An exciting state of the art virtual reality experience opened at the West Highland Museum. Gaming technology has been used to recreate the fort at Fort William in 1746 at the time of the Siege of Fort William. This fully immersive experience allows visitors to explore the landscape and buildings surrounding the old fort, the town of Maryburgh and the Jacobite camp on Cow Hill. The experience has been created for the museum by the Virtual Open Worlds team from the University of St Andrews. The museum has been working in collaboration with the team on projects since 2020 and was first connected with the university through the organisation Interface. Carol-Ann Adams, Interface’s contact for Lochaber, Skye and Wester Ross, said “Interface was delighted to introduce West Highland Museum to Dr Alan Miller of University of St Andrews, who has a keen interest in developing immersive technologies. By enabling knowledge exchange through connections with Scottish academia, Interface makes a real difference with economic and societal impacts of jobs, new products, processes and services. Its primary aim is to encourage organisations in Scotland, to work with a university partner to drive innovation and encourage creativity, turning knowledge and ideas into value for society.”
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Experts from the university and local historians used original plans and sources to ensure that the reconstructed digital model accurately depicts how the fort and surrounding area looked in 1746 at the time the Jacobite Army besieged Fort William. The reconstruction is so detailed that it even includes horses, chickens and fires, in addition to the British Army redcoats, Jacobites and town folk who inhabit the virtual world. The reconstruction is assembled in EPIC’s UNREAL ENGINE, which has enabled development of the surrounding landscapes, as well as the Fort with its guns and garrison and besieging Jacobite camps. Highland and Islands Enterprise funded and St Andrews EPSRC impact Acceleration Account funded the equipment which has been installed in the museum. Dr Alan Miller said “The digital reconstruction of Fort William provides a backdrop for narratives about the Siege. Based on archaeological and historical research it has been a multi-disciplinary effort to bring together the landscape, fort, garrison and historic artefacts into an immersive virtual reality environment. “
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West Highland Museum’s Curator Manager, Vanessa Martin, said “We are delighted that the University of St Andrews team has created this digital experience for our visitors so that they can engage with the history of the fort in an interactive and immersive way and are grateful for the funding support from Highland and Islands Enterprise and the St Andrews EPSRC impact Acceleration Account which has made this project possible. Sadly, little survives of the old fort in Fort William, so this digital reconstruction will help visitors understand what the fort and surrounding area looked like at the time of the Siege of Fort William in 1746.”
Entry to the West Highland Museum in free, although donations are welcome. It is anticipated that the exhibit will be popular with existing visitors but also encourage people who would not usually visit the museum to come along and engage with the museum’s collections.
Colleen Barker & Sonja McLachlan try out the new VR experience