VISITORS to Corbridge will be able to follow the village’s history through the centuries as it has become one of the first places outside of London to feature on a national app.

The Corbridge Village Trail provides a guided tour around the village telling its story from the Romans to present day, through the app TrailTale.

Local historian David Waugh has drawn up a heritage route around the village, working in chronological order through history, and has also given talks on the village’s history.

Starting with the Romans, his route takes visitors around 14 points in the village, including the church’s Saxon tower and through the Norman doorway, to eventually end up back in this century at the end of their trail.

“The idea is that people walk around the village with their smartphone looking to see the history of the village,” he explained.

“In some towns you can go back and forth, jumping between the Romans and the Saxons for example, and it can become a bit confusing unless you did A-level history.

“This is in historically chronological order to make it easier to follow.”

After being approached by TrailTale about bringing the route into the app, the app’s makers asked for photographs to accompany each stopping point, which is where local photographer Ian Wylie came in.

Now when visitors look at their app at each point, they will see a picture of where they should be – helping to keep them on track – with text underneath giving them a bit of history about the point where they are stood.

The moving map tracks users’ route through the village with a small dot, making it easier for them to follow the trail.

Mr Waugh said the idea was first spoken about around a year ago, when they were told by the app’s developer that he would like Corbridge to be the first location outside of London to feature a trail on there.

In the meantime other locations have been added – but Corbridge still remains one of the first outside of the capital.

Mr Waugh added: “It’s quite amazing because I have my sons who have higher degrees in computer stuff and my granddaughter is doing an A-level in computers and here’s me, the least computer literate in the whole family, but I’m the first to have an app. It feels strange that I should have helped produce something like this.”

TrailTale is available to download through iPhone or Andriod app stores.