emmajlannie

01ram

Starting point: Derby Ram statue, junction of East Street and Albion/Exchange Street

Stand facing the ram, your toes pointing toward the granite heft of it. Press play.

It’s older than regiments, than teams. It began before things were widely written, back when tales were passed down from person to person, each one embellishing the original idea to make it their own, make it relevant to the lives of those around them. A ram, bigger than mountains, a ram of supernatural power, songs sung and stories told about its blood filling hollows in the earth to become rivers and lakes; its bones forming the landscape as we know it. The Derby Ram, it’s here in statue form, story made solid, and so it’s here we begin…

“The compact between writing and walking is almost as old as literature – a walk is only a step away from a story, and every path tells.”

– Robert Macfarlane, The Old Ways

Hello. Storymaps is a thing-in-progress, one map and fifteen-thousand ideas at a time. It grew from a love of psychogeography, of history and buildings, of stories and trees, and of looking up, seeking out the astonishing details that are often hiding in plain sight.

Storymaps was inspired by the idea that a city is a story that is still being written, every day, by the people in it, the people who walk its paths and breathe its air.

So, what is a storymap?

Well, maps are amazing, they come in all shapes and sizes, show different terrains or pinpoint specific kinds of places. But you have to look at them, and in doing so, it’s easy to miss other details along your journey. A storymap is an audio map, you listen to it, and it takes you on an adventure, exploring different parts of the city through facts and fiction, revealing new treasures along the way.

What new stories are you going to discover or create today?

photo: Handyside Bridge, over the River Derwent, Derby

Author: emmajlannie

Storymap One

Hello