A COMMUNITY archaeology group is looking for help to digitise 900 years of a dale church’s history.
Volunteers at St Mary’s Church, in Barnard Castle, are creating a digital museum of its history as part of a £400,000 Lottery-funded scheme to repair the buildings. Having teamed up with DigVentures – a community archaeology company based in the town – the church is now hoping to create a team to digitise its history.
Johanna Ungemach, of DigVentures, said: “Since its foundation in 1130, St Mary’s parish church was extremely important for town life, and being the only public building for many centuries, started housing town documents and archival material.
“Today, there is still a lot of unique information held at the church, such as a complete survey of the graveyard and information about individuals who didn’t survive the world wars.”
She added that people who join the team will learn new skills such as handling documents, digitisation techniques and creating an online database. Those interested can join a workshop at the church on Thursday, March 19, at 10.30am. The workshop forms part of the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Windows to the World project and will conclude at 3.30pm.
Ms Ungemach added: “You will be supported by our team, and will develop new skills that you can use to make a significant contribution to the town and to the sharing of its important information with the wider world.
“Ideally, we would like you to stay interested in the project and continue contributing to the database throughout the year.
“Alongside the church’s ongoing restoration, we are delving into the archives and uncovering the hidden gems from its past – 900 years is a long time and you are bound to learn things you didn’t know before.”
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