MA Heritage Management student, Maggie Weiss, on the Programme's recent visit to Northern Ireland.
The School of Business and Management is home to the MA in Heritage Management which is run in partnership with Historic Royal Palaces (HRP). HRP is a charity that cares for six properties including HM Tower of London, Kensington Palace, and Hampton Court Palace, as well as Hillsborough Castle and Gardens in Northern Ireland. Last month, a group of MA students along with Programme Directors, Dr Ed Legon and Dr John Davis, travelled to County Down to learn how Hillsborough Castle is managed differently from other Historic Royal Palaces.
The Hillsborough team created a fascinating and comprehensive programme providing us with valuable insights into the Castle’s unique position in the HRP portfolio. Unlike the other properties, Hillsborough Castle only opened to the public in April 2019 and is still a working political and royal residence. In the last few months there had been a range of events commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. In fact, King Charles and Queen Camilla stayed at the castle, hosting a garden party just a week before our visit.
Each of the castle’s rooms is presented as a different era in history, beginning in the late 1600s. This approach provides myriad opportunities for diverse histories to be told from the Stuart period to the Edwardians to the present. The blending of past and present was one of the most notable elements of our visit and emphasised the unique role Hillsborough still plays as a neutral location to host challenging discussions. Rather than simply representing a snapshot in time and a tourist destination, like other palaces, Hillsborough is clearly still a working space.
The castle fills several functions from historic education to event space to royal residence, and so its furnishings are a variation from heritage practice we’ve seen in our work placements. Rather than preventing visitors from sitting on furniture with roped off areas or dried brambles, cushions with the polite notice ‘Please do not sit here’ embroidered on the front can be flipped around to show a coordinating fabric when the room needs to welcome its royal residents. The round table in the Red Drawing Room hosts tense political discussion as well as Makaton sessions for special educational needs students. The State Dining Room displays a set of dishes produced for Queen Elizabeth II’s 1953 visit to commemorate her coronation. Additionally, there is a replica of her ‘Girls of Great Britain and Ireland’ tiara available for guests of all ages, including a few of us, to try on for themselves. This unique blend of past and present follows visitors throughout the entire property and really made the Castle come to life for us.
We also had the pleasure of visiting some of the newest spaces on the property including the Clore Learning Centre, which can host schools and community groups. The range of narratives that can be shared with audiences of all ages and backgrounds was apparent throughout our visit. It was a powerful illustration of how the Castle provides an inclusive space for the local community. We learned how wellness groups utilise the 100 acres of gardens, school groups learn about the workings of a big country house, and workshops on traditional craftsmanship get everyone to participate. The inclusion of a dedicated exhibition space was just getting its debut, with ‘Life Through a Royal Lens’ opening on the day of our visit. Originally at Kensington Palace in 2022, the exhibit included the community with a special display of photos of royal encounters taken by locals and submitted to HRP. An ongoing oral history project seeks to continue the efforts to share Hillsborough’s role in the narrative of relatively recent events in Northern Ireland.
The staff of Hillsborough Castle and Gardens welcomed us with characteristic Irish hospitality, and we were honoured to see behind the scenes of their work caring for this unique heritage property. We were particularly excited to be able to stay in cottages on the grounds. Every aspect of our visit demonstrated the sense of responsibility felt by HRP to create a positive legacy, from how to make sure that all visitors feel the hospitality of an ‘Irish Big House’ to the way the Gardens team utilises sustainable practices like making their own peat-free compost, to creating spaces around the entire property for everyone to feel welcome. Hillsborough is masterfully utilising heritage practices to weave together the past with the present to create a space for all to enjoy in the future.
Our deepest thanks to the team at Hillsborough Castle & Gardens, especially Head of Hillsborough Castle Laura McCorry, Public Engagement Site Coordinator Brooke Stephens, Research and Interpretation Producer Emma Lawthers, Castle and Collections Manager David Orr, Learning Producers Maria Magill and Louise Smith, and Gardens Manager Claire Woods.