UCKFIELD & URBAN HISTORY

Uckfield will feature in a national symposium on “Urban History Outside the Academy” on Friday 25th May at Leeds Beckett University.   Scholars and active citizens are demonstrating the various ways that the subject influences everyday life. Other, bigger places to be covered include the Black Country, Derby, Glasgow, Huddersfield, Hull, Leicester, Manchester and York. The roles of gardens, libraries, museums and university grounds figure in the programme. Contributors look at how it crops up in films, regeneration, tourist trails, transport planning and waste collection.

Local historian and UDPS member Brian Phillips will outline the histories of Uckfield and Bridge Cottage, saved by the Preservation Society and a venue for many historical and cultural activities. He will discuss exhibitions, publications, talks and guided walks, including his own, mostly from the last 30 years. Street names often commemorate the past. He won’t forget to mention misconceptions about the town’s history and aspects some people don’t like to hear.

The symposium is also supported by Glasgow University and the Cambridge University Press journal, Urban History.