Historic Environment Volunteers may be interested in attending a talk soon to be held on 3rd September from 6-7pm at The National Archives, Kew. The talk specifically focusses on how to research the history of a local area and should prove valuable to those wishing to contribute to The Story of Our Streets project.

The talk will inform attendees on how to use archives and local studies resources to inform their local history research. It is also FREE so it's an opportunity not to miss!

Have a look on their website to find out more:

The Historic Environment section of our wiki now has a new featured building section to highlight buildings which we find particularly interesting.

The research is gathered as part of The Story of Our Streets project; bringing attention to the lesser known architectural heritage of the local area with a focus of buildings of townscape merit.

This month we are featuring the Broad and Co printing works building, located behind King Street and Water Lane in Richmond. This building is one of few remaining examples of Richmond's industrial heritage.

~~At 9am on 6th May volunteers gathered outside the turret entrance to the air raid shelter in St Leonard’s Court, East Sheen to begin what some may have thought to be an impossible task.

The shelter had been used for decades by maintenance staff for the nearby flats to store vast amounts of items including 8 large heavy doors, around 80 cast iron pipes and fittings, old tins of paint, chairs, concrete blocks and even a collection of old doormats!

Twelve members of Croydon U3A Architecture group recently had a very enjoyable visit to the Kilmorey Mausoleum. When we arrived workmen were busy replacing some of the cast iron railings that surround the Mausoleum. The pink and grey granite of the monument, which stands in the centre of a wildlife garden surrounded by a high wall, looked very impressive in the spring sunshine. The Mausoleum itself is in a remarkable condition despite being moved twice. Once from Brompton Cemetery and then Woburn Park, Chertsey before its final resting place in St Margarets.

New Heritage Project Manager for Historic Buildings Sophie Harman has a thing for timber framed buildings…

This 1:8 scale model was made by Sophie as part of a research project into a building called the Old Cottage in Cheam. It is accurate in almost every way possible even being held together with wooden pegs, no screws or glue! The actual late 15th Century building was saved from demolition in the 1920’s and was re-built where it stands today.