Historic England opens 90,000 historical records to the public for free
For the first time, a huge database of London’s history has been made available to the public for free.
With nearly 90,000 entries collected over 40 years, the Greater London Historic Environment Record (GLHER) is a tool for protecting the capital’s past and a first point of call for heritage and development professionals.
Now, anyone interested in London’s history can use the GLHER on a new and improved online platform to search for and explore information on archaeological sites and discoveries, historic buildings, parks, landscapes, and more. Visitors to the new GLHER platform can search for sites by borough, date, and other filters and discover relationships between sites through history.
The GLHER can be searched here.
Although now open to the public, the GLHER has been used for some time by professional researchers and property developers who might need to know what lies beneath the building they want to construct.
For professionals in the cultural heritage sector, the GLHER plays an important part in the planning process. The GLHER is regularly consulted to inform new developments on sites across London to ensure historic sites are recognised and given proper consideration. Developers are still required to request specialist searches of the GLHER to fulfil their obligations as laid out in the planning policy.
The GLHER is powered by Arches, a free, open-source platform developed by Getty for organisations worldwide to manage data and help protect cultural heritage. To date, Arches is being used by more than one hundred organisations and projects worldwide to identify and map millions of cultural sites.
Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive, Historic England commented: “When it comes to managing London’s rich historic environment, knowledge is power. Opening up this invaluable dataset means everyone interested in the heritage all around us can dig deeper into the facts and find out more. Historic England’s collaboration with Getty has reimagined the Greater London Historic Environment Record and set a new precedent, creating a remarkable and fit-for-purpose platform for enthusiasts and professionals alike.”
Arches for HERs has been developed through collaboration between Getty, Historic England, and the City of Lincoln, England.
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