Inspired by South Yorkshire's heritage

Sarah Arthur runs the Heritage Inspired project

Churches, chapels, mosques, gurdwaras and synagogues are treasure houses of history - right on our doorstep.

A project called Heritage Inspired encourages people to appreciate the faith sites and heritage buildings where they live.

Sarah Arthur is at the helm of the project: "From Adwick to Worsbrough with Silkstone and Sheffield in between, South Yorkshire has a wonderful heritage of faith buildings peppered across the countryside and nestling in our towns.

"These buildings hold ancient stone and wood carvings, wall paintings, green men, wonderful roof bosses, gargoyles and dripstone heads, tombs and monuments and stained glass."

The project aims to increase access to heritage sites and faith buildings so that more people can experience their history, culture and architecture.

This striking wood carving in red and gold can be seen at All Saints' in Wath

"All sorts of places are involved, from our oldest Saxon churches to the new mosque in Heeley," says Sarah. "We work with more than 600 buildings - many of them are listed or in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust and English Heritage."

Sarah studied anthropology at university and uses her skills to interpret man and culture: "Many people won't understand the significance of objects they see in their local church or mosque - a grotesque carved face on the roof, brass rubbings, poppy heads, even what a font is used for... so we interpret the objects for them."

The project, which started in 1998 as Rotherham Churches Tourism Initiative, is about history, culture and architecture rather than religion: "Obviously the buildings wouldn't be here if it wasn't for religion so we respect and interpret it, but we don't promote it. That's the vicar's job."

Sarah was born in Listerdale and brought up in Rotherham. During her degree in anthropology she spent three months with the Kwakiutl tribe on the north west coast of Canada.

House Pole at the Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver

"My fascination with North American Indians and First Nations Canadians started when I visited my granddad when I was about 10-years-old. There are a lot of things in our image of Native Americans and First Nation Canadians that are wrong and confused.

"Tepees, totem poles, spear, bows and arrows, feathers in the hair - those elements come from tribes which are thousands of miles apart. Tribes on the Plains of America lived in tepees but they didn't have totem poles - because they are found in tribes on the other side of the continent - north west Canada."

Sarah helped the tribe to set up a museum of their objects. "Every few years the chief had gathered enough wealth to give it away - blankets, carvings, jewellery, clothing, masks... The ceremony was called a 'pot latch' but it was outlawed by the US and Canadian governments in the 1920s.

"Everything from a 1922 pot latch was taken and put into the Royal Ontario Museum. They said they would repatriate it to the tribe but only if they put it into a museum for display. That was what I was helping to do."

Sarah married her husband, Rob, at Sheffield Botanical Gardens in 2007

After her time in Canada, Sarah worked as a 16th century sailor on a replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship, The Golden Hide. Although it was docked, Sarah could not find her sea legs and returned to landlocked Rotherham after a short while on deck. She worked at Clifton Park Museum until getting the job on the the Heritage Inspired project.

"If people can get enthused about their local buildings then they can pass on their enthusiasm and get more people interested in them. Each site offers a new experience and further visits often reveal new secrets. We want to help the buildings promote their heritage to locals and visitors which in turn will help the local economy."

Tours

You can explore Heritage Inspired's sites on your own or as part of a tour. For more information, phone [phone] or email [e-mail]

Take a look at these photos of some of the sites you can visit:

360: Inside the Wolseley Road Mosque

In pictures: Doncaster

In pictures: Sheffield faith sites