Test Page Recorders
‘Church Recording’ was the first project in a long tradition of volunteer enterprises undertaken through the networks and local societies of the Arts Society. When the Victoria and Albert Museum in London decided to work on a display of ‘Victorian Church Art’ back in 1971 it discovered that it simply did not have enough information about the architectural details and furnishings of 19th century churches up and down the UK to augment a major exhibition. Records for the thousands of churches built and embellished during the Victorian period just didn’t exist.
The Museum turned to the (then) National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts (NADFAS), now rebranded as The Arts Society, asking if volunteers to take part in recording projects could be found amongst the many thousands of members throughout the UK.
The result was the development of an enormously successful and meticulously thorough cataloguing system which is still in use today.
For nearly 50 years the project was overseen through the NADFAS societies and has resulted in over 2,000 church records being completed. A copy of the completed record is lodged at the church and a second with the Victoria and Albert Museum. 2,000 sounds a lot – but there are around 50,000 in total, so there is some way to go!
The newly rebranded Arts Society took the decision to stop working on Church recording in 2019, wanting societies to do more to support the Arts for all ages throughout the regions, and to offer volunteer time and energy to other projects. These now include local trails, opportunities for volunteering on local heritage projects, involvement with arts in schools and much more.
The Church Recording project is still ongoing and still depends on volunteer teams – the work has been taken on by the Church Recording Society which has a website with more details.
Churches in Dumfries and Galloway with completed records are: St. Michael’s & South Dumfries; Troqueer Church, Dumfries; St. Mary’s Catholic Church, New Abbey; Durisdeer and Kirkmahoe.