Final Report - Unpath'd Waters: Marine and Maritime Collections in the UK

Sloane, Barney; Unpath'd Waters Consortium

doi:10.5281/zenodo.14888571

Published February 19, 2025 | Version v1

Report Open

Final Report - Unpath'd Waters: Marine and Maritime Collections in the UK

1. Historic England, London

Contributors

Project members:

1. Historic England, London
2. Wessex Archaeology
3. University of Portsmouth
4. Bangor University
5. Museum of London Archaeology
6. Nautical Archaeology Society
7. Archaeology Data Service
8. Maritime Archaeology Trust
9. Glasgow School of Art
10. University of Southampton
11. National Maritime Museum
12. Manx National Heritage
13. Historic England
14. University of Ulster
15. University of Bradford
16. Mary Rose Trust
17. Historic Environment Scotland
18. Department of Communities Northern Ireland
19. University College London
20. Marine Environmental Data and Information Network
21. Ulster University
22. University of York Department of Archaeology
23. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
24. University of York

The UK has a rich maritime heritage. It is impossible to tell the story of our islands without talking about our relationship with the sea. This maritime past is becoming increasingly important. People are more aware of our exploitation of the sea and topics such as colonialism, slavery and immigration.

Unpath’d Waters therefore sought to increase interaction with the UK’s maritime heritage by making it easier to research and easier for the public to discover and share stories in new ways. Despite its importance, it is not always easy to study our maritime heritage. Records, maps and objects are scattered across hundreds of different archives, museums, libraries and galleries. A large part of our work has been to develop new ways of making information across these different collections easy to search and find.

This will help everyone – from researchers asking new questions to members of the public having direct access to records. We hope this will encourage more experts from all disciplines to use maritime collections in their own work. To make sure this project has a lasting impact, we have published all our methods, outputs, code and research so anyone can use it in their work and help the future of UK maritime heritage.

Files