Heritage Open Days
Heritage Open Days is England’s largest festival of history and culture, bringing together over 2,500 organisations, 5,500 events and 46,000 volunteers. Every year in September, places across the country throw open their doors to celebrate their heritage, community and history. It’s your chance to see hidden places and try out new experiences – and it’s all free.
2024 marks the 30th year of Heritage Open Days. The national festival takes place 6 to 15 September. The theme for 2024’s festival is ‘Routes, networks and connections’, celebrating how people and ideas have moved around and come together throughout history. The transport routes, communication networks, trade unions and social clubs. The travellers who have spread ideas and the hosts who welcome them. There are many stories on our doorsteps just waiting to be uncovered.
The festival is an excellent opportunity to discover the often hidden heritage of North East Lincolnshire.
Alongside these great events, don’t forget you can walk a self-guided tour of the towns of Grimsby, Cleethorpes and Immingham with the FREE Love Exploring App. Just download the app to your smartphone, choose your town and click ‘Trails’ and it will come up with a self-guided tour of buildings in the centre of Grimsby or the centre of Cleethorpes or the Pilgrims Trail in Immingham. View images of the buildings as they once were and read a little about the town’s history.
Join us for the Opening Event for Heritage Open Days in North East Lincolnshire
Friday 6 September, 10am to 4pm
Freshney Place Shopping Centre
Join us to celebrate the start of the Heritage Open Days festival at this drop-in event. Pick up a festival brochure, discover a new walking, cycling or heritage trail, find out about all the fantastic events taking place across North East Lincolnshire during HODs 2024, and make some new connections!
Visit Cleethorpes
Awesome Water Exhibition
Friday 13 and Saturday 14 September, 10am to 4pm
Cleethorpes Town Hall
This exhibition explores the essential, the imaginative and the fun ways that water is utilised at the seaside. Come and dip in! Plus, Cleethorpes has developed close ties with Konigswinter, Germany. Celebrate this connection on the 50th Anniversary of our Town Twinning. FREE ENTRY.
Watkin Walk
Friday 6 September, one hour walks at 10am, 11.30am and 1.45pm
Cleethorpes Seafront, starting at the Mermaid Cafe
Join Heritage Lincolnshire on a walking tour in Cleethorpes based on the fascinating life and work of important figure, Edward Watkin. Learn about how Watkin transformed a small fishing village into the seaside resort that we know and love today.
Pre-Booking Essential: email htladmin@heritagelincolnshire.org
Visit Grimsby
EXHIBITION: Hometown Heroes: A celebration of sport
Open throughout Heritage Open Days
Murial Barker Gallery, Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre, Grimsby
Celebrate the sporting connections of North East Lincolnshire with a visit to this fun, family
friendly exhibition. Explore the stories of local Paralympians, record breakers and Championship
winners and discover how you can get involved with sport in your area.
Art, Heritage and My Sketchbooks
Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 September, 10am – 3pm
Fred Smith Room, Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre
Local artist, Sarah Palmer of The House with the Blue Door, shows her recent work on the Humberston Fitties, Grimsby’s Waterworks Woods & the River Freshney, as well as her current art and heritage project around cycling and the bicycle.
Cultural Connections at Grimsby Minster
Friday 6 & 7 and 10-14 September: 9am to 2.30pm
Grimsby Minster, St James Square, Grimsby
Grimsby Minster and the Minster Café will be welcoming visitors old and new to explore this fantastic Grade I listed church, and to find out more about what’s happening across North East Lincolnshire during the Heritage Open Days festival.
The Humber Hovercraft
Saturday 14 September, 11am to 4pm, Our Big Picture, Bethlehem Street, Grimsby
Step on board! In this interactive event learn about the arts project exploring the forgotten ‘lost link’: a hovercraft that connected North East Lincolnshire with the city of Hull. Through talks, a ‘zine and creative workshops, imagine a new, sustainable, connected future.
Explore the Port of Grimsby and Kasbah Quarter
Grimsby Dock, Kasbah, Auckland Road, Grimsby
Saturday 14 September, 10am to 4pm
Explore the historic quarter, known as the Kasbah, on the Port of Grimsby. Take a guided tour, listen to a talk, or wander the site marvelling at the history of the port’s connections with the globe. To be pre-book your tours, here’s the link to book.
St Nicolas and Captain Bligh of the Bounty
St Nicolas church, Great Coates Road, Great Coates, DN37 9NS
Saturday 7 September, 10am – 4pm
Prior to Captain Bligh’s navigational survey of the Humber in 1797, St Nicolas church acted as one of many reference points, on both banks of the river, that helped to guide mariners along the meandering route of this major estuary.
Our Home, Our Heritage: Weelsby Hall Heritage Open Day
Weelsby Hall, Weelsby Road, Grimsby, DN32 9RU
Sunday 15 September, 11am – 3pm (Tours 11 .00 – 13.00 & 13.00 – 15.00)
Did you know that hidden in the trees surrounding Weelsby Woods, lies Weelsby Hall; one of the best kept secrets in North East Lincolnshire? Built in 1890 for one of Grimsby’s ‘fishocracy’ George Sleight, Weelsby Hall is vitally important to Grimsby’s fishing heritage and history. Pre-booking essential – Click to Book.
Visit Immingham
Discover the Pilgrim Fathers’ Journey to America
St Andrew’s church, the Pilgrim Fathers’ Monument and Immingham Museum
Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 September and Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 September, 12 noon to 4pm
Immingham played a key role in the Pilgrim Fathers story as they journeyed to America in 1620 starting one of the earliest colonies. See Immingham’s Pilgrim Monument, as it commemorates 100 years since it was built and visit St Andrew’s church where the Pilgrims took shelter in 1608. Learn more by walking the Pilgrims Trail and visit the exhibition at Immingham Museum.
The Start of Something Big!
Immingham Tin Town Heritage Centre, 359 Pelham Road, Immingham
Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 September and Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 September, 12 noon to 4pm
Thousands of labourers were employed to build Immingham dock between 1906 and 1912. To house the workers, “Tin Town” was built in Immingham. Visit the last remaining corrugated iron bungalow dating back to 1907 which has been lovingly restored to its former glory. It is an unusual survival of a type of housing rapidly constructed as part of a major building project. Experience what it was like to live in a building made of tin and wood over 100 years ago.
A large number of events across the UK are listed on the national Heritage Open Days website, so it’s worth keeping an eye open for more events, and if you can’t get out and about, there’s plenty of online content you can access from anywhere in the world. Visit www.heritageopendays.org.uk for more information.
