Community Researchers Programme 2025
Category
Historic England-funded training project
Team
Project Lead: Heloise Palin
Project Mentor: Victoria Bellamy
Community Researchers: Gummo Clare, Rachel Wilford, Ashley Grey, Ranjini Nair, Hanne-Marie Braten, Katherine Hughes
Costs
£5,233
Funded by Historic England’s Capacity Building Grant programme, LHBT has delivered another Community Researcher’s programme. Over July and August of 2025, we trained six Londoners in archival research and supported them to produce a project on a site in London they cared about.
We have been hugely impressed with the results on subjects as varied as a London graveyard to the tour locations of the first Indian Temple Dancers to the Capital.
The Researchers and their Projects
Gummo Clare
Gummo Clare is a resident of the Lea Valley who chose his local pub, the Anchor and Hope, as the subject for his research. Located on the banks of the river, it is a favourite among real ale fans and families alike. Gummo has researched and documented the history of the area contrasting the dramatic changes it has seen since the mid-twentieth century with the relative constancy of the pub. Depicted as a visual timeline, Gummo has made his detailed research accessible and pictorial.
Ashley Grey
Ashley Grey is a community researcher and passionate about protecting and promoting local heritage in Tottenham. Ashley’s chosen subject was the Priory in Tottenham, a 1620s house built by and for Joseph Fenton, a Barber Surgeon. The house retains exceptional interiors including ornate plaster ceilings and stone fireplaces dating from its construction. Ashley traces the history of the building and its owners in her report, shedding light on interesting local figures along the way, including the photographer Fred Fisk who recorded the building in the early twentieth century. The second part of her report details Joseph Fenton’s life and medical achievements.
Gummo Clare’s timeline history for the Anchor and Hope pub.
Detail of Tottenham Church’. c.1830. Copyright Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Rachel Wilford
Rachel Wilford is an art historian and curator based in London. Rachel’s project looked at the importance of Butlers Wharf, a huge Victorian spice warehouse on the southside of the Thames next to Tower Bridge, in revolutionising the way artists lived and created their work during the 1970s and 80s. These vast former-industrial spaces became the homes and studios of a wave of creatives, providing a robust setting for galleries, dance studios, parties and collaborative work.
Katherine Hughes
Katherine Hughes, a Lewisham resident, is interested in Cross Bones Graveyard as history from below. The current garden of remembrance on the site was created by a group of volunteers originally led by John Crow, who have saved this space from the developer, through bringing its history and intertwined legends to light. Katherine’s sensitive but scholarly analysis sheds light on a site that’s history is as complicated and powerful as its current significance. Her work includes an important catalogue of the records and of the changing society in this part of south London.
Ranjini Nair
Ranjini Nair is an arts writer as well as a Community Researcher on this project. Through other studies Ranjini had learnt about the first Indian Temple dancers to Britain. In 1838 a small group was brought to Britain to perform in theatres across the country. Ranjini narrates the story of the dancers tour around London from the perspective of a contemporary audience member who sees a performance at the Adelphi and then follows their story in the newspapers. Using contemporary records Ranjini charts this moment of cultural juxtaposition, noting the curious venues and their histories along the way.
Butlers Wharf in the 1970s. Copyright Southwark Archives.
Plaque at Crossbones Graveyard, Southwark. Photo Credit: Katherine Hughes.
Image showing the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly from the ‘Ladies Pocket Magazine.
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