Over the years, Rowhedge Heritage Trust has built up a substantial archive of artefacts relating to the history of Rowhedge.
People have given all sorts of items, from poems and postcards to newspaper cuttings and notebooks; model boats and minutes of meetings to a ship’s wheel and even a collection of shipwright’s tools. The collection includes books, diaries, letters, drawings, photos, programmes, research, and physical artefacts.
At one time, Committee Members were storing all this in their homes, but the Village Hall Committee gave the RHT permission to store the archive in the loft of the Village Hall. Part of the loft was fitted out with filing cabinets and shelving, and in 2019 work began cataloguing every item held. The work was completed early in 2023.
Our overall aim is to make this village archive more easily accessible to everyone. Items from the archive were used to create exhibitions in 2018, 2019, 2022 and most recently in May 2023. We are currently exploring how we can best open the archive digitally.
If you have anything you think may interest us and you wish to donate to the archive, please get in touch.