Haden Hill House
Two exhibitions were produced during the 2025 project ‘Sites of Memory’, one at Haden Hill House in the autumn of 2025 and then one at Tbilisi Photography and Multimedia Museum in the spring of 2026. Each exhibition offered bespoke content, focusing on the interest of local audiences.
Haden Hill House is one of six museums managed by Sandwell Council. Situated in Cradley Heath, part of the Black Country, it is furnished in period style as a late-Victorian gentleman’s residence, with 55 acres of parkland. The gentleman in question was George Alfred Haden-Haden Best who inherited the estate in 1877 and began work on his new house alongside the dilapidated 17th century Haden Old Hall next door.
Recent exhibitions there have included the Jubilee Arts Archive 1974-94, regional watercolourists, work by Black Country sculptor Luke Perry, Rangoli and textiles artist Ranbir Kaur, and the Living Memory project. The ‘Sites of Memory’ installation at Haden explored local connections with both contemporary and archive materials – for example, tracing the journey of Private Wilfred Cutler, one of the young soldiers buried at Batumi, who was born and lived nearby.
Alongside the exhibition, there were a number of events, including a Heritage Open Day with the participation of the Royal Warwick 14-18 living history group. Storyteller Peter Shand performed and artist Rich Franks held several creative collage colouring workshops. Writing workshops were held at Sandwell Archives in Smethwick Library, where there was also a small pop-up exhibition. A presentation about the project to West Bromwich History Society was organised, attracting an audience of over 80 people. An hour long radio show with Billy Spakeman was also broadcast on Black Country Radio.
