THE heritage of Kempley, near Ross, will soon be uniquely displayed via an internet exploration tool thanks to a £30,700 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

 The funding will allow the Friends of Kempley Churches to create an innovative website featuring interactive maps through which users can explore a virtual model of the 20th century village and navigate backwards and forwards in time.

The village's outstanding churches are the main theme of the project.

The 12th Century Church of St Mary's, an English Heritage site managed in partnership with the Friends, contains nationally important and unique medieval frescoes and wall paintings.

It also has  many interesting and unusual architectural features, some of which are hidden from view in the roof space and will be revealed by this project. 

The second church – St Edward's (1903) – was commissioned by Earl Beauchamp and has been called by John Betjamin among others a 'mini-cathedral' of the Arts and Crafts movement.  

The community-led project is supported by several regional heritage agencies, as well as Gloucestershire Archives and Forest of Dean MP Mark Harper. 

English Heritage's interpretation officer, Dr Sarah Tatham, said: "We feel that this project will produce a co-ordinated body of work  that will be of great interest both within the Kempley community and beyond.  A church without a community context is culturally meaningless so we welcome the opportunity to contribute both staff resources and  funding."

Project manager Chris Bligh said: "By navigating backwards and forwards in time on the website and exploring its many features, people  will be able to gain information on a specific enquiry, or explore the wider background or historical context by clicking on one of our team's commentaries."

He is very enthustic about the virtual experience, which he says will be like flying around within the spaces of the churches.

"While looking for features of initial interest, I'm sure people will end up linking to  other parts of the website," he says. 

"The longer-term objective is to motivate web-users to visit our area, so that they arrive with an informed appreciation of the village, its environment and its heritage."

Collections team leader at Gloucestershire Archives, Julie Courtenay, said: "It's great that Kempley's history is coming alive this way. We are looking forward to working with the volunteers and also, helping them to preserve any unique records about Kempley that the project creates."