THE EXPERIENCES of Victorian visitors to the Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick are being documented for a future exhibition.
Heritage Volunteers from the Arts Society Royal Leamington Spa are starting a new project at the medieval hospital.
The team will be transferring entries from the Lord Leycester visitor books dating from 1853 onto a computer database.
The information will be used to build the story of visitors to the Lord Leycester throughout the Victorian period when it was a popular destination for British and overseas tourists.
Volunteer coordinator Mike Fox said: “We are so glad to be returning to volunteering again after the work of our various groups had to cease at the start of the pandemic.
“The volunteers are now busy deciphering handwriting and adding names to the database.
“We hope that our other groups at Leamington Art Gallery and Museum and the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry will be able to resume work soon.”
Hospital Master Dr Heidi Meyer added: “In the Victorian age, due to the popularity of the Neo Gothic, the Lord Leycester Hospital, as one of the most important medieval buildings in Britain, drew lovers of the medieval from all over the world, especially the east coast of the USA.
“Notable people from closer to home, such as Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Anthony Trollope and the Prince of Wales also visited. These visitors are a very important part of the Lord Leycester Hospital’s history.
“We look forward to telling their stories in our new exhibition space which we hope will be available in 2023.”
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