While much of our discussion has been focused on our own historic city, which includes a UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS), the concept of Green Heritage is applicable to diverse locations varying in scale from intimate sites within cities to wider cultural landscapes.

Green Heritage is an approach to heritage sites that values nature (wild, semi-natural and cultivated environments) and seeks to provide a distinctive place for it that improves both human wellbeing and the health of the planet. It involves nurturing or restoring the living element within heritage spaces. It also involves interpretation of these sites via reference to the living world in the broadest sense, both in the past and the present.

While some definitions of heritage include biodiversity (e.g. ICOMOS) we believe the Green Heritage concept embodies a more overt approach to linking the living world and cultural heritage. Green Heritage is a way of thinking; it recognises that we are bound by our responsibility for present and future generations, but also for the legacy and remains of past people, as well as for the living world.

Green Heritage sites are often located close to or within human settlements, often providing accessible spaces where people can develop a deep ‘sense of place’ incorporating both cultural heritage and the living world. Take a look at the Green Heritage Manifesto for more information on this subject. 

Bioversity

Bioversity is our response to the need to nurture the environment in which we work. It involves the stewardship of our green spaces within the Canterbury UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) which in our case involves part of the outer precinct of St Augustine’s Abbey. The Bioversity Initiative focuses specifically on cultural aspects of biodiversity in relation to the history and heritage of the site, explicitly linked to the fact that it has been a centre of knowledge and community in our city for over fourteen hundred years.

Examples of our Wilder Campus spaces include our Jubilee Orchard, Jubilee gardens, the Johnson Wellbeing Garden, the Queen's Green Canopy, our hop gardens and the International Forest. Stewardship of the living world is an ideal with which all Christ Church’s students, staff and visitors can empathise, whatever their political, cultural or spiritual background. It provides continuity between past, present and future and highlights our unique ‘sense of place’ and heritage. Good stewardship of the World Heritage Site reflects our own wider concerns for the environment and helps us to make direct links with other day to day issues of environmental concern which may otherwise be difficult to capture in a holistic manner.

Sustainability Heritage Working Group

The Sustainable Heritage Working Group deals with heritage issues related specifically to our location within the UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) and to the wider cultural landscape of Canterbury, as well as research and educational aspects of heritage more generally. It reports to the Sustainable Research Group but has links to the work of all four core sustainability groups.

Key themes include:

• Research, including liaison with Schools and research groups to facilitate research workshops and other activity;
• Education and interpretation, exploring ways in which the campus and its surrounds can be used for a range of educational activities within the formal, informal and campus curricula.

Heritage assets in and around the campus also provide opportunities for community engagement. The group will liaise with partners in the UNESCO WHS to develop cultural and educational activities, and with other partners across Canterbury, including further development of the concepts and practice of Green Heritage.

Heritage Hops

As an environmentally conscious university located in a heritage site of international importance, hop cultivation, beer and brewing have become a focal part of our sustainability agenda, our celebration of the seasons and our unique ‘sense of place’. The story of our own green hop ale is recent but has deep historic roots.

Much of CCCU's main campus lies directly within the outer precinct of St Augustine’s Abbey, one of the three key elements of the Canterbury UNESCO World Heritage Site. The other two elements are Canterbury’s world-famous Cathedral and the Saxon church of St Martin. Sadly, very few architectural remains of the abbey remain exposed above ground within our campus site; this has led us to develop our Bioversity initiative – a celebration of our unique heritage through our stewardship of green spaces that acknowledge the monastic and other histories. The only significant medieval monument is the gable end wall of the old monastic brew and bakehouse. This has inspired both the building of a clay bread oven which we use to cook wood-fired bread and pizzas for campus events from spring through to autumn, and also our engagement with brewing and the development (in collaboration with a local brewery) of our iconic green hop ale.

Kent green hop beers and ales must meet certain criteria: they must be brewed in Kent and contain only Kent-grown, fresh, undried hops which must be added to the brew within twelve hours of picking. This means mobilising a dedicated team of students and staff each year to ensure we get the hops to our brewer in a timely manner! This green hop brew results in a characteristic fresh tasting ale because the hops retain oils that are otherwise lost when dried. Our ale is a little taste of the history of CCCU in a bottle. Each year the ale is given a different name, with the label and related materials usually being designed by students.

Previous years' ales have been named as follows: Green Chapel Ale (2015- 16), St Thomas Pale Ale (2017), St Gregory's (2018), Tradescant 400 (2019), Hop Picker’s Tipple (2020), and The Three Choughs (2021).

Heritage A-Z

The Christ Church ‘Heritage A to Z’ was originally designed as part of our university’s celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the inscription of the Canterbury UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS). A large part of the University’s main campus lies within St Augustine’s Abbey, one of the three components of the WHS, which also includes Canterbury Cathedral and the ancient Church of St. Martin’s. It remains a site dedicated to celebrating heritage. Each theme has been chosen to represent an aspect of heritage associated with the WHS, or the wider city and its landscape.

The entries were written by academic staff and students (past and present), and others representing our wider partnership within the WHS; including the King’s School, staff of the Cathedral, and a representative of St. Martin’s Church. The Heritage A to Z is designed to be both informative and entertaining. Please visit the site which contains a broader introduction and the full set of entries.

Science A-Z

Following on from our Heritage A to Z, the CCCU Science A to Z was created for our Diamond Jubilee year as a celebration of our diverse academic community and our commitment to sustainability.