Project Description
The project will engage the local community to increase awareness of the Mountsandel site in Coleraine. Mountsandel is considered as the “earliest known site of civilisation” on the island of Ireland. Through engaging and enthusing local people the project will provide opportunities to train local tour/walking guides, encourage the inclusion or support of biodiversity champions/volunteers, development of skills for local storytellers, the use of the river weaving its way through the immediate landscape and examine how it flowed through time, in terms of the layers of history witnessed from Mesolithic to Gaelic Ulster, to the Plantation, through to the Industrial Revolution to modern-day Coleraine.
The site will help to reinvigorate the story of Coleraine, its hugely significant asset, the river Bann and the flow and ebb of the stories, migration and an opportunity to analyse and compare the past with the present.
The programme will address the following key issues:
- The development of this site and how it challenges us to consider questions around our identity in terms of genetics, migration of peoples and cultural expression.
- The development and potential animation of the site and how it provides us with an original and a perfect setting to demonstrate shared space, the legacy of the land and river as an indelible mark in our landscape for generations in the past and generations to come.
- To address and work through some of the peace and reconciliation challenges that we continue to face and attempt to surmount.
- To present Mountsandel and its environs as an opportunity to explore, discover, interact, is the perfect and non-threatening environment to bring people together, in order to break down barriers, debunk myths, contribute to the transformation of mindsets
By the end of the programme, the following targets will have been achieved:
- 430 participants recruited to the project
- Increased cross-community and inter-cultural footfall into the Mountsandel /Bann River.
- Increased footfall and cross-community mobility within the town because of the regeneration at Mountsandel.
- Increased understanding of local history in the modern-day context of Coleraine.
- The delivery of a “Living History” experience, looking at a comprehensive educational resource, which is developed and delivered by educators
- Upgrading of accessible pathways, planting, infrastructure, animation, handrails, directional signage and interpretive panels.
BUDGET: £235,217