The project has been funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It will see a team from Canterbury Christ Church working in partnership with four museums from East Kent to help preserve their archives, upskill volunteers in key digital practices and tell the story of these towns beyond their traditional heritage.

Through a series of training workshops volunteers will learn to record at-risk archives and develop their digital story-telling skills, creating web content that will explore different aspects of 19th and 20th century life in Broadstairs, Ramsgate, Deal and Sandwich.

These towns all have a shared heritage, as Victorian resorts, attracting tourists through their maritime heritage. Historically they have all been sites of change and adaptation, something that has relevance to contemporary coastal communities.

The project will highlight heritage connections between Kent's towns, through politics, work and leisure from early 19th to the 20th century, looking at the collections of four small museums: Clock House Museum (opening in Ramsgate 2026), Dickens House Museum, Broadstairs, Sandwich Guildhall Museum, and Deal Museum.

Digitising the collections will give greater access to local people, allowing them to be viewed and used remotely by schools, and anyone else around the world who has an interest in the region’s rich heritage. This will help to raise awareness of the museums and their collections to new generations, making them better understood and valued.

It is also hoped that the project will help to drive new audiences to the museums, towns and region, specifically younger groups that are traditionally difficult to attract into heritage spaces. Technologies such as augmented reality will help to tell a traditional story in a new or novel way - and in a way that is attractive to a teenage audience familiar with a digital/ augmented world.

A collection of immersive walks through time that will highlight the towns’ significance and locations will also be developed and be available using technology currently being developed on the Kent Maps Online site.

Carolyn Oulton, Professor of Victorian Literature, Co-Director of the University’s International Centre for Victorian Women Writers and Co-Lead for Kent Maps Online is leading the project.

She said: “We’re excited to be working in collaboration with our local museums in East Kent to support them and their volunteers to preserve these important social historical collections. Helping them to tell the stories of their towns in a contemporary and accessible way, sharing their heritage with visitors to Kent, both remotely and in person.

“The project is multi-faceted, not only will it help to preserve these collections, but by upskilling local people with key digital skills we also hope to address an existing skills gap, build confidence and equip volunteers with both heritage and digital literacies, supporting them to become more confident in the workplace, or when looking for employment.

“Digitising the collections will also enable the museums to develop new technologies, enhancing the visitor experience and assisting with future projects, contributing to the sustainability and resilience of the museums.”

Lisa Redding, Co-Chair of Deal Museum, said: “We’re very happy to be involved in this project, along with other East Kent Museums. We look forward to telling the varied history of our beach over the years, through postcards and related research.”

Millie Battershill, Museum Manager at Sandwich Guildhall Museum, said: “The museum is currently carrying out the vital work of documenting its full collection. The Time Walk project not only gives the opportunity to have more volunteers working on this but also allows for a significant area of the collection to be digitised and researched, providing a great resource to be used and explored in the future. In addition, the creation of a town trail in connection with the postcard collection will allow visitors to explore the town and see how it has or has not changed, providing the opportunity to create a more immersive way to engage with Sandwich’s history.”

The project is also giving opportunities for Canterbury Christ Church University students to take part in research and gain real life experience, with two students securing paid placements in the team, supporting its work.

The project will run until July 2027.

Notes to editors

About The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. That’s why as the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we are dedicated to supporting projects that connect people and communities to heritage, as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past. Over the next 10 years, we aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to make a decisive difference for people, places and communities. heritagefund.org.uk Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter/X, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLottery #HeritageFund

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