Characters from Lichfield’s past are being brought to life as part of a free augmented reality trail launching in the city.
The Lichfield Time Travellers app invites people to take a walk through the city centre streets to discover figures including Dr Samuel Johnson, poet Anna Seward, scientist and inventor Erasmus Darwin and actor David Garrick via their smartphone.
At each of a dozen locations, ‘time portals’ can be opened by scanning the area before a figure from Lichfield’s past arrives to tell their story.
Cllr Iain Eadie, Lichfield District Council’s deputy leader, said:
“The new Lichfield Time Travellers app is a fun and interesting way of exploring the city’s historic streets and learning about its historic figures.
“It features a map of the city centre to navigate to the 12 locations, and there is a variety of artefacts to collect.”
Cllr Iain Eadie, Lichfield District Council
The app can be downloaded to an iOS device here and Android devices here.
Peter Gardom, director at app developers This Great Adventure, said:
“Lichfield is an amazing city and Lichfield Time Travellers has been a really exciting project to undertake.
“The great team at Lichfield District Council knew what they wanted, but it hadn’t ever really been done before in this context or on this scale.
“With our great partners, Four Door Productions, this project was an amazing opportunity to push the limits of what these new interactive and location-based technologies can do to bring stories and history to life across a dynamic heritage environment.
“It is great to work with local partners to design and develop new creative opportunities and pathways for future interpretation, engagement, and creative placemaking.”
Peter Gardom
The project has been funded via European Regional Development Fund.
