Giving new life to an existing building, improving visitor access and providing information about the SSSI and ancient woodland on the Heights of Abraham estate.

The ‘Vision’ takes shape at the Heights of Abraham, Matlock Bath, Derbyshire as groundworks are completed and buildings repurposed. The vision is to bring the estate’s history back into focus as it continues to play a leading role in Derbyshire tourism.

Beneath where the bridge stood, 3,600 Roman objects were found. Our job was to interpret and visualise how the bridge may have looked and been used.

Titled, A Mirror on the Past, the exhibition reflects on how fashion and dress codes have evolved over the last 250 years and how dressing for a day out has changed from high cost, high fashion and ‘Sunday best’ to the very casual attire of shorts and tee shirts we see today.

Woodland Corner: a classroom, exhibition, demonstration area and picnic spot. Developed as a stand alone venue within the woodland environment.

Covid-19 has made many demands on venues to keep their visiting public safe. We worked with our client to create more all weather outdoor spaces using historic reference as our inspiration.

Improved visitor access to the Heights of Abraham has been secured following the proposed closure by Network Rail of the pedestrian route from Matlock Bath. The new raised walkway provides a safe and attractive route to the estate.

Monumental recently completed a heritage review and the creation of the ‘Heights Vision’. Decision-makers now have reference material, a master plan and strategy to identify how the estate’s heritage can be used for thematic interpretation and engagement with modern audiences.

Dr Aaron Watson has joined Kilmartin Museum as a Project Manager and Researcher.

Earlier in the year, Aaron Watson was interviewed at an archaeological site in western Scotland for the first episode in the new series of BBC TV’s Grand Tours of Scotland’s Lochs, which was broadcast this week.

This May and June, Aaron Watson has been working with with two media companies on film projects in Argyll, Orkney and Wiltshire.

Aaron Watson has presented a research paper to the Theoretical Archaeology Group conference, hosted by Cardiff University.

Aaron Watson has been interviewed by BBC Radio 4 for an episode of Open Country. Aaron was asked to interpret prehistoric rock carvings in the light of excavations he co-directed with Professor Richard Bradley.

Earlier in the year Kilmartin Museum launched a crowdfunding campaign featuring our photography. The Museum recently announced that it has now raised the funds required to preserve the Coll Hoard. 

After crossing the wintry Cairngorm mountains from Inverness, Aaron Watson had the chance to visit one of a series of Pearls in Peril panels Monumental produced for Scottish Natural Heritage in 2016.

Aaron Watson spent a day working with Dr. Sharon Webb, Curator at Kilmartin Museum, photographing a variety of vulnerable Bronze Age artefacts excavated on the Isle of Coll. The images are to be used for a crowdfunding appeal to secure funding to conserve these remarkable objects.

This morning Aaron Watson recorded an interview for the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4. It was about the possibilities offered by visualisation technologies, such as Virtual Reality, for archaeological interpretations of the past.

New information panels designed by Aaron Watson and Steve Keeling for West Cumbria Rivers Trust and Scottish Natural Heritage. The first is now on display at Ennerdale Bridge providing an overview of the life of the freshwater mussel and the vital role they play in providing us with clean drinking water.

Our ongoing work for this long standing client has recently included new café terrace facilities to improve the catering operation. This is in addition to our involvement in the estate management process, where Monumental is bringing the historic aspects of the site to greater prominence through information panels and the reinterpretation of key locations.

A film commissioned by Kilmartin Museum to support their major redevelopment project which launches this year. The film will play a dual role in communicating the Museum’s work to a wider audience and as part of the fundraising raising process.

A simple question: could we film wild Atlantic salmon, underwater, during their annual migration to the Lake District? 

Three panels featuring artwork by Aaron Watson have been unveiled at some of Anglesey’s most iconic heritage sites. The artwork above is for Bryn Celli Ddu, portraying the midsummer sunrise upon which this monument is aligned.

Living Symbols of Kilmartin Glen was made in collaboration with the community of Kilmartin Glen, and explores the interpretation of prehistoric rock art. Contributors included foresters, scallop divers, charity groups, artists and school children.