Bringing Victorian London to life through Minecraft Education

Research by the University of South Wales and Lancaster University has helped bring the history of Victorian London to life for young readers, through a new Minecraft world based on the studies of social reformer Charles Booth.

Charles Booth’s London is the latest build from Litcraft – an innovative educational project that recreates classic literary worlds as accurate scale models within Minecraft, to help children re-engage with reading through play.

Litcraft is co-led by Dr Rebecca Hutcheon, Research Fellow for Impact at USW, Professor Sally Bushell at Lancaster University, who specialises in 19^th century Romantic and Victorian literature, and Dr James Butler, Research Assistant at the University of Liverpool.

The project’s first Minecraft build, Sherlock Holmes’ London, began as a knowledge exchange with Minecraft design company Blockworks, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Based on Charles Booth’s poverty maps, the build inspired the team to map the Charles Booth Police Notebooks to create a new world.

Created for the Library at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), which holds the Charles Booth archive, Charles Booth’s London was officially launched last week, where guests – including some of his distant relatives – explored the Minecraft world and accompanying education packs.

Guests were also able to view items from the archive, including one of the original maps, several notebooks, and the enormous map legend explaining the seven colour‑coded classes of the city.

Charles Booth’s landmark social survey, undertaken in the late 1800s, revealed that around 35% of Londoners lived in poverty. As part of Booth’s Inquiry, a team of investigators accompanied police officers on the beat during 1898-99, producing notebooks full of street descriptions, character sketches and updates to the colour-coded classifications.

The Litcraft team mapped several of the Police Walks, and worked closely with Blockworks to build the gameplay elements of the world, creating a range of activities for players to complete while exploring Victorian London.

Dr Hutcheon said: “There were plenty of children at the launch, who tend to be the toughest critics when it comes to Minecraft, so it was wonderful to see them so engaged in the project. We also had the chance to speak with parents, teachers, lecturers, and librarians, who all brought different perspectives to the build.

“I especially enjoyed revisiting the Booth materials in person after working with them digitally for so long. Encountering the physical objects, and seeing people move through the Minecraft build, made the whole project feel grounded and wonderfully real.”

Prof Sally Bushell added: “We are delighted with the final build for LSE and the amazing download figures from Minecraft Marketplace – 1.5million since January.  It gave us so much pleasure to work on Booth’s stunning maps and it is wonderful to see the Minecraft build up on the Booth website, literally bringing the map to life!”

Beth Clark, Associate Director for Digital Scholarship and Innovation at the LSE Library, said: “This project has been a fantastic opportunity to showcase the richness of LSE Library’s collections in new and engaging ways. It highlights how collaboration can help reimagine our collections and extend their reach to new audiences.”  

The world has been designed primarily as an educational resource for schools, supported by an accompanying teaching booklet, which can be downloaded here. A free version of the Minecraft world is also available for everyone to explore via the Minecraft Marketplace. 

Litcraft’s next build, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, is due to be released later this year, exploring different areas of London and introducing new narratives and gameplay.