Heritage Trails – Rhondda Cynon Taf

Heritage trails upgrade

Rhondda Cynon Taf Borough Council commissioned us to expand their Heritage Trails website. We were asked to transform three paper-based heritage trails into English and Welsh audio guides and create two new trails from scratch. We interviewed members of all the local communities and used short oral reminiscence sound bites to bring the story of four heritage trails to life. Further soundbites were compiled into an audio database for all the blue plaques in the borough.

A ghostly guide

We undertook a different approach for the Hirwaun heritage trail. Here, a fictional ghostly guide was created to reveal how this quiet village has changed since the huge ironworks was closed down. Illustrative PDF maps were created for each trail.

Heritage Trails app

All five audio trails, plus the blue plaque sites were embedded into a bilingual heritage trails app that is available to download for free – providing visitors to the borough with a fascinating multimedia experience.

Visit the Heritage Trails website

Download the iPhone app

Download the Android app

“We engaged Audio Trails to produce 5 web-based audio tours and separate commentaries for Blue Plaques in the area, plus an app for our existing Heritage Trails website. The experience and ideas that they brought to the project and the willingness to go the extra mile to ensure its success, means that they will certainly be invited to pitch for similar projects in the future. I would whole heartedly recommend Audio Trails for this type of project.”

John Harrison, Heritage Trails Officer, Rhondda Cynon Taf CBC

The use of oral history in the project was an important aspect. It preserves not only the legacy that the Industrial Revolution had on each of the communities, but also presents local distinctiveness in the accents of those who were interviewed.

Leave a comment