About

In a nutshell, the HistoryScapes app seeks to connect people to landscape heritage at National Trust locations. We know this can be challenging. Evidence of the past can be invisible, buried, layered in complex ways, and difficult to read. New infrastructure is often neither practical nor desirable. HistoryScapes aims to engage you with landscape through historical storytelling that requires only a smartphone.

Every trail is led by a guide character. Most are based on real historical figures, who, like Quarry Bank’s young mill apprentice, have left only a few traces in the archives. Over 8-10 sites, hooked to a period map and triggered by GPS, these critically constructed voices immerse you in their lives and times, connecting you to place in a fresh, immediate way while expanding heritage interpretation at each property. At each site there is also ‘Discover More’ audio, commentary that provides context and a view from the present.

HistoryScapes is a collaboration between the National Trust and University of Exeter. The platform and approach are based on the the university’s award-winning HistoryCity apps. For the pilot stage we chose three diverse National Trust properties with very different stories: Saltram’s mansion and estate outside of Plymouth; the industrial heritage landscape of Quarry Bank near Manchester; and the more open countryside of Hindhead and the Devil’s Punch Bowl in Surrey, one of the Trust’s early acquisitions. This was joined, in early 2026, by a trail set in 1940 at Greenway in Devon, Agatha Christie’s country retreat, and we hope to expand further over the next year.

HistoryScapes focuses on depth of engagement, with experiences rooted in the distinct stories specific to a place and which drive connection to it. Each project evolves as a close collaboration with the property’s team, with trails promoted online and onsite (eg. the Greenway poster below). Engagement is measured though analytics, an online visitor survey accessed in-app, and via property evaluation events. Feedback indicates that roughly 90 per cent of visitors gain a better knowledge of the property and its history, feel more connected to it, and are more interested in protecting its heritage. The same percentage would like to see HistoryScapes at more locations.

The HistoryScapes steering group comprises Tom Dommett and Shannon Hogan for the National Trust; and Fabrizio Nevola and David Rosenthal at the University of Exeter.

To get the free HistoryScapes app, download from the ‘Home’ page or go to your phone store. To find out more about each trail, go to the ‘Stories’ page.

If you have tried HistoryScapes, on or off site, we would greatly value your feedback. There’s a quick survey here.

Website credits:
Map banner: Ordnance Survey, Devonshire Sheet CXXIV. Surveyed 1856, published 1869. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.
App screenshots are ©National Trust/University of Exeter. All other images are ©National Trust unless otherwise stated.