Nottingham Market Wall

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Nottingham Market Wall

Old Market Square

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A historic wall which divided Nottingham’s Old Market Square for 700 years has been recreated for the public to see in an augmented reality app.

Nottingham Trent University and Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies have digitally recreated the historic Market Wall - which stood between 1068 and 1727 - so visitors to the square can see how it once looked and interact with it virtually.

The Market Wall – which is said in documents to have been ‘breast height’ – was built to define the French Norman borough on the south-west, and the Anglo-Saxon borough on the north-east.

The two boroughs had different laws, sheriffs and administrations, and although the wall divided the two spaces physically, it had several openings and pedestrians were able to pass between the areas freely.

The research project was funded by the Nottingham Trent University Strategic Research Theme: Global Heritage. For more details about the project please visit the Market Wall GeoAR website.

Principal investigator Dr Andrea Moneta, an expert in digital scenography at the Nottingham School of Art & Design, said: “The Market Wall is a fascinating and less well known part of Nottingham’s heritage, as many documents which could have detailed the history of Nottingham  were destroyed by fire many centuries  ago. This app will provide people with the chance to learn more about the Market Wall, the Ducking Stool and the Malt Cross, and how Nottingham was in fact a dual city for hundreds of years with French and Anglo-Saxons living side-by-side. We hope to build on this pilot project and develop the research for the creation  of a ‘city museum of intangible heritage’ featuring various other forms of augmented reality which bring Nottingham’s rich history and heritage to virtual life.”

 

Yven Powell, a research assistant from Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies specialising in asset production, level production, and game engines, said: “This has been an exciting project to work on in terms of reliving what it would've been like to walk around and through the historic Market Wall. The power of new technology such as augmented reality and virtual reality allows people to relive historic experiences in a way they could not have before.”

 

Research assistant Gin Rai; technology specialist and head of esports at Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies, added: “We have been experiencing an emergence of augmented and virtual reality technologies some years now. Since the inception of this project, we pushed to find a great way to capture a part of Nottingham’s heritage in a way that was both innovative and accessible. We look forward to continuing this research to support the growth of a library of augmented heritage sites and museums, and show the people of Nottingham and its visitors its rich history.”