inward investors than ever before.
The project has developed into the ‘Vision for Middlewich’, which looks at all aspects of life in the town, based on its new sense of pride and purpose, and develops the concept of heritage-led regeneration.