The days leading up to and including the second weekend in September are now of great interest to the folk of Brighton and Hove (and indeed the rest of the country) as they are Heritage Open Days.
This basically is an annual celebration of England’s glorious and often overlooked and forgotten architectural and cultural buildings. Visitors are given the opportunity to visit unusual buildings and historical landmarks (and also go on tours for free), which are either very rarely open to the public or that they normally charge an entrance fee. These are often buildings that you might have been aware of for many years but have never ventured inside of.
These special openings are often organised by a team of knowledgeable volunteers (of which there are some 40,000 right across the country) or even the property owners themselves and they are more than willing to convey their in-depth knowledge of their chosen structure.
The scheme started in 1994 as England’s contribution to European Heritage Days and now no less than 49 countries now participate.
As one would expect, Brighton & Hove have their fair share of buildings to go out and explore, but it is vital that you visit the Heritage Open Days website prior to visiting any of them, in order to ascertain whether the entrance is by ticket or just turn up on the day. A large number of tours are by ticket only and spaces are very limited indeed.
Our wonderful city has a wealth of history to go out and explore, whether you are aged 9 or 90! There’s something for everyone from all walks of life – what will you discover?
For more information, visit: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/
The Brighton & Hove News have set themselves a busy schedule over the 4 days and have planned to visit a number of varied buildings within our city boundaries.
With Days One, Two and Three now complete, we would like to share some of our photographs with you for inspiration.
Thursday 7th September schedule –
9:30 am Regency Town House Tour, Brunswick Square
11:00 am Embassy Court Tour
1:15 pm Kemp Town Railway Tunnel
2:00 pm Parish Church of St Paul, West Street
4:00 pm Palace Pier History Tour (alas our guide didn’t turn up)
Friday 8th September schedule –
10:00 am Duke of Yorks Cinema
11:15 am Brighton College
2:30 pm Shoreham Port Tour
6:15 pm Pubs, Banks and Pylons, the architectural legacy of John Leopold Denman
Saturday 9th September schedule –
10:00 am Brighton Quakers Meeting House, Ship Street
10:30 am Theatre Royal Tour
Interesting and enlightening set of photos and article. Look forward to seeing photos from other open days.
Thanks for your interest Jan.
Could you maybe advertise next year’s programme of events a little earlier? The bookings closed on Wednesday, so it’s no longer possible to get hold of tickets.
I’m working on Brighton & Hove’s Heritage Open Days. Just to say to anyone who still wants to attend Heritage Open Day that we have reopened the bookings and there are still places for many events. The programme also contains many events where you just turn up. Please go to the website.
If anyone needs any advice please contact me on my private email address: paul.g.couchman@gmail.com and I will do my best to help.
Thanks Paul
Heritage Open Days has been advertised for months and been going for years.
Are you coming to Sweet Sounds of Love today Nick? Or to the talk on the Workhouses? There is a beautiful documentary film after the workhouse talk by Aiyana Gane on her Great Grandmother’s time in the Workhouse. It is a tragic family story which had 3 of our volunteers weeping at the end. I think it might have the same effect on the audience today. It starts at 12.15 (10th September) at 13 Brunswick Square. Free!
I will see what I can do but I don’t think it will give me enough time to get to the Dome tour. Thanks.
I find visiting forgotten, architectural and cultural buildings fascinating. I was not aware of some of these. I look forward to seeing more photos of heritage open days.
Thanks for your interest Clinton.