ONE of Newport’s oldest pieces of history has been thrust into the 21st Century through experiments with new technology, helping tell the medieval ship’s tale.

The project’s consultant shipwright, Pat Tanner, introduced a video game, 3D printing and virtual reality to explore the way guests may interact with Newport’s history in the future.

Mr Tanner set up sensors around The Ship Centre and mounted guests with VR headsets before they travelled back in time.

At an annual meeting of the Newport Medieval Ship’s Expert Panel, including representatives from the National Museum Wales, cadw, the Mary Rose Trust and conservation partners York Archaeological Trust, Mr Tanner debuted the virtual world, which brings the ship to life.

Phil Cox, chairman of Friends of Newport Ship who run The Ship Centre: “It’s like nothing we have experienced before. You can jump on board and look around - look up and see the masts, down and see the deck. I was walking around exploring. You really are immersed.”

This was a pilot but The Ship Centre is currently pricing the VR technology.

“This will form the subject of a bid for funding to create a system that will be available for visitors at the Medieval Ship Centre to experience,” Mr Cox added.

“At this point the model is quite simple, but very effective, and will be further development to create a fully polished public-friendly version,” Mr Tanner said.

Previously, a fictional adventurer named TinTin explored medieval Newport with the visitors in a video game, marking the ship’s first introduction to digital storytelling.

Using digitised images, Mr Tanner was created a 300-piece one-tenth scale model of the medieval ship using a 3D printer.

Mr Cox added: “Leading on from digitally 3D modelling the ship from the individual timbers assembled to show the minimum reconstruction of our mighty ship, Mr Tanner has created a virtual reality version that can be viewed using a special headset connected to a powerful computer.”

The Ship Centre is open every Friday, Saturday and bank holiday through until the end of the November half term from 10.30am until 4.00pm.