Local History

October 2015

"This project is designed to develop your research skills....

Using the internet, local library, museum or any other resources at your disposal, conduct a short investigation into a historical aspect of the area in which you live or are currently based. This could relate to industry or other narratives in the distant past, or a more recent event.

Gather some primary sources such as copies of photographs, illustrations, maps, oral/written accounts and write a brief account (around 300 words) describing what you have researched and any ideas you have about how this subject might be photographed today in a project such as assignment 3". OCA course material

Looking through www.28dayslater.co.uk and www.darkplaces.co.uk I became interested in a 17th century water powered Cotton Mill in Nether Langwith, attached to a farmhouse which had until fairly recently been a restaurant. Researching it's history in the local library, and on the internet I found enough information to inform my proposed  photographs and document the mill's history. There was also a visitor centre in the neighbouring village with local books on the area and mill. Images on the websites showed I needed to go with someone due to the state of the building.

I set off to investigate the building, and unfortunately it is now up for sale with a commercial estate agent. The windows and doors were all sealed with metal panels and there was no way in.  It was in a bad state of disrepair with evidence of fires and someone sleeping rough. I took some images as a record and had to abandon this idea as there was no access inside or round the back of it.

 


As I have an interest in industrial buildings and live not too far from the Derwent Valley Heritage Mills, I considered looking at Arkwright's Mill in Cromford, Derbyshire. Our family associates it with memory, being just far enough for a day out. I studied the work of jamesmorris Landscape of Wales which I thought may work as a way of showing the side of the village / mill which most tourists don't see.

As well as information boards and pictures on site, there is plenty of information on the web generated from the Arkwright Society, dating back to the beginning of the mill and how Arkwright used existing waterworks from the mines as the mines stopped being productive. I learnt much to add to my existing knowledge, and started working on this as a possible assignment idea. 

Modern day image combined with photograph from 1910

James Morris used the weather effectively to promote grey skies and enhance the grey buildings, fog and lack of people. His images are desaturated and he seemed to pick out a tiny bit of detail from a large area. I read several reviews on his work and my conclusion on making this style work with this subject was that perhaps my "place" was too touristy. Even the hidden footpaths were neatly kept. 

I also looked at the work of George Miles (exhibited at Derby's Format 2015) as a local photographer who has similarities in his ways of working to Stephen Shore. He has just published a book entitled Views of Matlock Bath. I would describe his images as banal; including signposts obstructing buildings, litter, images with three of the same colour car, carparks and over different seasons. 

After reviewing my initial images, I decided that my idea was probably too large and needed narrowing down as well as less touristic images.

Clipstone Camp WW1 Trenches

I went back to my initial idea of the WW1 training camp and looked at narrowing it down to just the trenches, and gaining access on Sundays when the machinery was not being used. I purchased a local history book from Mansfield Museum and together with newspaper articles on the reconstruction, images from WW1 showing  life in the trenches and websites from the local history group. I found one piece of oral history - a reflection of soldiers marching in the area. Last year as part of the "Trent to Trenches" exhibition, there was a display in the local museum which would have been really useful!

OS map circa 1910 - shows Clipstone before the camp

Digging trenches or clearing heather Clipstone Camp taken from book

Useful book with links and images

My images taken in 2014 of reconstruction and assignment plan

Assortment of websites, my notes, phone camera  images in case trenches are inaccessible during assignment work

Clipstone Camp World War 1 Trenches

"At the outbreak of the World War 1, Clipstone Heath was just that – an area of heathland owned by the Duke of Portland from the Welbeck Estate in Nottinghamshire, used for shooting partridge and sports. Lord Kitchener was a frequent visitor to Welbeck. Three of Nottinghamshire’s estates; Thoresby, Wollaton and Welbeck already had temporary camps in preparation for training soldiers. Marples (2013 p22) suggests that it is not known why this area was chosen for siting a permanent hutted training camp, although under the Defense of the Realm Act, the War Office had the powers to “take land or building or construct works” if needed.

The camp was located between Forest Town (a new mining town) and Clipstone (a hamlet) on an area which had been bought by the Bolsover Colliery Company. The mine (sunk in 1912) had been planned with a new village of 700 houses. Instead, Clipstone Camp was built here to house 25,000 soldiers until 1920 when it was sold off. Work on the mine was postponed when young miners were recruited as soldiers. Also the war made importing goods such as wood more difficult and prices increased. As a result, the Forestry Commission was formed in 1919 to manage supplies of timber, often depleting large areas of forest and changing the landscape of the area. The pit was completed in 1920. Soldiers moving to the area had not seen coal mines before and Mansfield Colliery became a tourist attraction with evening trips organised down the mine shaft for the soldiers stationed there.

Marples (2013) a local historian, interviewed locals who recalled the trenches becoming play areas for children after demobilisation. Whilst exploring the unmarked trails in the forest, I came across some of the old trenches. Mountain bikers who explore off the beaten track recall the area known locally as the “bomb holes” and have often practiced their skills there. The purpose of this place changed from training soldiers to entertaining folks, the place left to nature, sometimes forgotten and waiting to be rediscovered.  

I discovered the Forestry Commission were managing the area where the original trenches are. Huge swathes of trees have been harvested and others are colour coded waiting to be felled. Where work has already taken place, poles mark out the trenches. I found the trench reconstruction fascinating as it has recreated and brought the past to life from photographs for future generations to explore especially as the WW1 veterans are no longer with us." (Assignment 3)

Reference

Marples (2013) Clipstone Camp and the Mansfield Area in World War 1; The impact of a large military presence in a North Nottinghamshire community, Forest Town Heritage Group, UK p22

Assignment work- Concentrate on Trench area - heathland ,pit, old trenches, reconstruction.

Style of photography - weather e.g mist and fog (being November) reminiscent of Ernest Brooks but using colour instead of monochrome. Could look at photoshop equivalent of autochrome lumiere process Jules Gervais Courtaillemont, Hans Hildenbrand. (see plan notes above)

Autochrome images  (11 images)

View from Vicar Water Viewpoint looking out over Sherwood Pines

Clipstone Forest WW1  trenches in clearing

Original WW1 trench

An original trench area marked for safety

Position of reconstructed WW1 trench

Land surrounding the reconstructed trench

The reconstructed trench area

The curved trench

Inside the trench

The trench

A persuasive image

October 2015

Find 3 examples of landscape photographs (or the collective efforts of a set of photographs) that are being used to assert a particular ideological point of view. Look at images that have been used in advertising or other commercial applications, as well as within fine art and documentary photography. This might be a very explicit message or something a lot subtler. If text is used, consider how this relates to the image. In your learning blog, write brief comments (about 300 words) describing how the photographer or designer used the photograph and how the image communicates its intended message.

Election campaign 2015

Straight road through the landscape. No twisty corners but a bumpy road, implying that it may not be plain sailing. (Symbolism). Union Jack is like the car bonnet. Green and pleasant land. No people, no class division. Clue to party is the text in top right hand corner - a strong place for the text.

2012

A campaign of 3 posters by Brake road safety charity to make the streets of London more friendly to vulnerable road users such as cyclists and pedestrians. The accelerator pedal has 3 different shoes - a male brogue, a female shoe and a trainer which looks like it is stamping on the people demonstrating their vulnerability. The people underneath are stopping the accelerator pedal. The lighting (sunset) demonstrates that the people are not very visible. The viewer looks at this from the perspective of witnessing a road crash. Beyond the people is a brick wall which gives them nowhere to get to safety. (Brake, 2012) "calls for 20mph limits to become the norm across built-up areas, so children and adults can walk and cycle for their health and enjoyment, and for cheap and sustainable travel, without being or feeling endangered."

Reference
Brake (2012) Press release: Advertising campaign calls on drivers to GO 20. 19 November. Available from: http://www.roadsafetyweek.org.uk/new/452-rsw12-pr-billboards [last accessed 26/09/2016]

Oxfam 2012

Released on Boxing Day 2012 in papers, Oxfam hoped people would consider the beautiful landscape of Africa and get people talking about the problem of African hunger. Timing - Boxing Day (not advertised on the image). Series of 3 images. Band Aid's stereotypical images of Africa are what people in Britain think of, rather than the landscape so the images were supposed to make people rethink Africa and donate subliminally. Colourful, landscape is picturesque. Doesn't work for me. Trying to capture middle England? Photographs may be representative of the landscape, although I consider Africa to be a large continent and more likely to think of African plains, deserts and national parks.

Consider an issue (social, political or environmental) that you feel strongly about. Design an image that you think will have a persuasive effect upon a viewer. This could be a deliberately rough photomontage or something more polished. You don’t necessarily need to make the photograph or tableau; this is an exercise in generating ideas, thinking about communicating an idea and taking an ideological standpoint. Annotate sketches and any other work and enter it into your learning log.

Using the landscape image of a road heading off into the distance into the setting sun, I would like the public to look through a window onto the NHS and the political intentions which are publicised in the newspapers and on the media. The setting sun is like the NHS. Junior doctors hours contracts, the 7 day working week, possible non-payment of unsocial hours, privatisation of services are just some of the current issues within the NHS which is being portrayed by the media according to which political party they support and the truth of what is happening is not being represented fairly or in an understandable way to patients and potential patients. If the public wish to keep the NHS, they need to help support it but also take a look at how the issues may affect them. 
In this view - the staff are leaving down the road because of their contracts and finding better paid work elsewhere to support their families. Not enough staff leads to not being able to keep enough beds open, so they are thrown out into the landscape like fly tipped rubbish. There is a newspaper flying around - representative of the coverage. Overflowing bins with rubbish and rats refers to current issues with the privatised cleaning contractors and one which made the local news recently. I could take it further and have a battlefield in one corner with politicians fighting among themselves. 

I could also do this another way by reversing the issues and using a picturesque, idyllic landscape and look through a pair of rose tinted spectacles.

"Late photography"

24th September 2015

Read David Campany’s essay “Safety in Numbness”. Summarise the key points of the essay and note down your own observations on the points he raises.

Source

David Campany Safety in numbness: Some remarks and problems on Late Photography 2003

Campany, D. (ed) (2007) The Cinematic. London: Whitechapel

Campany suggests that photography may be a better medium than television for recording official history. This is a point he refers back to over the course of the article.

Meyerowitz was granted a special sanction by officials to record the aftermath and clean-up of the “Twin Towers” collapse. Campany sees this as important in that photography was the chosen medium, and the organising body recognised that an official record needed making.

Campany raises the issue that Meyerowitz’s images were the trace of the trace of the event. This is contemporary photography and its use is on the increase especially within advertising. It is a “straight” image and usually has no people in it. As it was not possible to take this type of image at the event, it forms a different record for us, working in two ways; it either helps us to remember the event and move on or stops progress from being made. This image has a different relationship to memory and history than a snapshot.

Media views moving images as the present and still images as the past. Photograph is seen as nostalgic. It is less complicated to look at a still image and the viewer may remember it better because of the information which surrounds us. The photograph or still image is supported by cultural information and open to interpretation. With television the still image could be viewed as a period of inactivity which would not be memorable.

Photojournalists take late images after the event has happened and the video cameras have left. The photographer sends back still images rather than using frozen pieces of film. Only occasionally a photo breaks through the news. Following video and newspaper reports, photographs may be displayed in a gallery or magazine. This allows people to see what may have been unreported.

As people understood the effects of stillness of photographs, it seemed that this type of photography should come into its own. But the delay needed to produce the desired effect meant it went out of fashion and had to be redefined and fit in with other mediums. Photographers such as Paul Seawright engaged with aftermath photography seeking out the “truth” and showing the evidence which Campany describes as “photographic” photography (p191). These straight images are detatched from the moment. He explains that Meyerowitz stated that the images took themselves, although they resonate his personal style.

Campany alludes to “late photography” being a “convincing style in contemporary culture” (p192) because it appears superior against all the images we are subjected to. On the other hand, it cannot be described as enlightening or critical. The concern is that if viewed without the context of what actually happened, the late photograph will make people behave differently (become indifferent to politics or mourn by association). The viewer may experience a sense of the sublime from the late photographs. Campany clarifies that this is because banal and the sublime are linked by politics.

Some of this echoed with Roland Barthes Camera Lucida, and writing surrounding memory which I had read in preparation for Assignment 1 (subject-roadside memorials). However, this took it further, in comparing photography with other mediums and specifically looking at the issues of late photography.

Campany mentioned that Meyerowitz was granted a special sanction to photograph the aftermath of the event. He was a well-known photographer with a personal style. I wondered how the museum chose him to represent the work rather than several individuals. I questioned whether different photographers would represent the aftermath in different ways and if this would alter the “truth” of the perceived image.

There are theories on how we associate with images. Most people remember the image of the man falling from the Twin Towers amongst all the video footage which was shown at the time. I agree with Campany’s point about associating with a still image, as if it is the pause required to make us see what is happening.

This essay looks at the rise of late photography but there are still war photographers in war zones who do take photographs of the areas which are published in newspapers and posted on news internet sites. These tend to show action and people rather than the landscape (Paul Seawright – Hidden- late photography landscape)

I wondered whether the use for late photography was to help us understand what was happening politically. Campany refers to Meyerowitz as being chosen, and Paul Seawright was commissioned by The Imperial War Museum in London. The National Civil War Centre in Newark is currently running an exhibition of war photography which advertises that children may find it distressing. I will be visiting to find out why! i presume this is war photography rather than "late photography".

I pondered how long after the event is a late photograph considered a late photograph? E.g last month I came across an essay from Alec Soth, taken 10 years after the event of Hurricane Katrina. He did not photograph at the time with the masses of photographers. Some of his images do show people, but how people are living and rebuilding lives in the wake of the aftermath. Because this is in people’s memories, studying these images when the immediate crisis is over gives people space to think about them. http://www.newyorker.com/project/portfolio/katrina-photo-essay

Look at some of Meyerowitz’s images available from Aftermath: World Trade Centre Archive (2006). Consider how the images differ from your own memories of the news footage and other images of the time. Write a short response to the work (around 300 words) noting what value you feel this “late” approach has.

I remember moving images on the television of the planes hitting the twin towers of the World Trade Centre interspersed with images of the falling man. From what I recall, the news centred on the actual event and then the search for missing persons with a huge wall which had been created for people to post names and photographs. Personal stories and experiences were aired.

Looking at the work of Mererowitz, my first thoughts were how he had made use of natural lighting or search lights to make the remains of the building look uncanny. It reminded me of recreated images of the Titanic. Here were people at work clearing the debris and aftermath; and he had captured touches like a bouquet of flowers laid next to a tower, tools needed for the job. Poignancy too showed with the wreath being suspended.

The value of this type of photography is that it has left something behind to share with future generations to help them come to terms with the event. My son was 10 months old at the time and cannot recall the towers collapsing, but has a curiosity in it. As people continue to share and relive the photographs and footage of the event they may move forward. Friends of mine have visited the site and spoken about the emotions raised. Maybe because these images show the beauty with the sublime, they will help generations come to terms with the event. I would consider “late” images to have value for this reason.

Postcard Views

20th September 2015

Exercise 3.2 postcard views

Gather a selection of postcards (6-12) that you’ve either bought yourself or received from other people. Write a brief evaluation (around 300 words) of the merits of the images you find. Importantly, consider whether as Fay Goodwin remarked, these images bear any resemblance to your own experience of the places depicted in the photographs. (OCA Course Material)

Goodwin believes that postcards and tourist guide books etc. do not bear any resemblance to her experience of the place. “The picturesque pictures…are a very soft warm blanket of sentiment, which covers everybody’s idea of the countryside…It idealises the country in a very unreal way.” (Fay Goodwin 1986 as quoted in OCA Course Material p84)

She advocates that postcard images “exacerbate the polarisation between those living and those working in the countryside and those who simply enjoy it for leisure and regard it as part of their heritage but are denied a better insight into the complex social and industrial issues of contemporary rural life.” (Fay Goodwin 1986 as quoted in OCA course Material p84). In other words, Goodwin is suggesting that tourists don’t have the understanding of the issues facing the local inhabitants.

Arctic Circle

Herd of deer, (expected wildlife), wilderness landscape, atmospheric lighting, picturesque. Meets with my expectations of what to experience in the far north, although as Goodwin alludes to, this is probably different to living there. The image looks idyllic taken at this time of year; showing nothing of the constant day or night time, severe cold weather which may affect people in winter or health problems faced by those coping with this lifestyle.

Mageroya, Nordkapp, Norway

Idyllic life or set up as a tourist image? Fits in with Gilpin’s idea of why we travel; to learn about different cultures or the heritage of men. Major tourist destination for people travelling in Northern Norway. Shows reindeer and national costume with landscape in the background, although the only merit I see is commercialism for the inhabitants.

Trollstigen, Norway

3 images on portrait orientated postcard of the troll road. Taken on a day with fine weather, affording great views, showing scale of the mountains, waterfalls and bridge. Picturesque images. Lack of people suggesting barren wilderness – would appeal to me as a tourist.

106km long, incline of 9%, 11 hairpin bends and 6 viewing platforms. (visitnorway.com/uk/where-to-go-uk/fjord-norway/the-geirangerfjord/what-to-do-in-the-geirangerfjord-area-and-trollstigen/geiranger---trollstigen-national-tourist-route/) I consider this a “postcard”; sent because it was a place enjoyed by tourists; maybe a hotel employee would view it differently. However, people speak positively about their experiences, encouraging more to visit, keeping the local economy afloat.

Iceland (Multi view 15 images plus map)

Shows off major tourist sites of Iceland and northern lights. Wilderness and dramatic landscape. Advertisement for tourists. Commercial.

Munich (11 views)

Impressive mix of old and new buildings taken in different lights – dusk, dark, daylight including Oktoberfest and the BMW building. Atmospheric. Tourist advert. Commercial.

Grand Duchy of Luxemburg

Formal Gardens of Luxemburg – I visited this city and it was not the first image that I recalled. Picturesque in the sense of the Oxford dictionary (pretty) rather than that of the Tate (artistic). Good weather, small image taken with a wide angle to show the city walls.

Ben Nevis Range, Scotland

Bought whilst on holiday in this range of mountains. Impressive looking mountain range – wide panorama makes good use of the extra space. Map works as viewer may not appreciate scale of mountains – e.g. position of gondola. Memories fade – at the time I thought this was great; now it is just another postcard.

Whitby

Received on a box of shortbread as a thanks for looking after the cats. Light picks out different coloured rooftops. Unusual viewpoint (taken from the sea) which I would not have recognised instantly and made me look closely at the landmarks – abbey, pier etc.

Falmouth (5 images)

Green spaces, nautical history, pretty beach, safe harbour – same as other seaside towns? Taken on clear days giving a good view.

The Peak District, Stanage Edge Millstones, Derbyshire

Credited to a photographer. Picturesque – millstones, autumn colours, lack of people. Similar to hundreds of images on the internet. Perhaps the modern day postcard for those who don't send postcards? The mobile phone camera records the image which is uploaded to facebook almost instantly. 

Melleiha Bay, Malta 

Interesting shapes and colours, aerial shot, saturated colours, clear sea.

Different impression sitting on the beach spending time with the family and people watching.

Azure Window, Gozo

Artistic, picturesque, wild and not the everyday image of the tourist destination.

After studying 12 images closely, I agree with Goodwin’s sentiment of idealism of the countryside. I don’t send postcards because I have never seen it as a fair representation of a place.

Write a brief response (around 200 words) to Graham Clarke’s comments. Do you think it’s possible not to be a “tourist” or “outsider” as the maker of the landscape images? (OCA Course Material)

"...the landscape photograph implies the act of looking as a privileged observer so that, in one sense, the photographer of landscapes is always the tourist, and invariably the outsider. Francis Frith's images of Egypt, for example, for all their concern with foreign lands, retain the perspective of an Englishman looking out over the land. Above all, landscape photography insists on the land as spectacle and involves an element of pleasure." (Graham Clarke as quoted in the OCA Course Material)

I believe the photographer who has local knowledge of the area through living and/or working in the area will see the environment or socio-economic situation as it actually is rather than through the rose tinted spectacles of a tourist, including showing the negative aspect of life - rubbish, industry, poverty or local issues. Thinking about Richard Billingham's Ray's a Laugh work for example, he understood his neighbourhood because he lived there. He portrayed the estate in such a way that the viewer built up empathy with the place. 

Francis Frith on the otherhand, a Victorian photographer who successfully sold images of his trips to Egypt, was one of many who set the standard for Victorian landscape photography which was copied over the years because it was successful. If the atmosphere or emotion is lacking in a landscape photograph, it may well be likened to "an Englishman looking out over the land."

Thinking about landscape photography insisting on the land as a spectacle; to some extent this is true - the photographer will know through research when the best time of year is to capture land at it's most beautiful and may have planned a trip with this in mind. If the photographer achieves the desired shot, they will experience some pleasure. However, if the land does not perform (e.g. Northern Lights) the photographer may be disappointed which is an emotional response. Perhaps the answer depends on what the photographer sets out to portray? A dramatic landscape image such as the Northern Lights, volcanoes erupting, extreme weather conditions or even the change of seasons could be viewed as a spectacle whilst a more documentary style approach of could be seen as working with the land. 

Further reading:

http://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/book/tourist-photographys-fictional-conquest accessed 20/9/15

Reflecting on the picturesque

17th September 2015

Exercise 3:1

Write a short reflective account of your own views on the picturesque (around 300 words). Consider how the concept of the picturesque has influenced your own ideas about landscape art, and in particular your ideas about what constitutes an effective or successful landscape photograph.

The Tate defines "Picturesque" as being an "ideal type of landscape that has an artistic appeal in that it is beautiful but also with some elements of wildness." (http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/picturesque accessed 17/9/15) Landscape views could range from the sublime to the peaceful through to pretty. To be picturesque, the image had to contain some elements of wildness or irregularity. 

On the other hand, The Oxford Dictionary defines picturesque (adjective) as being of a place, building, scene, etc.) pretty, in a way that looks old-fashioned or quaint. This could be a cottage, place or village. I prefer the definition from the Tate as it gives a more detailed explanation.

My thoughts on the picturesque were influenced Gilpin; open country (wildness), maybe a building, some animals, no people, trees, interesting sky although I tend to shy away from taking picturesque landscape images myself, preferring a more documentary style of image.

I had seen awe inspiring images at MoVE (Southwell, Jo Cornish, David Anthony Hall, Pete Bridgewood) and thought I would be able to recreate elements within a scene – although my images were a poor comparison. Whilst studying the sublime I came across several images which had an “edge” to them, whether this be the highly saturated or black and white colour, emotion, lighting or the subject matter – fence falling down, wilderness, lonely tree.

I consider a successful/ effective landscape photograph to convey the emotion of the landscape which could be urban or rural.  It will inform me about the place, have a well thought out composition, maybe use different lighting from the mid-day tourist, evoke atmosphere, and may have an element of escapism or fantasy within the image and probably be picturesque in some way. Artists may sell several of these images, so this would be successful for them in the form of commercialism. A war torn (political) landscape image by comparison (recent images of migrants and refugees come to mind BBC News Sept 2015 ) which are successful may earn the photographer a World Press Photo Award, but the image reaches hundreds of people through social media, worldwide newspapers and television so I think success can be judged with different criteria. I would not consider these images to be picturesque.

References
http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/picturesquehttp://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/learner/picturesque
Bibliographyhttp://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/picturesquehttp://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/learner/picturesquehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34137358Victoria and Albert Museum (2016) The Romantic tradition in British painting 1800-1950. Available from: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-romantic-tradition-in-british-painting-1800-1950/[last accessed 20/09/2016].

Edgelands

Read “Wire” and “Power” from Edgelands. These short chapters will help you prepare for some of the themes in part 3. Record your responses in your learning log.

Source

Farley P, Symmonds Roberts, M (2011) Edgelands: Journeys into England's True Wilderness, Vintage

Farley and Symmonds Roberts’s book contain short chapters of geographical areas or subjects which can be explained as landscape which does not fit into a book on the English (or Western) countryside. It is pockets of areas, usually found on one side of a town or village and can include old mining areas, industrial units and retail parks etc. In other words, somewhere in which one doesn’t quite feel at ease. Marion Shoard was the first to describe the term “Edgelands” and called for artists and writers to portray them.”Edgelands are part of the gravitational field of all our larger urban areas, a texture we build up speed to escape as we hurry towards the English countryside, the distant wilderness.[…] If we can’t see the edgelands, we can’t imagine them, or allow them any kind of imaginative life. And so they don’t really exist.” Farley P, Symmonds Roberts, M (2011 p5)

I discovered this meaning of edgelands in my research for Assignment 1 (Beauty and / or the sublime) and found this book expanded my current knowledge and understanding of what constituted to an Edgeland. I found the description was limited when researching further into the subject and discovered the uneasy feeling of being watched or watching/listening to others. So I agree that they do not fit into the romantic landscape ideas.

Wire (p93-98)

In Wire, the writers set out to make the reader consider what the wire looks like – cut for access, type of wire, barbed, chain, chicken, razor – whether one can climb over it or scale it, and stories / history it could tell. The wire on the edgeland could be next to a business or derelict building.

• Around buildings, cut, evidence of people
• Security - high or low level? Territorial markers 
• Wire crossed
• Children progress from climbing through to up and over wire
• Jumping over fences associated with danger, deterrent, school bullies, knives, blades
• Games to play - certain sites were out of bounds - surveillance and tracking
• Ribbons, tokens, prayers, tributes, memories, declarations, 
• Roadside shrines - temporary, permanent

It is summed up by noting that “Edgelands are a complex mix of fiercely guarded private grounds and common land by default, or neglect. And the history of these places is held in their wires.”(2011 p98)

Power (p185-193)

Power is defined by coal fired powerstations because they are at the moment in the edgelands.  Farley and Symmonds Roberts describe cooling towers as being a metaphor for positive energy. They also "distort our sense of scale in the English Landscape" (2011 p187) The cooling towers are part of our landscape which are either loved or loathed by the public being seen as "brutal, dirty and ugly eyesores  spoiling the view, which uses our ancient river systems as coolants before releasing their ghosts into the air as a plume that stretch the length of the counties" (2011 p187) Another way of looking at them is like a film set with their strange shapes and noises. Fans of cooling towers tell stories and myths about them; Farley and Symmonds Roberts argue that it could be their connection to water that makes us enjoy them. They could be described as "still and busy".

Great art works have included power stations; from the Becher's cataloging images and John Davies' Sunday football match in the shadow of Agecroft power station (urban and pastoral landscape co-existing), to Toby Smith's atmospheric images of power stations. Indeed, Roger Wagner's Menorah painting shows religion and spirituality imagining the power station to be a menorah candlestick.

1/4/2015 Walk around Staythorpe Power Station, Notts

Over time the cooling towers have evolved or tried to blend in; they mention Didcot power station as being designed by a cathedral architect. Ironbridge, Shropshire possesses pink cooling towers in an effort to make them blend in with the landscape, although that has not helped to protect them from threatened closure. Protesters in the form of eco-warriors favour green power and are never far away. Some have been demolished and replaced with gas fired turbines - Staythorpe on the banks of the River Trent is a prime example of a coal fired power station (which I was lucky enough to have a trip around some years ago) with a shiny new gas fired one. This sits on the edge of a rural village one side and the River Trent the other - the only hint of an edgeland is near the railway depot and not visible from the road.

However, as coal fired powerstations are closed in favour of greener energy, how will the edgelands look? If more wind turbines are erected on rural land, what effect will this have on the landscape? A couple of years ago, Scotland was petitioning against wind turbines and power lines in the lowlands as it spoilt the view of the mountain ranges. The offshore windfarms around the coast of Britain can be seen for miles around and Barrow in Furness's produces enough power for 300,000 homes which is about 3 towns worth of energy.More and more off shore windfarms get the go ahead and whilst it is a cheap source of energy, does it spoil the coastal view?

Only today (1/9/15) the headlines refer to dirty coal being used in Britain's power stations. It seems coal fired powerstations are on the way out with Ferrybridge C due to close in 2016 and energy production to be transferred to nearby Keadby where the gas fired powerstation will be resurrected. It seems that the political side of power is never far from the news.

References

Farley P, Symmonds Roberts, M (2011) Edgelands: Journeys into England's True Wilderness, Vintage p5

Farley P, Symmonds Roberts, M (2011) Edgelands: Journeys into England's True Wilderness, Vintage p98

Farley P, Symmonds Roberts, M (2011) Edgelands: Journeys into England's True Wilderness, Vintage p187

Farley P, Symmonds Roberts, M (2011) Edgelands: Journeys into England's True Wilderness, Vintage p187

Bibliography

Farley P, Symmonds Roberts, M (2011) Edgelands: Journeys into England's True Wilderness, Vintage 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32806766

http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2015/01/05/uncertain-future-for-ironbridge-towers-of-power/

http://www.rogerwagner.co.uk/work/item/17/menorah-1993

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/18/rampion-offshore-windfarm-south-coast-england