News Harrow Heritage Walks

Designed to promote health, wellbeing, and community connection, the Harrow Arts Centre and Headstone Manor & Museum teams worked to create two unique and sustainable walks for local residents. These walks are suitable for all ages and offer a fresh way to discover Harrow’s rich past.

Harrow Arts Centre commissioned local watercolour illustrator Kerry Slack to design and create two beautiful heritage maps that that carefully capture the beauty and landscape that the borough has to offer around Bentley Priory and Pinner Village, with Headstone Manor & Museum providing the historical facts of landmarks along the walks. The hand-painted maps invite people to engage with their surroundings in a unique way. Unlike digital maps, these illustrations tell a story. They capture the essence of the places, making them memorable. They not only guide walkers but also educate them about local history. By highlighting cultural landmarks, they foster a sense of pride in the Harrow community.

The July launch day of the Heritage Walks, hosted by Headstone Manor and Museum in partnership with the Harrow Ramblers, was a vibrant celebration of the borough’s history and community spirit. Families, local residents, and history enthusiasts gathered to embark on guided walks that brought Harrow’s past to life, uncovering hidden corners and fascinating stories tucked away in the streets and landmarks.

Physical maps were printed for the launch event and distributed to libraries and community centres around the borough but the lasting legacy of the project is the availability of the maps as permanent digital versions so that anyone, at any time, can discover the borough’s natural beauty and heritage on their own terms and at their own pace. By mid-September, a total of 412 maps had been downloaded digitally, with the Pinner map downloaded 193 times and the Bentley Priory map downloaded 219 times demonstrating the success of the project.

Download the Stanmore trail map here

Download the Pinner trail map here

View from the Artist
“The Heritage Walk poster was a real collaboration. I set out to create a map that felt like an invitation – practical to use, but also full of charm. I walked the paths, sketched the landmarks, then painted them in watercolour before piecing everything together digitally. My aim was to capture not just directions, but the character of Harrow: the wildlife, the history, and the sense of community woven through the landscape. The brief was to design two illustrated maps: one for the Bentley Priory walk and one for the Pinner Heritage walk, each highlighting cultural landmarks, history, and nature in a way that felt inviting, accessible, and full of character. I worked up sketches of the key landmarks — from churches and historic houses to memorials, pubs, and ponds. Some got the full watercolour treatment, while others received just a lighter sketch. This balance made the map feel right. The idea was to make it clear and functional, but also fun to explore.”

Kerry Slack, Watercolour Illustrator