Could your heritage be part of the UK's Living Heritage Inventory?
Communities across Northamptonshire are being encouraged to help celebrate the traditions, skills and customs that make our county unique.
When we think of heritage, we often picture historic buildings, museums, archaeological sites and treasured collections. But heritage is also about the traditions, knowledge, skills and customs that are passed down from one generation to the next.
These are known as living heritage, and communities across the UK are now being invited to help shape the country's first UK Living Heritage Inventory.
Dr Martens/Air Wair boots made in Northamptonshire
The inventory has been created following the UK's ratification of UNESCO's 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Rather than focusing on historic places, the Convention recognises the importance of traditions that are still practised today and continue to play a meaningful role in community life.
Living heritage can include traditional crafts, music, dance, storytelling, local festivals, food traditions, performing arts, sporting customs, seasonal celebrations and specialist skills. From bell ringing and carnival traditions to boat building and traditional crafts, every community has its own unique heritage worth celebrating.
For Northamptonshire, this presents an exciting opportunity. Could boot and shoe making, church bell ringing, Morris dancing, canal traditions, rural crafts, village festivals, community archaeology or other long-established local customs all have a place on the inventory? The aim is to recognise the traditions that communities themselves value and continue to pass on.
Importantly, the UK Living Heritage Inventory is community-led. It is not a competition or an award scheme, and it does not rank one tradition above another. Instead, it provides a national record of living cultural practices, helping to celebrate, safeguard and raise awareness of the traditions that continue to enrich communities across the UK.
How can members get involved?
Image courtesy of Charles Ward
Although the first round of submissions has now closed, organisations, groups and communities can still register their interest by completing an Expression of Interest (EOI).
The Living Heritage team has confirmed that the next call for submissions is expected to open in 2027. By registering an Expression of Interest now, organisations will be notified when the submission process reopens. This also provides an opportunity to begin identifying local traditions, gathering evidence and working with communities to prepare future nominations.
Museums, heritage organisations, archives, local history societies, traditional craftspeople and community groups across Northamptonshire are ideally placed to help identify and celebrate the county's living heritage.
Who is behind the initiative?
The UK Living Heritage Inventory is being delivered by the UK National Commission for UNESCO (UKNC) on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), working alongside the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The project is supported by a network of Community Support Hubs, expert advisers and partner organisations, ensuring that communities remain at the heart of identifying and safeguarding the traditions that matter most to them.
Find out more
Whether your organisation preserves traditional skills, celebrates local customs or helps keep long-standing community traditions alive, now is an excellent time to start thinking about how these could be recognised as part of the UK's living heritage.
To learn more about the initiative, explore the guidance or register an Expression of Interest, visit the UK Living Heritage Inventory website.
