East Riding Archives launched a virtual ‘time machine’ in 2019. It was called the ‘What Was Here’ app, free to download on smartphones, and since then it has cemented its place as a heritage tourism experience for the region with two Finalist nominations in the Remarkable East Yorkshire Tourism Awards ‘REYTA’s.
The time machine has now been given a few tweaks, had a spring clean, and had its design refreshed, and it’s ready to take people into the past.
Everyone loves a good heritage trail, and there are now over 21 of these across the Hull and East Yorkshire region, packed onto one app. As well as a new face, the app comes with new mini quizzes and audio commentary features on some of these trails, which adds extra fun to a tour through time.
Archivist and project creator, Sam Bartle said: “ ‘What Was Here?’ has always been a window on the past, where you can look through time at an old scene from the location where it was photographed, but until now it’s only been possible to use the ‘Camera View’ to phase between past and present in the Trails section. Now, we’ve opened up several of these ‘time portals’ across the East Riding for you to discover using the ‘Map’ function. It’s a great way to get active and guide yourself around the region to see how many you can find.”
“We’re also asking for your help and encourage you to leave a review in the app stores once you’ve downloaded and checked it out. And, if you take part in our simple survey by 21st August, you’ll be entered into our free prize draw to win an Amazon Echo Dot!
“One other thing you’ll notice on our app homepage is that lots of amazing organisations and projects have partnered with us on ‘What Was Here?’ to add their own heritage trails to the time-traveling experience, including Visit Hull, Visit East Yorkshire, Burton Constable Hall, The Humber Bridge Board, East Riding Festival of Words, Hessle Mill Quarry To Country Park project, Bridlington Townscape Heritage, Sewerby Hall & Gardens, North Yorkshire County Council, with more and more coming onboard the time-travelling journey.
Download the free What Was Here app from your app store – just search ‘what was here’.
For more information, visit: www.eastridingarchives.blog
