Did you know that in 1766, several poor harvests and soaring food prices sparked riots across southern England? At Wotton-under-Edge, around 1000 men and women destroyed property and stole food.
The Green Pledge Project at Gloucestershire Archives is delving deep into the environmentally significant documents at the archive and sharing them across Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire. It is funded for two years by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The project exhibition – ‘Heritage that illuminates the future’ explores loss of nature, changing local climate, rivers, woodlands, lifestyles, campaigns, and much more. It will tour in community spaces throughout 2025, and launches at our open archives event, ‘Water, water everywhere’ on January 11th 1 – 4pm. https://www.heritagehub.org.uk/events/water-water-everywhere/
Project officer Marion Hill will be bringing our talk to Wotton Climate Action Network at 7.30pm 27th February 2025 at UTEA , the Chipping Hall, Wotton Under Edge. Marion will share highlights of documents from our exhibition as well as fascinating materials directly connected to Wotton and the nearby villages.
Throughout the project we are holding archive inspired, sustainability themed outreach events. We also create regular podcasts where we talk to local people about their work trying to protect nature and address climate change. Podcast | Gloucestershire Archives
We are currently conducting an environmental audit of our archives building and facilities, following a framework created by BASIS (British Association for Sustainable Sport). This audit is a crucial step in our commitment to environmental responsibility, ensuring that our operations align with the highest standards.
We are actively seeking and bringing in new environmental records to the archives and are adding a green layer to the digital map, on Know Your Place Gloucestershire
