ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the urban variable as part of memory/heritagescapes. In addition to the tradition of dramatic performance, the processional pageants were linked to another long-term tradition, namely that of urban processions and parades of various kinds, whether or not their roots might be religious, royal, civic, or working-class. Some ordinary streets and urban spaces were invested with a special meaning as part of the memorial landscape. In Britain, historical pageantry was closely associated with the emerging urban preservationist moment, as often the same people contributed to both. One theme arising from pageants’ commitment to chronology and to the narratives of progress has been their relationship with modernity. The focus on the localism and voluntarism involved in historical pageants can make visible social groups whose histories and experiences differed from nationally authorised heritage narratives. An ambiguous relationship with academic history characterises both contemporary historical re-enactments and the historical pageantry of the first half of the twentieth century.
