Sensing the Intangible: A Framework for Community Engagement with Sensory Heritage

This research project is led by UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage (ISH) 

Team

Cecilia Bembibre Jacobo (Project Lead)
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Scott Orr
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Sijing Fang

Overview

Church bells are a familiar part of life in towns and villages across the UK. Bellringing and bellfounding have deep historical roots and continue to shape local

 identity, mark important communal moments, and create distinctive soundscapes. Casting bells has been practised for centuries, evolving from medieval monastic workshops to specialist foundries, while bellringing developed from simple chiming into the complex art of change ringing in the seventeenth century. These crafts represent a rare continuity of skill, musicality, and embodied knowledge.

Today, bellringing and bellfounding remain living traditions, sustained by practitioners with deep sensory and material expertise. This includes the feel of tools during casting, the smells and sounds of the foundry, the physical coordination required to ring a bell, and the unique acoustic qualities of each tower. These sensory dimensions are central to what bell heritage means to the communities that carry it forward.

The Challenge

While the UK Government has invited communities to nominate living traditions for a new Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage, many sensory and embodied aspects remain difficult to capture with existing documentation methods. Without careful attention, these dimensions risk being lost.

Our Approach

Researchers at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage are working with communities to document and safeguard sensory knowledge. The project involves workshops, conversations, and shared learning with bellringers, founders, heritage stewards, and policymakers. Fieldwork in bell towers, foundries, and ringing sessions will help the team understand how sensory experience is transmitted and valued. Insights will support the co-creation of practical tools that allow communities to record sensory knowledge in ways that reflect lived experience.

Why this matters

This work will help communities and decision makers describe and protect the full richness of intangible cultural heritage. It will ensure sensory and embodied aspects of bell traditions are recognised and safeguarded, supporting the resilience and relevance of these practices for future generations.

Funders

UCL KEIF / AHRC

For more information on sensory heritage research at UCL, visit UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage

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