The Story of Elizabeth Fort Comes to Life with our Interpretative Audioguide
From the first earthen fort built on this site over 400 years ago, to rebellion following the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, its use as a convict depot in the early 19th century and a base for British troops during the War of Independence, the fascinating 400 year old history of Elizabeth Fort is brought to life with our site-based audioguide.
Abarta Heritage was delighted to be awarded the contract to develop the audioguide script and system for Cork City’s Elizabeth Fort. Working on this project gave the team the opportunity to become familiar with the military fort’s diverse and fascinating history and its place within the story of Cork’s development. We produced nine tracks in all that can be listened to as you explore this imposing medieval 1.5 acre fortification. A large proportion of the 60,000 visitors to the site in 2018 were from overseas, therefore, we also had the audioguide translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Irish and Italian.
In addition to the audioguide, a new permanent exhibition entitled ‘Walls, Women, Water’ by Deirdre Black & Associates also opened at Elizabeth Fort in 2019. The exhibition tells the story of the development both of the fort and of Cork, recounting such tragic stories as the 150 female convicts and their children whose last steps on dry land were from Elizabeth Fort to their ill-fated ship, ’The Neva’, on which all but six perished.
Cork City Council is a partner in the EU Atlantic Area ‘Maritime, Military & Industrial Atlantic Heritage’ (MMIAH) project which has provided significant European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) to improve the Elizabeth Fort visitor experience. MMIAH is concerned with the sustainable recovery and re-use of under-utilised elements of the MMIAH heritage of coastal Atlantic cities. Cork is one of nine European cities involved in MMIAH since 2017: working with Limerick, Liverpool, Plymouth, Caen-Normandie, La Rochelle, Ferrol, Cadiz and Ílhavo.
The Audioguide System
Abarta Heritage has partnered with the Orpheo Group based in France for our audioguide hardware. Orpheo is one of the world’s leading suppliers of tour guide system hardware. Their devices are designed for reliability and heavy repeated use, and are used at world famous locations such as Sydney Opera House, Grand Central Station in New York, the Kremlin Museum, the Palace of Versailles and the Louvre. Abarta Heritage and Orpheo have worked together on a number of other projects here in Ireland, including the Ros Tapestry, Co. Wexford and Athlone Castle.
THE DESIGN PROCESS
Thoroughly researched; expertly written; recorded, produced and translated by professionals; Abarta Heritage is the leading producer of audioguides in Ireland.
As the project manager, Roisin developed a work schedule and assigned tasks to individual team members for the duration of the project. We thoroughly researched the history of Elizabeth Fort and found many fascinating stories and characters associated with it down through the centuries.
Working with a script that was already in use at the site, Conor undertook further research around many of the fascinating episodes relating to the history of Elizabeth Fort. The existing script was then developed and embellished to include additional interesting stories and details.
