New Heysham tourist trail app gives great insight

The new app, called Heysham Head-Morecambe Bay – which can be downloaded fromthe Apple app store or Google Play – is an interactive journey with a commentary about the history and inhabitants of the site.

I downloaded the app onto my phone and with my headphones in, started my tour at St Peter’s Church.With GPS switched on on the phone, I could see exactly where I was on the map in front of me. The commentary led me to parts of the churchyard I had never even noticed before.

The features I found included an Anglo Saxon cross shaft, the hogback stone inside the church and the reconstructed Anglo-Saxon doorway in the corner of the churchyard. After this, pressing number 2 on the interactive map took me to the Rectory Woods. I was directed up stone steps hewn out of the existing rock and learned how there was a hospital for injured soldiers in World War One on the grounds.

Going up onto the barrows at Heysham, I learned all about their prehistory, with several primitive tools discovered in 1991 that dated back to between 9000 and 5500 BC.

It was a fascinating insight into an area I had grown up exploring since I was a child.

I bypassed quite a few points on the map as I would not have had time to complete them all, but finished up at the stone graves carved out of rock made famous on an album cover for heavy metal band, Black Sabbath. I learned that the graves are unique in Britain and their function was not properly understood.

Despite living and growing up here, I found out a great deal more about Heysham Head from doing this tour, albeit a shortened version. It was an extremely enjoyable and educational way to spend an hour at the beautiful Heysham Head.