About the project
Digging Down, Building Up, was a project funded by Historic England and it celebrated Eye’s overlooked and unique working-class industrial and farming heritage – industries born out of the land on which it is built. The project came about from talking to groups and partners in Eye and the conversations that happened as part of the first Eye Lantern parade in 2022. It became clear there were some great stories, archives and places that newer residents in the village did not know about or could be lost if not celebrated or collected now.
What is Eye’s recent working-class history? Its stories and voices of the everyday people that lived and worked in the Northam brick works and, on the land, whether that was making bricks, working in the local mill, growing sugar beet or transporting produce.
The project did this by investigating these stories of these industries and the associated vibrant social-life – from Eye Social Club, bowling green, Northam Star Football Club, the fish and chip van run by ‘Uncle Fred’, to local parades, tea dances and ‘molly dancing’. Through this, the missing voices of these industries were revealed and cherished.
At the end of the project these working-class histories were shared with new residents, through the 2024 Lantern Parade, heritage trail, outdoor exhibition and the Digging Down, Building Up film.
All of these were chances to bring people together to celebrate Eye’s recent industry, diversity, and develop a renewed sense of pride in a place that provided the nation with bricks and food.
How it was received
We are incredibly proud to have led on this heritage project which successfully brought together so many new and older residents from Eye. We loved exploring and getting to know stories through the Memories of Eye cafes or lantern making workshops, connecting to people and shining a light on their incredible contributions to the village and wider area. It was exciting and fun to see these stories and places come to life in the heritage trail and parade, especially a 4-metre-high brick eating monster, where children fed it lit up bricks. Not only did this project collect stories for the future it created memories that will live with those who took part for a long time.
In numbers…
- 684 participants took part in workshop activities from Lantern Making, Molly dancing, Memories of Eye Cafes and local history talks led by local historians
- We engaged 6,516 audience, 6,456 in person and 51 digitally
- We delivered 147 sessions and workshops (including the heritage trail) These took place in residential care homes, the primary school, Youth club, village hall, village community centre, Whittlesey Brickworks and St Matthew’s church.
- 41 individual volunteers took part. Roles included heritage researcher, lantern super-constructor, lantern parade assistant, community panel, volunteer artist, serving refreshments at events, marketing distribution photographer etc
- 1 lantern parade with over 400 participants.
- 4 x exhibitions, including an outdoor heritage trail, one at Peterborough Museum, one at a local history talk and one partnered with Andrew Mortlock the London Brick Co (LBC) archivist who presented a special exhibition specifically about the Eye brickworks. He invited past and present LBC employees and answered many questions on the brick works.
- 110 people told us their memories, shared their archives, photos or objects with us.
- 100% agreed / strongly agreed the DDBU activities made a difference to where they live.
- 100% agreed or strongly agreed that the DDBU activity was well thought through and put-together
In words…
“It brings people together”
“Just look at the number of people that have come out in the rain to support the event and take part”
“It makes you feel part of the wider community”
“It’s great to see the kids comparing their lanterns and seeing what they’ve made”
“The parade promoted local community groups – people are now asking about the Brownies. It pulled people and the community groups together. Lists in magazines do one thing but seeing groups perform / take part makes people want to join them.”
“There’s probably local bricks in our house – that’s a nice thought to have”
“The heritage has driven the parade”
“One of our lanterns shows the Toll House than my daughter lives in. One of the walls goes back to 1760 – it’s listed. The house was used to count the sheep.”
“I didn’t realise that some of the people I knew were as creative as they are.”
Meet The Projects
Lantern Parade 2024
Light Whale International, (formally La Septima) worked with the village to create the narrative, characters and the big lanterns that were at the heart of the parade. They also brought to life many of the stories and memories from Eye’s recent working- class history and industry. Whether that was a mobile tandem train with smoke which rode along the streets, or the large Eye Monster that needed to be fed bricks. They also used a local farm and its outbuildings to make the Eye Monster too, and people lent them trailers and tractors to transport it.|
Around 400 people walked in the parade with around 300 handmade lanterns, which many of them had made in either public workshops, or with community groups like Eye Primary school, St Matthew’s Church, the Brownies, Guides and Rainbows.
Another 400 people watched the parade from the pavements, their front gardens and bedroom windows. Waving and cheering as the parade passed.
The parade also featured local groups like dancers, Pig Dyke Molly dancers and Bright Lights who brought their talents to the parade. We also had the talents of Box of Frogs who provided the drumming and Peterborough United Rugby players who pulled the Eye Monster along the route.
We just wanted to say a huge thanks to everyone who helped. This included everyone that made a lantern and walked with it in soggy conditions. To the many people who lent us trailers, tractors and tandems. To our huge team of volunteers who looked after everyone.
Digging Down, Building Up Heritage trail and outdoor exhibition
Along with the Lantern Parade, the other outcome of the Digging Down, Building Up project was a heritage trail Leading up to the Eye Lantern parade.
The trail featured 6 information panels all about the recent working history of the village. To make them, we worked with local volunteer historians (Q-Eye Elves), Eye residents and partners such as London Brick Archivist and Peterborough Museum. Memories, stories and personal archives were gathered through ‘Memories of Eye’ cafes, lantern making workshops and 1:1 interview in the first six months in 2024.
This outdoor exhibition popped up across the village, and it was there for 4 weeks and we estimated it was seen by at least 2,000 residents.
We installed the trail in some of the busiest places along the high street, the reason for this was so that everyone who used those spaces or passed them by could have a chance to connect to Eye’s history. Whether that was a quick read before getting the bus or whilst walking their dog.
From farming to bricks and more.
Each information panel focused on a theme that related to the main industries and their impact on Eye. These themes were; the brickworks, farming, social & sports, community, traditions and Eye’s national and global connections. The panels formed a trail through, Eye High Street and were seen at Eye Youth Club, St Matthews Church bus stop, at the Old House, the COOP, Eye Dental Care and at the Open Space which is at the back of the Manor Farm Community Centre.
There are also a set of ‘green plaques’ which have been installed in venues across Eye, like Sue Ryder and Sharon’s Snacks.
The panels are now installed at Eye Primary and are seen everyday by the villages young people.
Digging Down, Building Up Film
This film describes some of those collected stories and shows how they influenced the parade. It features footage from the 2024 lantern parade, interviews with local historians, Eye residents and archival footage from the 1990’s which was filmed by Bert Deane. This short video was filmed and produced by Red 7 Productions.
Digging Down, Building Up exhibition at Peterborough Museum
The exhibition came about after conversations with Peterborough Museum about the project in general. They felt the project was relevant to their visitors and we wanted to take this opportunity for the project to be seen by lots of other people both from Peterborough and the wider community. Eventhough this was additional to what we had already wanted to achieve and done, it made sense for us to make the exhibition happen.
So, in March 2025, Peterborough Museum hosted a celebration of the ‘Digging Down, Building Up’ project in its community gallery.
The exhibition brought together a lot of the archives and stories that had been collected as part of the project in 2024. Plus, it featured photos of Eye’s working-class history where people were able to spot family and friends from the village.
It was another chance to see the panels that were produced for the Heritage trail that formed an outdoor exhibition in Eye in November 2024.
Those who come to the exhibition got the first chance to watch the documentary style short film about the project and how it inspired the lantern parade. This has been produced by Red 7 Productions.
There was a successful public workshop on Sat the 15 of March at the museum, where participants made prints using lego bricks, that were inspired by the exhibition
Many visitors enjoyed the exhibition, bringing family and friends to see it repeatedly.
Our funders, partners and Eye panel
Digging Down Building Up was funded by Historic England’s Everyday Heritage grant programme (celebrating working class histories) and Arts Council England.
