Heritage Volunteers help to conserve and protect the nation’s heritage. They work in many different roles including book conservators, stewards and archivists in heritage sites.
Over the years we have undertaken several projects- Dyrham Park, Chippenham Museum and The Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre (WSHC).
Volunteers are currently working at the WSHC collating information from papers relating to the Tauntons of Redlynch, in Wiltshire, and related families.
One of our volunteers writes:
“There is along standing connection between the Taunton family and Redynch and Downton in South Wiltshire, where the family farmed for over 100 years. Through marriage the Taunton family was connected with the Mannings, Hopes, Gurneys and Pye-Smiths. Olive Pye-Smith was an artist and her cousin Phyllis Wood was a poet and artist. Sir Ivon Taunton, Phyllis’s brother, had a long and distinguished career in India and there met many prominent people of the day. This family has a wide range of relatives and friends whose names are very well known so reading their diaries and family trees is quite fascinating.”
When this project is completed our volunteers will stop working for the WSHC and move to working alongside The Family History Society transcribing the records for publication.