4 Coastal Timetripping projects and locations
A completely new and unique way to travel across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, has just been launched. Coastal Timetripping is a travelogue platform, www.coastaltimetripping.com, that allows people to plan trips, incorporating five cutting edge, immersive technology experiences. These new location-specific adventures allow travellers to ‘move through time’, experiencing Cornwalls dramatic and vivid past in our advanced modern day. You can find out more about the specific experiences below…
Bude’s Coastal Timetripping experience immediately transports you back to the time of Bude’s ‘glory days’ with a buzzing canal. Surrounded by the rugged coastline, you can be the captain of an old merchant ship with the name of ‘Ceres’, an impressive Ketch ship that sank at the age of 125 years old in 1936.
Nowhere in the world can you find an experience quite like this. And nowhere in the world can you quite literally take the wheel of a 1900s Ketch with a real ships helm. The Coastal Timetripping Virtual Reality experience will introduce you to the wild sea surrounding Bude, hard to navigate due to the rocks and breakwater, and treacherous for ships to dock there. It is the only way people of today will be able to gain understanding of this central part of Bude’s history and you may recognise significant landmarks like Barrel Rock, which were used to safely navigate the breakwater.
To make this adventure, book in advance and then head to the Castle Heritage Centre in Bude. This is an interactive experience via VR headset and there is space for two people at a time, one of which is designed to be wheel-chair friendly. Find out more at Bude’s website here.
.jpg)
Looe Island, accessible by foot on only one day during the year, was once home to a Benedictine chapel built in 1139. The chapel was visited by pilgrims, partly due to the legend that Joseph of Arimathea brought the young Jesus Christ to Looe Island - though now all that remains are a few stones. The new Coastal Timetripping experience allows adventurers the opportunity to follow behind the footsteps of the imagined journey of a monk and a pilgrim.
A 3D topographical map of Looe island, by way of iPads provided by the museum, enables augmented reality, that allows you to select characters you want to talk to, immersing yourself in the life and journey that these intrepid men took on the island itself at the time.
There is also an immersive ‘Times and Tide’ cabinet, that explores an important but hidden part of Looe’s history- smuggling. Some considered smugglers to be heroes, fighting unfair taxation laws to support their families during difficult times. Others saw them as common thieves, who often resorted to violence to keep their secrets. This exhibit immerses visitors in the arguments of these deeply opposed sides.
To try out these exciting experiences all you need to do is come on in for a visit! Discover more about Looe museum, and how to get there, here.
If you visit St Agnes beach today you will see a pile of rocks where once there was a thriving harbour, a busy centre of trade, goods, ships, merchants, buyers, sailors, pedestrians and more. Through the Coastal Timetripping experience, embedded within St Agnes Museum, adventurers can step back into the harbour of times past. VR technology brings not just the harbour itself to life, but also the ships coming in, the goods that were traded, and the life and bustle of the port in the heyday mining days, now marked with the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site status. Timetrippers even physically sit on one of the old pieces of the harbour as they enter the experience.
Edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has also been used to create a new, innovative way for visitors to engage with St Agnes’ fantastic natural history section. This second experience will allow visitors to interact with the museums’ Leatherback Turtle, and even to navigate the turtle’s journey all the way from Trinidad to St Agnes. As well as exploring important environmental considerations for our precious seas. This is a no-touch experience that is suitable for all ages!
Find out more about St. Agnes here.
Porthcurno’s very nature means it is a coastal timetripping experience in itself from the first undersea telegraph cable to the new world of fibre optics today. Famous for its iconic beach and open-air theatre, Porthcurno’s lesser known story lies beneath its golden sands. Hidden under the feet of unsuspecting beachgoers is a network of cables that once made this place the largest telegraph station in the world and the first ever global communications hub.
And the easily downloadable app allows adventurers the chance to traverse the valley, the beach and the grounds of PK Porthcurno as layered sets of info and content arise, bringing a new historical experience, deepening the understanding of the valley’s place in global telecommunications, feeling the significance of what was once, in the late Victorian era, the most important station in the world. There is also a surprise in wait for those who successfully complete the trail…
Stepping from the external, technology based experience, into the intriguing museum itself allows adventurers the opportunity to transport between the centuries, all joined by the strands of technological development. Before the telegraph arrived in Porthcurno, the valley was uninhabited. The cable’s arrival not only changed how the world communicated, but also changed the landscape of the valley. The museum explores the impact that this change brought to the local community, as well as to global communications, and PK Porthcurno’s place in world history. Find out more about PK here.
Supported by
© Islands' Partnership
