Domesday Project given new lease of life

The Domesday Project, a massive survey carried by schoolchildren into the state of Britain in 1986 to celebrate the 900th anniversary of William the Conqueror's original book, has been revived once again.

A new DVD version of the project, 'Domesday Community', was produced in collaboration between the BBC and the National Archives Office and contains all the text and photographs collected by the original pupils nearly two decades ago.

The Domesday Project was initially stored on the now obsolete Phillips LV-ROM laserdisc player. Although the project was intended to be installed in schools as an educational resource later, the system proved too expensive for educational budgets.

The decline of the project wasn't helped when the BBC department looking after it, the Interactive Video Department, was shut down when execs at the Beeb decided there wasn't a future in such new-fangled schemes.

As well as community information, the study threw up some interesting insights into technology in Britain at the time.

Jeffrey Darlington, project manager for the data preservation, said: "There's a surprising amount of data missing for London. The project information was compiled on BBC Micro computers, but as many schools in the capital were using Sinclairs, which weren't compatible with the Domesday system, their information couldn't be included."

The Domesday Project is now available to be viewed, free, at the National Archives in Kew.