Culture And Memory

Mechanical marvels, miracles cures and travelling wonders

Celebrating the heritage of fairgrounds, funfairs, circus and medicine shows, Periplum CIC will create indoor and outdoor immersive touring exhibitions which capture the history of travelling attractions across Tees Valley. The project will also encompass community workshops, podcasts and films sharing untold stories of the people who conceive, build, animate and manage these attractions, historical and contemporary. Through partnerships with Tees Valley Museums, we will explore a broad range of characters and entertainment, from Victorian-era travelling healer Moses Carpenter to much-loved annual fairs. Through Oral History interviews, we will capture memories from older people alongside diverse contemporary stories of people working in these fields now, sharing them online and preserving them at Teesside Archives. We will highlight key periods of historic transformation, from steam-power to electrification and into the modern age. The project will provide training and employment for local people, and widen access to heritage for underrepresented communities.