K3D – Co. Kildare’s Heritage in 3D

Mullamast Carved Stone
Model by The Discovery Programme
Possibly the inauguration stone of the Uí Dúnlainge Kings of Leinster. Dated to circa AD500-600, the stone was discovered at Mullamast in South County Kildare in the late 19th century and is now housed in the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology, Kildare Street, Dublin. Note the La Tène carvings and sword grooves on the stone.

In recent years the technologies available to document objects, monuments, buildings, and landscapes in three-dimensions, have improved in accuracy while, at the same time, they have also become more affordable. As a result, three-dimensional representations of heritage objects and monuments are fast becoming ubiquitous in heritage interpretation and dissemination.

In keeping with these trends, County Kildare Federation of Local History Groups have added a new section to this website, K3D – Co. Kildare Heritage in 3D, which brings together in one place a selection of 3D models of Co. Kildare heritage objects and monuments created by heritage bodies, archaeologists, and enthusiasts (listed on the page K3D – Model Creators) who have uploaded their work to the 3D model sharing platform sketchfab.com.

The heritage models featured include well known monuments such as Co. Kildare’s famous Moone and Castledermot high crosses. In addition, lesser known and publicly inaccessible monuments are also featured, such as the Furness Longstone and Oughterard Tower House. A number of archaeological digs captured using photogrammetry are included in the collection, along with objects held by the National Museum of Ireland that have a County Kildare connection, which have been documented in 3D and uploaded to Sketchfab.

The section has over thirty models of Co. Kildare heritage objects and monuments at present. These represent a timeline encompassing all the major prehistoric and historic periods, from the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Early Medieval, Late Medieval, and Post-Medieval through to the 19th century. It is envisaged that more models will be added to the collection as they become available.

It should be noted that most of the models in the collection are very large and require a good broadband connection and a reasonably powerful computer to view successfully. The large download size of most models in the collection use a lot of bandwidth and are therefore not smartphone friendly.