Competing claims for America’s origin myths: Roanoke v. Plymouth?

Bideford Town Council – Town History, the Saga of Roanoke – from 2009

British settlers arrived in America before Pilgrim Fathers’ – The Telegraph 7 May 2010

The town of Bideford makes a claim for a more significant role in the legends of America’s origins. The colony of Roanoke, established by Sir Walter Raleigh, was thought to have failed. Some of the colonists were believed to have joined with native Americans, and now, using DNA, there is a project to establish these links with the town from where the colonists originated. The links above describe Bideford’s claim. Presumably the contrast with the Pilgrims comes from Bideford’s proximity to Plymouth, from where the Pilgrims sailed, rather than making the contrast with the earlier settlement at Jamestown in Virginia.

Heritage research project – scope and aims

Welcome to my heritage research project blog. The aim of this site is to look at heritage in its various forms with links to a specific region in the UK – the Bassetlaw region of north Nottinghamshire. My posts and thoughts will relate to an ongoing research project that is exploring how heritage is used and understood in one particular place, and how this relates to the wider world.

The north Nottinghamshire region has strong links to the Robin Hood legends and was also the original home to some of the Separatists who travelled to America on the Mayflower in 1620 to found one of the earliest successful colonies in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They were later known as the Pilgrim Fathers, or Pilgrims. These two stories provide the backbone for the heritage tourism in the region.

The Dukeries around the Worksop area, a town to the west of the district, were a group of ducal estates with significant houses, not all of which survive. This is still seen as another important heritage asset in the region.

Other aspects of heritage and history have been used to give a flavour of the region and its highlights. Part of the Chesterfield Canal runs through the district, linking with Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, and continues to be restored by the Chesterfield Canal Trust. The old Great North Road, linking Edinburgh to London via York, runs through the county and provided a key transport route. Mining has been a big part of the Nottinghamshire economy, but there is comparatively little heritage to reflect this. Also linked to energy production, the landscape across east Bassetlaw is dominated by the distinctive sights of the cooling towers and chimneys of the power stations at West Burton and Cottam, and until recently, Marnham, all of which sit amongst agricultural land and villages each with its own distinctive church tower poking above the horizon.

This is a varied district with a variety of heritage to see as things and at sites, but its heritage stories are also seen to be important, and sometimes more than what we can actually see. Please feel free to comment on this and any other posts in the blog, as I explore the heritage and try to find out what is important to those that live there and for those that visit.