A scalable and modern platform for Historic England
The Heritage Gateway system, after more than 15 years in operation, was facing challenges in keeping pace with Historic England’s evolving data management and accessibility standards. Built on older technology, the legacy system sometimes produced incomplete search results and lacked integration with current data standards, such as Linked Open Data (LOD) and the CIDOC-CRM model.
While still functional, these factors limited its interoperability and posed challenges for users seeking comprehensive, accurate heritage information. Additionally, with internal teams focused on core preservation efforts, Historic England sought an approach that would provide complementary skills and a dedicated team to work alongside them, ensuring a smooth transition to a modernised, interconnected data experience across the gateway system.
A key part of our approach was the development of the Heritage Gateway Record (HGR) standard, which serves as a benchmark for validating incoming data. Using this standard, we enabled the system to automatically validate data submissions and generate feedback reports for data providers, identifying any discrepancies or issues. This feedback loop empowered providers to correct data at the source, embedding best practices and enhancing data quality across the entire ecosystem.
Key migration components included:
Through this structured migration, Historic England now has a robust, modern infrastructure that not only improves current data accessibility but also promotes sustainable data management practices among providers, aligning with their vision for a connected and high-quality heritage data experience.
The successful migration of the Heritage Gateway system represents a transformative milestone in Historic England’s digital strategy. By transitioning from a legacy platform to a modern, scalable infrastructure, Historic England has gained greater control and flexibility over its heritage data quality, empowering data providers with robust tools for validating and enhancing data quality at the source. This shift led to significantly improved data accuracy and a reduced administrative burden, these new automated processes now enable Historic England to manage heritage data with heightened efficiency and reliability.
The new platform offers the wider Historic England archive system more reliable and consistent search results, streamlined data management workflows, and a vastly improved data provider experience. This transformation equips Historic England to fulfil its mission to preserve and share England’s heritage in the digital age, ensuring data accessibility and quality for years to come.
