The ‘Hayle Churks’ iPhone app is a location-based audio walk around the coastal post-industrial town of Hayle on St. Ives Bay, Cornwall. The app automatically triggers location-specific memories adding another layer of experience to the landscape and offering an insight into those who lived there by walking where they walked, seeing Hayle through their eyes & hearing stories spoken in their words and accents. It is a walk through stories rather than a guided tour so be prepared to piece together the evidence you are given – stories, information on screen & archive photos plus clues in the physical landscape.
‘Churks’ is a colloquial word for cinders.
You will need to use headphones.
Features:
• Designed to be experienced in Hayle using the ‘Walk in Hayle’ button. The suggested route is marked on the map on screen. The walk starts at the Hayle Heritage Centre gate in Foundry Square. The walk follows the water and continues along Penpol Terrace, goes over the bridge, along North Quay, along the coast path (or beach at low tide) to Harvey’s Towans, nips along the edge of the Towans (sand dunes) past the cricket field, along Clifton Terrace, walk up and back along King George V Memorial Walk, back over the bridge and up the old train line footpath back to Foundry Square. The walk can be split into sections to try at different times or walked in one go in approx. two hours.
• GPS triggers location-specific memories & songs.
• The ‘Listen at Home’ button allows you to experience the app from anywhere in the world or to take a break and continue the experience while sitting down.
• There are links to archives and resources to get more information & context.
· Contribute to the continuing Hayle Oral History Project archive by adding your recorded or text story after the app experience.
· The Intro & the Instructions buttons offer information on use and what to expect.
· The Credits button gives you some background information & names of the contributors.
Learn about:
• the tiny personal and important public stories that have been experienced in this part of Hayle.
· Hayle’s Big Day - Hayle Regatta followed by the Carnival.
· Hayle’s historic conflict between the rival foundries in the early 1800s & its lasting effect on the town
• Hayle’s North Quay, once a bustling area of life & industry now cleared for re-development.
• World War II in Hayle – including the arrival of the American soldiers & Italian PoWs.
· The environmental impact of the Hayle Harbour sluicing & dredging decisions.
Accessibility:
. To avoid having to look at the screen while you walk please print out a map and make a note of the route.
· If moving around Hayle please note that the route section between Harvey’s Towans car park and Clifton Terrace is not suitable for wheelchair users. There are narrow sandy paths with rough terrain. But don’t worry, missed stories can be accessed by tapping the ‘Listen at Home’ button and then by tapping the on screen markers.
Lucy Frears created the Hayle Churks app using Hayle Oral History Project recorded memories and newly recorded interviews. The app was created using Calvium’s AppFurnace app-making toolkit and partly funded by the Heritage Lottery Funds All Our Stories grant in collaboration with Falmouth University’s Academy of Innovation & Research (AIR) and as part of European Social Funded practice based doctoral research. Many archives have been used in the research and to provide images, in particular, the Hayle Community Archive.
Please feel free to comment &/ or send you recorded or written stories & photos to Hayle History on Facebook, historypin and blogger. Tweet @haylehistory. Email – hayle[dot]history[at]btconnect[dot]com.