3D laser Scan of Mont Orgueil Castle for Channel 4s Time Team

Digital Surveys has once again used its laser scanning technology to reveal the secrets of the past – on this occasion, at a heritage site on the Island of Jersey.

Fresh from scanning the keep and auditor’s tower at Alnwick Castle, Ben Bennett, director of Digital Surveys, was delighted to be contacted by Tim Taylor, owner of Channel 4’s Time Team brand and producer of the series, to survey Mont Orgeuil Castle.

In the Time Team shows, Tony Robinson and a team of experts travel the country to investigate a wide range of archaeological sites of historical importance.

Mont Orgueil Castle, which for 600 years protected Jersey against French invasion, was built in the early 13th Century and can lay claim to an interesting history – from prison, to spy station, to seat of government – becoming symbolic of Jersey’s pride and independence.

The Time Team knew that activity at Mont Orgueil in the early Tudor period was poorly documented but believed that developments in artillery would have made the castle, originally designed for bow and arrow warfare, vulnerable to attack.

So with a desire to know more about this period in its history, Tim Taylor asked Digital Surveys to use its laser scanning technology to reveal the secrets of the west facing batteries with particular emphasis on the thickness of the walls, the idea being to develop a programme around their construction and discuss how such fortifications required modification to progress them from providing protection against arrows to artillery.

Ben commented:  “I was interviewed for the programme about laser scanning technology by Tony Robinson.  Laser scanning is ideal for this type of heritage project.  I then spent a week scanning as much of the castle as possible and measuring the thickness of the original and modified walls.

“With the point cloud data we obtained, we were able to convert this into a solid meshed polygon model to provide a highly accurate 3D model which can be animated to use in the show.

“Trying to model the castle from scratch using traditional surveying techniques would have been a very slow process indeed and would have resulted in only a basic model, but with laser scanning, every bump and crack is revealed making it much more realistic. By scanning the exterior of the castle together with some of the internal rooms, we can provide precise wall thicknesses by cutting sections through the model at any point.

“Laser scanning opens up a host of new ways for visualising a project in its true location and in this case, creating a snapshot in time, which in effect has digitally preserved this wonderful heritage site.

The Time Team had learned about Digital Surveys from reading about their work at Alnwick Castle and Tim Taylor was keen to discover how laser scanning could assist his team in finding out more about Mont Orgueil.  He said:

“We decided we would work the laser scanning into the show as a means of investigating the thickness of the castle walls.  The focus of the programme is going to be on the castle defences. With the invention of gunpowder extremely thick battery walls were built to protect the castle.

“We are very pleased with the high quality 3D model Ben has created.  We look forward to introducing the laser scanning technology into the show and at the same time, demonstrating its capabilities.

“I am sure we will work with Digital Surveys again on future projects.”

The Mont Orgueil broadcast is scheduled to be aired at some stage in 2011.