Wide view across a grassy castle courtyard showing a black 3D scanning camera mounted on a three-legged tripod near the centre foreground. The scanner is positioned to record the surrounding historic architecture. On the left, a red-brown building with stone sections and a crenellated square tower stands behind low walls and black metal railings. Across the rear of the lawn, extensive castle ruins form an irregular line of weathered masonry, with broken wall tops, openings and remnants of former rooms. Large evergreen trees frame both sides of the scene, including a particularly broad tree on the right. Picnic benches and small visitor information structures sit near the distant walls. An overcast sky hangs above the open green space and historic remains.

Case Study -
Abergavenny Castle

Destination For All

Abergavenny Castle & Museum is one of the town’s most important historic destinations, combining centuries of heritage with a museum that tells the wider story of Abergavenny, its landscape and its people.

As part of Monmouthshire County Council’s Destination for All initiative, ANI created an immersive digital twin designed to give visitors the opportunity to explore and understand the site before they arrive.

Importantly, the Castle & Museum does not sit in digital isolation. Its immersive experience sits alongside the wider Abergavenny town digital twin, connecting one of the town’s most significant heritage attractions with the streets, businesses, attractions and stories that surround it.

View from a quiet paved road toward the entrance of a historic castle site. A small two-storey red-brown brick building with a steep slate roof stands behind black iron gates and low, weathered stone walls. Visitor information boards and colourful signs are attached to the walls and railings around the entrance. Beyond the building, substantial sections of ruined stonework rise among mature trees, including a tall rectangular tower on the right with large openings in its crumbling walls. The road curves gently past the site, bordered by double yellow lines. Above, a broad blue sky with scattered white clouds creates a bright backdrop, while trees and distant hills frame the castle grounds.

Walk the grounds of Abergavenny Castle

Rough stone steps lead upward through a gap in a low, weathered castle wall and into an open area of the historic grounds. The uneven steps and surrounding masonry dominate the foreground, with grass and small plants growing around their edges. Beyond is a broad gravel area and lawn containing a wooden picnic table. A substantial red-brown brick building stands in the middle distance, incorporating older stonework and backed by a tall square crenellated tower. Broken sections of ancient masonry remain visible beside the building, while mature evergreen and deciduous trees surround the site. The mixture of preserved building, ruined fortifications and informal visitor space illustrates how the surviving castle structures are arranged within the landscaped grounds.

Challenges

Historic destinations naturally present accessibility challenges. Uneven surfaces, changes in level, steps and protected structures can make physical alterations difficult or, in some cases, impossible.

For visitors with accessibility requirements, simply knowing these challenges exist is often not enough. They need to understand what the environment actually looks like, where barriers occur, what alternative access may be available and what they can expect when they arrive.

The challenge was therefore not to change the history of the site, but to make information about that historic environment available in a far more visual and useful way.

ANI Approach

ANI captured Abergavenny Castle & Museum as an immersive digital environment, enabling visitors to explore the destination remotely and gain a much clearer understanding of the site before travelling.

The experience provides a visual representation of the Castle, Museum and surrounding areas, while creating opportunities to layer accessibility information, visitor guidance, historical content and storytelling throughout the digital journey.

Rather than replacing the physical visit, the digital twin is designed to give people greater confidence to make one.

Supporting Accessibility
and Visitor Confidence

Accessibility starts with information.

The digital twin allows visitors to familiarise themselves with entrances, routes, surfaces, changes in level, internal spaces and facilities before arriving. Where additional assistance or alternative access is available, this information can be incorporated directly into the experience.

For some visitors, this provides reassurance. For others, it allows them to make informed decisions about whether a particular area is suitable for their individual requirements.

That knowledge can transform the experience from arriving somewhere unfamiliar to arriving somewhere that already feels understood.

Connecting the Castle to Abergavenny

One of the most important aspects of the project is how the Castle & Museum sits alongside the wider Abergavenny digital twin.

A visitor discovering Abergavenny virtually can explore the town centre, learn about its history, discover independent businesses and attractions, and then continue their journey into the Castle & Museum experience.

Likewise, someone initially discovering Abergavenny through the Castle can be encouraged to explore more of the town.

This creates a connected digital visitor journey rather than a collection of isolated virtual tours.

The Castle becomes another destination within Abergavenny’s growing digital landscape, linking heritage with retail, hospitality, community, accessibility and local storytelling.

Enhancing the Town Experience

Connecting the Castle & Museum with the Abergavenny digital twin extends the value of both experiences.

A heritage visitor can discover somewhere for lunch, explore the town’s independent shops or continue into another historic location. Someone planning a day in Abergavenny can understand how the Castle fits geographically and culturally into their visit before they arrive.

It also provides an opportunity to tell stories that extend beyond the Castle walls.

Historical events, people and places can be connected back to locations within the town, creating a digital thread between Abergavenny's past and the streets visitors experience today.

Instead of the digital journey ending when someone leaves the Castle, it encourages them to continue exploring.

A Connected Destination

The Abergavenny Castle & Museum project demonstrates ANI’s wider approach to immersive technology.

A digital twin can be valuable on its own, but its potential grows when it becomes part of something larger.

By connecting individual destinations with the Abergavenny town digital twin, visitors can move between heritage, businesses, attractions, public spaces and community facilities within a single interconnected digital experience.

Each destination adds another layer. Each connection creates another reason to explore.

Abergavenny Castle & Museum therefore becomes more than a virtual representation of an historic attraction.

It becomes part of a digital gateway into Abergavenny itself, helping visitors discover the town, understand its accessibility and experience more of what the destination has to offer.

A historic stone hall with high arched ceilings and exposed wooden beams, lit by natural light streaming through narrow stained-glass and arched windows. The room features long wooden benches arranged in rows facing a raised platform at the far end, where two carved wooden chairs sit beneath the arched window. Against the side walls are simple wooden tables and benches, while a red-and-green tapestry hangs near the center. The terracotta tiled floor and thick, aged stone walls give the space a medieval atmosphere, suggesting it was once used as a dining or gathering hall within a castle or fortress.

Take a tour of the immersive Abergavenny Castle

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Case Study - Abergavenny Castle