Heritage Open Day Tours 2023

The Archive team was delighted to be able to run the Heritage Open Day Tours again on the afternoon of Saturday 9th September. This formed part of the national Heritage Open Days scheme run by English Heritage to enable members of the public to gain free access to heritage sites that otherwise would not be open.

Helped by Sharon McIlveen and Tracey Black, the Archives tours followed the usual route of taking visitors across the College garden to point out how the site had developed over time, up to the Council Room, music block, Lower Hall, Archives, Beale memorial, Quiet Room, Main Library and ending with the Princess Hall. The three groups of ten people were a delight to guide around and asked many interesting questions about the history of the buildings, the development of women’s education and College’s pioneering role in this. In particular, they admired the highly decorative nature of the buildings including the stained glass, woodwork, ironwork and general Arts and Crafts atmosphere of the building, in line with Dorothea Beale’s vision that beautiful buildings would have a great influence on pupils and their development. We had been told by the local organiser that these talks were heavily oversubscribed and this is indicative of the interest in our rich heritage.

In conjunction with this, Piers Todd made a guest appearance following his retirement to undertake his very popular ‘Murder Most Unladylike’ tours which were also a success. They looked at the places that feature in the Robin Stevens books including The Gym, the PH, the Tunnel, the Marble Corridor, the Horseboxes, St George's Arch and the Pond.

We were helped by some LC2 girls from Glenlee, whose acting was hilarious and a highlight of the tour. The tourers were given a badge each and we had "bunbreak", with squash and squashed fly biscuits served by the girls.

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