Using Virtual Reality headsets library visitors will be transported to 1578 when Queen Elizabeth I visited Norfolk

Do you have what it takes to join Walsingham’s ‘Watchers’ and ensure Her Majesty’s safety? Complete the challenges to be granted your permission to spy! You may even receive a letter from Her Majesty…

Putting on a Progress 1578: Pageantry, People and Places: Immersive Experience will transport people back in time to discover how and why, in the summer of 1578, Queen Elizabeth I travelled from London through East Anglia. This Royal Progress of 200 people included the royal household, members of the government, advisors, and even foreign ambassadors. Most were visiting East Anglia for the first time.

The Elizabethan age so often celebrated as a period of glorious national achievement, was one of intense insecurity. Tormented by enemies at home and abroad, the Queen knew that her hold on the crown was always precarious. But before plotters and recusants could be brought to book, they had to be caught. To help them do this, Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth’s Spymaster General, and her government ministers created a network of spies and informers. These were the forerunners of MI5 and were termed ‘Watchers’. They blended into society by operating in pubs, markets, alleyways and at the royal court.

POP 1578 virtual reality headset users will be immersed in the heart of this perilous journey to help protect Queen and country. Travelling with the court Watchers will enter authentic Elizabethan rooms and listen in on conversations between the Queen and her Privy councillors. To ensure the suitability of new Watchers challenges will be set and reports sent, in the guise of postcards to the Queen, if you leave a return address she may even write back to you!

Please contact us if you would like to be involved.