The history of two of the UK’s major slave ports; the legend of the monkey
hanged for treason by Hartlepool fishermen; the stories of the Thames
floating smallpox hospital Atlas, and the couple who rode a scooter from
Southampton to Australia are among those included on a new website that has
recently been launched. PortCities UK explores the history of five ports,
the events and people who shaped them and the communities that developed
around them.
Partners from organisations in London, Bristol, Southampton, Hartlepool and
Liverpool have worked to create the site - www.portcities.org.uk -
supported by the National Lottery good causes distributor, The New
Opportunities Fund.
PortCities UK invites visitors to experience the past by exploring the
impact that major rivers and ports have had on the present. Selected
accounts of events, people and industry create a rich picture of the
cities. The interactive website enables public access to images from the
historic archives, museums and libraries of the five partners. The online
collection follows the digitisation of over 60,000 photographs, paintings,
drawings and documents, most now displayed for the first time.
PortCities UK is a one-stop resource for people with an interest in
exploring history, and for those with links to port cities through family
history or work. The site aims to bring together the diverse threads of the
UK’s ports and rivers to provide an entertaining and interesting learning
platform for users.
The strong interactive element to the site allows users to create their own
virtual gallery, play games and listen to historical events from hundreds
of audio/video files. You can also step back in history and explore some of
London's riverside with printable walk trails.
PortCities UK will hopefully become a powerful educational and historical
resource that may one day evolve to include other cities in the UK.
Damien Posterino
Marketing
PortCities Project
Ph: 020 8858 4422 (Ext 6489)
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