| Description | The idea for the Parish Maps project grew out of Common Ground's book 'Holding Your Ground: an action guide to local conservation', and work on the new project began soon after its publication in 1985. This project sought to encourage people to look around their local area, identify what is distinctive about it and what they value, and to then chart this on a map of their 'parish'. Common Ground considered parish maps to be 'a starting point for local action, they are demonstrative, subjective statements made by and for a community, exploring and showing what it cares about in its locality' (EUL MS 416/PRO/5/4/8, Common Ground pamphlet 'Parish Maps' (1996), p. 3). Initially Common Ground selected eighteen well-known artists to create maps of their home parishes for the exhibition 'Knowing Your Place: an exhibition of artists' Parish Maps', which opened in March 1987 and toured to twelve venues across the UK. The artists were: Norman Ackroyd, Conrad Atkinson, Adrian Berg, Helen Chadwick, Hannah Collins, Garry Miller, Stephen Farthing, Tony Foster, Anthony Gormley, Pat Johns, Balraj Khanna, Simon Lewty, Ian Macdonald, David Nash, Roger Palmer, Judith Rugg, Len Tabner, and Stephen Willats. In 1987, Common Ground published two booklets entitled, 'Parish Maps' and 'The Parish Boundary', as well as a video and information pack produced together with ACRE entitled 'The Local Jigsaw'. The Parish Maps project appeared to quickly capture the public's imagination and inspired the creation of thousands of parish maps by individuals and community groups across the UK, as well as several countries around the world. Common Ground offered advice to parish map makers, and information about new parish maps was sent to and collected by Common Ground. In 1996, the charity selected approximately 30 examples of peoples' parish maps to put on display in a national exhibition entitled 'from place to PLACE: an Exhibition of Peoples' Parish Maps'. It opened at The Barbican Centre in London, before going on tour to venues across the country. The exhibition led to the publication of a collection of essays entitled 'from place to PLACE: maps and Parish Maps' (1996). People at Common Ground who worked on the Parish Maps project include Sue Clifford, Angela King, Tom Greeves, Stephen Turner, Jane Kendall and Beatrice Mayfield.
Material in this section of the archive includes: general project administration files; files relating to the making of peoples' parish maps; files relating to the making of peoples' parish maps; files relating to exhibitions and events; Parish Maps publications and promotional material; photographic material; and publicity material and press clippings.
Please note: posters of approximately 200 parish maps remain at the Common Ground offices in Toller Fratrum, Dorset. |