Glastonbury Abbey: Storytelling through Immersive Heritage Practice

This Follow-on Funding project will draw on research undertaken in 'The Glastonbury Abbey Archaeological Archive Project' (AH/G010269/1) and the related FoF project, 'Glastonbury Abbey: Archaeology, Legend and Public Engagement' (AH/N002865/1 FoF) to develop 'mixed reality' approaches to immersive storytelling that will engage young people and families visiting the heritage site. It will support Glastonbury Abbey to transform its visitor offer towards self-exploration in a safe, open-air environment and to expand the 'explorer family' audience segment through interactive visitor participation and location-based gameplay. It responds directly to challenges to the heritage sector resulting from COVID-19, by developing a more resilient visitor offer tailored to the audience segment with most potential to grow during post-COVID recovery.

The project will create an Augmented Reality app that draws on the original archaeological research and provides a narrative structure for storytelling that interacts with live (costumed) performance and interactive family trails. It will guide visitors through the physical spaces of the monastic precinct, providing an opportunity for family trails involving role play of historical characters. It harnesses archaeological evidence for monastic life beyond the cloister, including Glastonbury's exceptional abbot's 'palace', its extensive facilities for hospitality and charity, and the agricultural resources of the outer court. It will reveal how spatial access to monastic zones was regulated according to a medieval person's social identity, whether monk, servant, male or female, adult or child, pilgrim or patron. This approach provides an opportunity for more inclusive interpretation of a medieval monastery, contrasting the experience of (male) monks with a diverse range of medieval characters. The app, in combination with trail-finding and costumed performance and demonstrations, will encourage visitors to explore Glastonbury Abbey's wider monastic precinct of 36 acres, moving beyond the core area of the monastic church and Lady Chapel. It will offer multi-vocality both in the degree of agency exercised by the user, and in the range of historical voices represented.

The project team combines expertise from Archaeology, Heritage and Creative Industries, building on the PI's long-standing collaboration with Glastonbury Abbey, and introducing collaborating organisations Arcade (a digital practice that designs immersive experiences) and Thread (specialist conservation and design architects). The team will address the design challenges and potential solutions for immersive heritage practices in open-air sites. They will develop stational markers that signal the boundaries between monastic zones and provide essential information for the app's self-exploration and role-play options. Extensive pilot work will develop light-touch, imaginative solutions suitable for a Scheduled Monument. The narrative and game mechanics for the AR app will be refined through two stages of on-site testing and evaluation using family groups.

Two Knowledge Exchange workshops will co-create approaches for Glastonbury Abbey's Living History team to interact with and complement the AR app. They will also feature as characters in the app's narrative, providing a direct and embodied connection between the digital and real worlds. These opportunities for knowledge exchange will inform the design of Glastonbury Abbey's marketing campaign for the AR app and their development of family trail activity packs. Glastonbury Abbey will integrate the app in their interpretation policy and in the daily work of the Living History team, and they will fund ongoing support and upgrades for the app. They will develop ongoing event programmes and marketing to sustain visitor numbers, with the aim of doubling the family explorer audience segment within three years.