Conservation in Action Van

The Conservation in Action van travels across the country delivering interactive heritage sessions for adults and children alike, to demonstrate the sort of conservation work we have to do across our sites to keep them in the best of shape.

These activities include: stone carving and shaping, painting conservations, caring for masonry and protecting artefacts from sunlight.

The van offers the opportunity to get hands-on with these activities, so that you come away with a real understanding of the physical jobs that have to get done for our sites to maintain best practice in preserving the historic environment.

Read more about it, and keep up to date with where it’s heading here.

The van often visits sites which are undergoing conservation work at the time, to give visitors a better understanding of what’s happening underneath the scaffolding or in areas they’re not currently able to visit. Conservation requires a specialist skill set to replicate the materials, and we often employ techniques that were originally used which we know have withstood the test of time.

We’ve partnered up with local youth groups to ensure they can come and see the van in action at sites near to them. Have a look at what we’ve been up to together…

Wolvesey Castle

In 2023, we partnered with Winchester Street Reach, a charity which aims to provide support and enriching opportunities for young people when the van visited Wolvesey Castle so that their young people could give the activities a go!

Fort Brockhurst

In 2024, we partnered with Gosport Borough Council who were hosting their annual ‘Summer Passport’ scheme at Fort Brockhurst for young people in need.

Over 80 young people visited the van, keen to have a go at stone carving and mortar brick-laying!