Chichester City Walls
Chichester’s City Walls are the most complete surviving Roman city wall in Britain.
The walls have had a rich and vivid history from the 3rd century AD to the present day, and in many ways are the story of Chichester. However, for decades the Walls had largely been ignored as a heritage asset, with great unrealised potential as one of the city’s best tourism features. With a successful HLF application under its belt, Chichester District Council wished to put the Walls back into the centre of the heritage tourism offer, and to remind the local community of their unique and precious asset.
After some stiff competition, and the most rigorous financial assessment we have been subject to, Imagemakers were appointed to prepare an Interpretation Strategy and Branding Scheme.
We began by investigating the visitor experience and the non-existent identity of the Walls. We found that visitors mostly stumbled upon the City Walls, and that a Walls Walk implemented many years ago relied on ageing and very poor signage. In response we devised a range of design options for a strong and consistent brand identity for the Walls. The preferred option was chosen by the City Walls Partnership to be worked up into a full brand identity and design guidelines.
We then set about planning the interpretation. The personality of the Walls, as embodied by the ‘brand’, was an important starting point. We also worked closely with the District archaeologist in understanding the Walls’ significance, its individual sites and features, and the constraints of working with a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Through this research we became excited about the Walls’ Roman origins and the way were protected with huge catapults known as ‘ballistas’. After the Romans left the Walls became an important defence against Viking raiders and then the dangers of a French invasion, and ultimately the focus for bloody Civil war siege.
In response we developed proposals for a wide range of projects. These start with a choice of 3 trails of varying lengths to explore the Walls, supported by a leaflet, waymakers, orientation signage, interpretive panels and plaques on the ground. We developed proposals for a guidebook, a CGI rich smart phone ‘app’, a Roman Gateway Tromp L’Oiel mural, and pavement embedded gateway markers. Finally, we specified supporting projects including a website, an academic publication, an events programme and formal education outputs.
