Discover Gainsborough | Virtual Reality Allows Audiences to experience the story of the Mayflower Voyage and its contemporary parallels

This year marks the 400 year anniversary since the Mayflower Voyage saw 102 passengers take the perilous journey from Plymouth to the America in search of a better life. To mark the occasion, Leicester-based arts organisation MBD has created a virtual reality experience that immerses audiences in the story of the momentous journey and explores the contemporary parallels with the early voyagers.

Due to be released this Summer, Mayflower Reflections, allows audiences to put on a Virtual Reality Headset from the comfort of their own home and find themselves transported back to the 1600s. As they hear of the story of these early settlers, viewers learn of how much has changed since the voyagers first settled on the land, and the similarities between their journey and the journey of millions of asylum seekers today.

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Arriving in Amsterdam

Eventually, the Pilgrims all made their way to Holland after managing to escape from England in the summer of 1608. Their journeys so far had, according to their chronicler William Bradford, captured the popular imagination:

“For by these so public troubles, in so many eminent places, their cause became famous.”

Continue reading “Reunited”

A partial escape and an enforced separation

We pick up the story from last week during high drama near Immingham, as the Pilgrim families are separated in their attempts to escape from England for Holland.

Continue reading “Separation”

Back in March, Gainsborough Old Hall had no choice but to close its doors due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Old Hall is still currently closed meaning that the public have not been able to enjoy their collections and exhibitions, including a display of work created by local schools.

Schools from across West Lindsey and North Nottinghamshire were invited to participate in the ‘Schools’ Pilgrim Exhibition’ which involved creating pieces or work inspired by the Mayflower story, which commemorates its 400^th anniversary this year.

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From Gainsborough to Immingham to Holland

After a failed first attempt to escape England from Boston on the south Lincolnshire coast, the Pilgrims needed to think again about their plans. They were still resolved to go, and so needed to come up with an alternative route.

Continue reading “Escape #2”

The Separatists are held in Boston

After making their way to the Lincolnshire coast near Boston, the Pilgrims were hoping to escape from England for new lives in Holland. But their secret escape plan was thwarted after they were betrayed by the master of the ship who had agreed to take them to Holland. Their ordeal in Boston was recalled by William Bradford in his diary years later:

“Being thus first, by the catchpole officers [sheriff’s deputies], rifled, & stripped of their money, books, and much other goods, they were presented to the magistrates, and messengers sent to inform the lords of the Counsel of them; and so they were committed toward.”

Continue reading “Arrest”

Sixty miles to the coast: attempting to flee from Boston

Once the Separatists made their minds up about fleeing from England in search of tolerance in Holland, they needed to find a means of escape. They were living inland, in Nottinghamshire and around Gainsborough, so they needed to make their way to the coast.

Continue reading “Escape #1”

Separatists forced to live secret lives

Religious life changed dramatically throughout the course of the 15^th and 16^th century. As each monarch changed, there were big changes in the way the Church expected people to practise their faith – and everyone was expected to follow the Church’s rules. If you didn’t, you were likely to find yourself before the Church courts facing a fine or worse.

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Seeking tolerance, spreading intolerance

Some of the early leaders of the Pilgrims/Separatists made important arguments in favour of religious tolerance at a time when this wasn’t a universally recognised right. By raising these issues, they began important conversations about what people should be allowed to do in their lives.

At this time, people were put in prison – and died – for their religious beliefs. The Gainsborough Separatist leader John Smyth began to argue for tolerance of all strands of Christianity whilst in exile in the Netherlands.

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The Pilgrims and providence

The Pilgrims had a strong belief in ‘providence’, which means the intervention of God’s will. They often saw providence in things that happened to them on their journeys, and it’s something William Bradford mentioned in his diary of their journeys and lives, Of Plimoth Plantation.

By holding this belief, it seemed to help them carry on, even in the face of what might have seemed to others insurmountable challenges. It’s important to remember too that at this time, four centuries ago, this was a time before modern science, medicine and technology which might have explained the way things in the world were differently.

Continue reading “Faith”