The 200th anniversary of two international bridges being casted in the Milton Ironworks in Barnsley was celebrated last night.

Research and the history of the bridges was projected onto the outside of a building within the Elsecar Heritage Centre. Large crowds gathered to watch and commemorate the end of a 15 month community project. 

Steve Poole, 57, is a video artist who was involved in making the projection. He said: “This has been a great project, and it’s been ambitious. It really engaged people. 

“It’s local and situated and I think that’s a really interesting use of projection mapping. It wasn’t too much of a spectacle, it’s simply trying to tell a story in a place where that story happened.”  

This marked the end of the Building Bridges Project, which saw Barnsley Museums work with the community to celebrate the village’s heritage.

Gemma Clarke, Sector Specialist of the Elsecar Bridging Project, said: “We have worked with many community groups, schools and families during the last few months to build cardboard bridges and learn about this fascinating history.”

The project was facilitated by £90 thousand of funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund in July 2023. 

The two bridges were designed by engineer Marc Brunel, and transported to a French territory in the Indian Ocean, called La Reunion, in 1823.

The video made reference to the slave trade and plantation on Reunion Island. 

Mr Poole said: “I’ve been doing this for about 11 years, and this is probably one of the first projects that has had to tell such a story. 

“I think maybe five or six years ago, we may not have paid enough attention to that, but it felt really important to acknowledge that these bridges were going to an area that was deeply involved in the slave trade.

“There was all sorts of injustice around the bridges. We weren’t telling the story about that but we couldn’t ignore it. We did quite a lot of soul searching when thinking how to include it.” 

Wayne Sables, 44, is an independent filmmaker, film director and projection mapper, was working with Mr Poole as part of the project. He said: “I thought the turnout was great. It’s always difficult with these kinds of events because you never know who is going to come or what the weather is going to do. 

“To have eyes on the project makes those hundreds of hours of work worthwhile.”