English Heritage
Heritage Interpreters have worked extensively with English Heritage to improve accessibility for Deaf people across their properties.
Nicole Stockton-Davies, English Heritage Visitor Access Manager says:
“I have been working with Demelza, John and Laurence for nearly ten years – in my role as Visitor Services Assistant Manager at the Tower of London and then as English Heritage’s Visitor Access Manager. They form a talented team with decades of experience, delivering engaging tours, events, and training sessions. They have supported me with enthusiasm, dedication and professionalism and have had a hugely positive impact on opening up heritage experiences to wider audiences.”
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Let's take a look at some examples:
Stonehenge
Stonehenge has been the flagship for English Heritage in providing accessibility to Deaf people. We introduced our work there four years ago interpreting events such as the 'Gnomus' Puppet show, the 'Sherlock Holmes Mystery of the Stones' production, the 'Neolithic' Festival etc. We have produced a BSL Interpreted version of an educational resource about the STEM learning. English Heritage next invited us to run a number of Deaf Awareness Training sessions withe their staff. We closely followed this with curating and marketing the very successful Deaf-led Tours of Stonehenge. Well over 100 Deaf people have now enjoyed this rich heritage in their own language. The icing on the cake was for 40 Deaf students from Blanche Neville Deaf school to discover the history of the stones and the Neolithic houses from watching the tour in BSL from their Deaf Role Model John Wilson.
Battle of Hastings
Since 2023 Heritage Interpreters have worked with the English Heritage team at Battle to organize, market and Interpret the annual reenactment of the Battle of Hastings. The 2025 event was marked with the first ever Deaf-led tour of the grounds of Battle led by Deaf historian Peter Brown. We will continue to work with the team and Peter to create access to one of the best-known events in England’s history in 2026.
Kenwood
We worked with the Kenwood, Hampstead Heath team to organize a series of Deaf-led tours by John Wilson and Alan Murray. These tours gave access to the John Singer Sargent Exhibition for 2025.
We also helped to organize students from the Blanche Neville Deaf school to benefit from the Kenwood tour in an educational trip delivered fully in British Sign Language by Deaf guide John Wilson..
Other English Heritage Properties.....
We have translated the history of Wroxeter Roman City into British Sign Language as part of their Video Guide.
We interpreted Kenilworth Castle's Knights Tournament for the first time in 2025 and will repeat this event for our Deaf audience in 2026. Plans are underway for other properties and events to include BSL access such as the JW Silver factory, Eltham Palace, Wrest Park and Dover Castle.
