Wander Thoresby

Wander Thoreby is a collaboration between the Stonebridge Trust and the University of Nottingham, exploring the feasibility of transforming closed archives into location-based media for the public to find and experience outdoors through their mobiles. At the heart of Sherwood Forest lies the test-bed for the project – The Thoresby Estate – home to the Pierrepont family since the early 17th Century. Thoresby has an extremely diverse industrial and cultural heritage mapped in a significant archive of material managed by the Stonebridge Trust, including over 700 works by Marie-Louise Roosevelt Pierrepont, Countess Manvers. However, despite welcoming 80,000 visitors a year, the Trust lacks traditional gallery space to exhibit the Estate’s archive and so the archive – a potentially-significant tourist attraction – remains largely closed to the visiting public.

By engaging with Horizon and other expertise within the University of Nottingham, the Stonebridge Trust will be able to assess the potential to increase visitor numbers (and reach new audiences) by embracing location-based media, and establish itself in Nottinghamshire as an early adopter of new technologies.

Partners: The Stonebridge Trust, The Queen’s Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum, Thoresby Hall Hotel