Bristol 2014 is part of the First World War Centenary Partnership
Bristol 2014 is supported by:
It is coordinated by Bristol Cultural Development Partnership.
Great War Stories Map and App
Where did men queue up to join the army in 1914?
Where did a man get away with the murder of his wife?
Where did a conscientious objector put the army on trial?
And where were some of the world’s first female police officers trained?
The Great War Stories map is a specially created layer of the Know Your Place website pinpointing the locations of some of the many fascinating stories generated by the First World War in Bristol. Discover captivating connections to the past including strange urban myths, long-secret family anecdotes and wild rumours, as well as a wealth of facts and figures.
In addition to the website version of the map, you can download a free smartphone app to use while you are out and about in the city. The app includes suggested routes for walks that link some of the sites.
The initial content of the Great War Stories map has been developed by Eugene Byrne, but we want many more stories and locations, based on your family anecdotes and legends, or your own research into your family history, or the history of your neighbourhood.
This is the biggest attempt yet to map a huge and diverse collection of stories about Bristol’s First World War experience and share them with the public.
Making your own contribution is easy!
Just select the “Contribute” tab menu panel on the Know Your Place website and complete the “advanced form”. Further instructions are HERE.
Any information you submit to Know Your Place remains your property, and is used on the website and app with your permission.
Please ensure that any pictures you upload are the property of you or your family. If we cannot be sure that images are submitted with the permission of copyright owners, we cannot publish them.
About the map app
The Great War Stories map app was developed by Calvium, a team of ex-HP labs engineers, based in the Pervasive Media Studio; part of Bristol’s Watershed complex.
It has been tested on a range of devices. If you have an IOS or Android phone that is less than two years old it will probably work for you. It may also work on older models, though you may get occasional error messages.
The speed with which you will be able to view the images and connect to external links is determined by the connectivity speed of your service provider. Images will appear as a grey box while they are uploading (most stories don't have images).
If you lose your internet connection at any point, you will still be able to read the stories by clicking on the "pins" but you won't see the map itself.
Make sure you accept when asked if you wish to use your current location - this will show you where you are on the map. We have deliberately chosen not to have the phone "buzz" you when you are near a story point - in some places, particularly around the city centre, the stories are so densely packed, your phone will be constantly alerting you!
Where a number of stories are close together, you'll see they are clustered with a number indicating how many stories are there. Simply tap on the cluster to zoom in and see the individual stories.
When following the suggested walks, bear in mind that the indicated route is just a way of linking the story points and not necessarily the precise route you should take. Be especially careful crossing roads - always look for the safest place to do so before picking up the trail again.
PDF Versions of Walks
We've uploaded PDFs of the text of the three walks featured on the map app. Our thanks to Eugene Byrne for adapting his original text and for Hannah Wainwright who volunteered to test the routes on foot.
15-20 minutes. Includes stories of immorality in the dark, the corrupting of young minds, the war crime of U.86 and the Zeppelin raid that never was.
35-40 minutes. Includes stories of a seaplane factory, 'the last fighting Tommy', the Bristol Training School for Women Patrols and Police, and the piano boom.
35-40 minutes. Includes stories of obscene verse, the Inquiry Bureau, Mrs Elizabeth Pearce ('the soldiers' friend') and caterpillar tractors.
Comment
Looking good Working well on my Nexus 7. Maps etc. seem to be fine. It's going to take quite a while to work through the many fascinating stories.
