Welcome to Doncaster’s Interactive Town Trail
We are pleased to announce the launch of our interactive Town Trail which has been created by one of our Trustees, Mark Waterhouse. It is based on our printed copy originally prepared by Archie Sinclair, currently the secretary of the Trust. It was first published in 1980, and utilises the extensive library of historical information present in the Newsletter Archive and other resources.
This interactive trail can be used by walking the trail using a mobile phone or tablet or from the comfort of your own home, and also in a classroom environment.
It allows the user to interact with it using photographs, new and old, audio commentary and videos. You can just look at one part if you wish, or walk the Town Trail all the way through. All the original buildings featured in the printed copy are still included but with much more information about them now. The route has been extended to Bennetthorpe.
In addition, all listed buildings to be found on the Trail have been added. We have been able to use the Trust archives to give more precise dates for them than those that can be found on the government listed buildings website.
The trail can be found on our sister website, https://doncasterheritagetrail.co.uk/
There are also a number of other resources on the website, including a buildings timeline, an interactive map showing the physical plaques that have been installed around Doncaster, and a look at some virtual plaques to highlight people and places of important note.
Other resources include interactive street plans highlighting the listed buildings that can be found and colour-coded to show the ages of these buildings.
This is a major initiative from the Trust with Mark having worked hard on it for several months. Access is free so please have a look. We hope you enjoy it.
A User’s Guide to the Interactive Town Trail
This is an interactive map of Doncaster, which has 24 locations to see as you walk the Town Trail. Hover over a black square, which has a number next to it, reveals the name, clicking on it takes you to an information page about the location.
Location 1 is the HSBC bank. You can look at pictures that show its progression from an early age, to how it looks today. You can also read about it, and also listen to the information about this building.
After reading about this location, you are guided to the next location on the tour through reading the text, listening to the directions or watching a video, which shows the route to take, the video clip also shows Listed Buildings that can be seen on the route.
As well as walking the town Trail, there are other resources. There is a Buildings Timeline which displays many of the buildings in Doncaster, revealing the date it was built and important information about that building.
Doncaster Civic Trust has installed several plaques in the town, to celebrate people and buildings. It is not always possible to install a Plaque, so the Trust has used Virtual Plaques to celebrate those people and buildings which has made a significant contribution to the heritage of the town. This interactive map, reveals locations of both actual/virtual plaques.
Another resource on the website is the creation of several interactive maps, which shows the location of listed buildings in the town. The different colours identify the period in which they were built.
The Trusts Newsletter Archive has a wealth of information about some of the Architect’s who have shaped the building landscape of the town, and there are several articles about these architects.