Timespan Virtual Museum

Transport  to the pre-Clearances township of Caen two miles north-west of Helmsdale, where everything is exactly as it was 200 years ago.

Caen was a real township in the Strath of Kildonan where people raised families and tended the land and their animals.  Life here came to an abrupt end in 1825.  All that remains of the site today are clusters of stones, but the Timespan Museum has rebuilt the township virtually in an immersive digital realm, to give users an up close and personal view of life in 19th century rural Sutherland.

Based on Ordinance Survey data, the Virtual World of Caen is an authentic reconstruction of the landscape with its longhouses and outbuildings both inside and out.  Thanks to finds from an excavation carried out in Summer 2013, the virtual model is very accurate.

The virtual township of this small museum in a remote area was developed with Open Virtual Worlds from the University of St Andrews.  Advances in 3D technology and the digital literacies associated with computer gaming, make it possible to open up the past and explore it in exciting new ways.

Interacting with the township through virtual reality brings history alive to digital visitors both nationally and across the globe.