I have used some of the text from this page on the public-facing website I created for the exhibition, which can be seen here.
Cornwall, renowned for its picturesque fishing villages and breathtaking coastlines, harbours a reality hidden from most tourists. Beyond the bustling beaches and stunning seascapes, locals are left struggling to make ends meet once the tourist season wanes (Local Government Association, 2019).
Statistics reveal the stark economic challenges faced by Cornwall's residents. Compared to the national average, Cornish wages are 20% lower (Wigglesworth, 2023) yet house prices are over 5% higher (Office for National Statistics, 2024). Shockingly, 17 out of Cornwall's 326 neighbourhoods rank among the top 10% most deprived areas in England (Cornwall Council, 2019). The onset of the pandemic exacerbated these economic struggles as lockdowns brought tourism to a grinding halt. Many people lost their livelihood. Though the tourism industry is slowly rebounding, the lingering effects of the pandemic continue to weigh heavily on Cornwall's economy.
This is not the first time the people of Cornwall have been profoundly affected by the loss of an industry. Mining was integral to Cornish life for over 4000 years. In the 1700s, due to the abundance of copper and tin ore deposits, Cornwall was regarded as the "mining centre of the world" (Cornish Metals, 2020), and the region was highly prosperous. Engineer Richard Trevithick was a pioneer in the use of the steam locomotive (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2024). To accommodate the engines and water pumps, up to 3000 sturdy buildings were constructed, with approximately 200 still standing today in various states of disrepair (South West Coast Photos, 2018). The Cornish mining industry experienced tumultuous success, but the reduced demand for tin and copper led to the closure of the mines. Now, the crumbling engine houses remain scattered across the landscape, a poignant reminder of an industry lost to time.
To be a miner meant to risk your life on a daily basis. Sadly, several tragedies struck workers at mines across Cornwall, but the coastal parish of St Just saw more than its fair share of disasters. In 1863, nine men and boys fell to their deaths when the chain carrying their cart broke beneath the Crowns of Botallack (Northern Mine Research Society, 2021). Just thirty years later, in 1893, another disaster struck the nearby Wheal Owles when water rushed into the mineshafts. The resulting gust of air extinguished the lights and twenty miners drowned in darkness (Penwith Local History Group, 2022). Most famously, in 1919, Levant Mine's "man engine", an early lift to transport workers up and down the mines, broke and fell down the shaft. Thirty-one men lost their lives (Cornwall For Ever, 2020).
When visiting engine houses and mining sites around Cornwall, we are not only reminded of the widespread loss of livelihood experienced when the mines closed but also of the tragic loss of life that was so commonplace in the industry. We look at the crumbling walls and remember that people not only made a living here, but they also died here.
One idea from my proposal was to find an archival image of an engine house, return to the same location, take an infrared image from the same angle, and combine the two. I hoped this would highlight the changes in the engine house over the decades, with the ghost of the old industry juxtaposed against its present state. I found an old image of the Crowns at Botallack (Figure 1, above) from Kresen Kernow (n.d. a) and decided to make this my first stop. While I took several photos that effectively illustrated the theme of lost livelihoods, I could not capture a photo from the angle I needed for my composite image. Although I could see the vantage point used by the early 1900s photographer, I could not access this area due to my mobility issues.
Despite not being taken from the ideal angle, I am happy with my photos of the Crowns. Figures 2 and 3 (above) are edits of the same photo, taken with an infrared filter set to approximately 560nm. Figure 2 was my initial edit, achieved by swapping the red and blue output channels and setting the green channel to red (Shea, 2021). I intended to make the grass red to symbolise the blood spilt during the 1863 disaster at the Crowns, but the closest I got was a garish pink with a slight cyan hue to the waves. Fortunately, this highlighted a subtle change of tone in the sea behind the engine houses - possibly due to a hotspot in my lens or an actual tonal difference not visible on-site.
In my second edit of this photo, Figure 3, I reduced the saturation in the affected water and applied a green-split version of the channel swap to turn the grass gold. Instead of symbolising blood, the golden cliffs represent the riches found beneath the ground. I feel this edit looks much more natural.
Figure 4 was taken with an infrared filter set to 720nm, cutting out most of the colour. The only adjustment needed was to the white balance. The resulting white foliage evokes a sense of coldness around the harsh, unforgiving cliffs, while the faint blood-red hue of the breaking waves whispers of the lives lost in the mineshafts far beneath the ocean floor.
In addition to the engine houses, the site at Botallack contains several crumbling archways. These ruins particularly illustrate the theme of loss, as they not only tell a story of prosperity and decline but also symbolise a doorway into another world. While not directly linked to a loss of livelihood, this concept aligns perfectly with my project title, "Realms of Loss", inviting my audience to step through the portal and embark on a journey through these realms, and was inspired by some of Simon Marsden's photos of ruins (The Marsden Archive, n.d.). When researching Marsden and seeing how simple stone archways can form the focal point of a photo, I decided that this would be a fitting subject for the main page of my website as people metaphorically walk through the archway to access the rest of my work.
The archway below was particularly striking, as it looks out to the open sea. The infrared camera, especially when adjusted to allow in some colour, brings out the difference between the rough stone walls and the more orderly brickwork. I am unsure whether these were built at the same time or if the bricks were added later, but the differences in both structure and texture add a layer of complexity to an already captivating archway. Interestingly, the moss and lichen stand out as vibrant patches on the brick and help to balance the composition with the grass on the bottom half of the images. I prefer Figure 10 as the archway is more prominent, whereas those that show more of the crumbling masonry lose the sense of an inviting doorway.
While editing this image, I experimented with the Photoshop actions I downloaded from Rob Shea's website (Shea, 2021), which I have written about in more detail in my post about his work. In Figure 12, the yellow, green, and gold edits looked the most natural, but the gold had a warmth that the others did not, as seen in Figure 11. It also matched my preferred edit of the Crowns, with the gold grass hinting at the wealth and prosperity once provided by these mines.
The initial image (Figure 10), with its teal grass and red sky, felt a little too other-worldly, as did the pink edit in Figure 12. The bold, unnatural colours were interesting and somewhat magical, but too far removed from reality; I didn't want the audience to feel as though they were standing in an alien world, but rather to feel a connection with the people who stood at this archway before them.
I was delighted to feel that same sense of connection when I looked through my images and realised I had stumbled across the same archway as Barnaby Attwell, one of the photographers I had been researching (Attwell, 2024). Attwell's photo (Figure 13, below) focuses on the person in the frame, with the grass coloured a vibrant yellow to match the subject's outfit. This choice ties the person to the land, yet the figure's confident stance as they survey the open sea suggests a longing for travel and adventure. As a result, Attwell brings a sense of new life and opportunity to the decayed mining landscape. Conversely, my image focuses on the world beyond the archway. The absence of a person in my photo adds an air of solemnity, suggesting that all that remains of a once-rich empire is a crumbling doorway with no one left to pass through it.
Despite our independent projects and different interpretations, Attwell and I were both drawn to the same vantage point to tell a story, highlighting the magical allure of Botallack. It's no wonder that this area of mining history has become a popular tourist destination. Its dramatic coastline, with crashing waves and rugged cliffs, has notably been featured in Poldark, bringing significant interest to the area. Additionally, Botallack is managed by the National Trust; their policy allows me to include these photos in my coursework, but I cannot use them for commercial purposes (National Trust, 2024).
After searching for another archival image of an engine house, I found Figure 14, taken at an engine house near Chacewater in the early 1900s. (Kresen Kernow, n.d. b) Great Wheal Busy is situated in what was once called "the richest square mile on Earth" (Mansell, 2020). This prosperous mine was active from the early 1720s and changed hands countless times until its closure in the 1920s (Annear, 2019).
When I went to take photos, I was greeted by abundant gorse, a fence, and a "danger" sign, but I managed to find an accessible spot to take some shots. Although it wasn't perfect, I captured a picture from almost the same angle as the archive image (Figure 15).
Creating this composite was challenging, as I had never used Photoshop in this way before. I began by channel-swapping my infrared image so the grass and gorse had the same golden hue as my Botallack photos, then overlaid the archival image. After adjusting the scale and slightly warping the images, I fit them together relatively neatly and tweaked the opacity of the archival picture. The resulting image in Figure 16 is an eerie amalgamation of what once was and what remains, of prosperity and ruin.
In addition to the engine house, the site also includes a derelict smithy building. The loss of livelihood is evident in Figure 18, with boarded-up doorways and holes in the roof. Ivy has swallowed up the sign of the smithy, obscuring the grandeur of the Great Wheal Busy mine. The barren land surrounding the area further enhances the sense of loss and abandonment.
Overall, I am thrilled with my "Loss of Livelihood" images. They tell stories of wealth and poverty, of prosperity and disaster, and of the past and present. Infrared allows us to see these iconic ruins in a new way, but my editing choices ensure we remain connected to them rather than distancing ourselves. The cost of living crisis has left many of us wondering how we'll get by, echoing the uncertainty felt by miners and their families during the mine closures. These photos offer a visual representation of that fear.
References
Annear, C. (2019) Wheal Busy, Explore Cornwall. Available at: https://explorecornwall.org/wheal-busy/ (Accessed: 11 March 2024).
Attwell, B. (2024) Infrared Photography, BARNFLAKES. Available at: https://www.barnflakes.com/work/infrared-photography (Accessed: 20 February 2024).
Cornish Metals (2020) Cornish Mining, Cornish Metals Inc RSS. Available at: https://cornishmetals.com/projects/uk/cornish-mining/ (Accessed: 13 May 2024).
Cornwall Council (2019) Index of Multiple Deprivation, Cornwall Council. Available at: https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/media/cftltjsd/2019-imd-cornwall-headline-data.pdf (Accessed: 26 May 2024).
Cornwall For Ever (2020) The Levant Mine Disaster, Cornwall For Ever! Available at: https://www.cornwallforever.co.uk/history/the-levant-mine-disaster (Accessed: 19 February 2024).
Cornwall Heritage Trust (2023) Industry in Cornwall, Cornwall Heritage Trust. Available at: https://www.cornwallheritagetrust.org/timeline/industry-in-cornwall/ (Accessed: 13 May 2024).
Encyclopædia Britannica (2024) Richard Trevithick, Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Trevithick (Accessed: 26 May 2024).
Kresen Kernow (no date a) Photograph, Botallack Mine, Kresen Kernow. Available at: https://kresenkernow.org/SOAP/detail/08ef9758-8ccc-4ecc-817f-9f176558c670/ (Accessed: 10 February 2024).
Kresen Kernow (no date b) Photograph, Engine House, Great Wheal Busy Mine, Kenwyn, Kresen Kernow. Available at: https://kresenkernow.org/SOAP/detail/412900c2-f3cf-44ae-967d-f16418c51bcd/ (Accessed: 11 March 2024).
Local Government Association (2019) Cornwall: supplying skills for the local visitor economy, Local Government Association. Available at: https://www.local.gov.uk/case-studies/cornwall-supplying-skills-local-visitor-economy (Accessed: 11 June 2024).
Mansell, T. (2020) Wheal Busy Mine with ‘Another Uproar at Chacewater’, Cornish Story. Available at: https://cornishstory.com/2020/10/15/wheal-busy-mine-with-another-uproar-at-chacewater/ (Accessed: 13 May 2024).
The Marsden Archive (no date) The Marsden Archive. Available at: http://www.marsdenarchive.com/ (Accessed: 20 February 2024).
National Trust (2024) Photographic Access, National Trust Images. Available at: https://www.nationaltrustimages.org.uk/photographic-access/ (Accessed: 30 April 2024).
Northern Mine Research Society (2021) Botallack Tin Mine Accident - Cornwall - 1863, Northern Mine Research Society. Available at: https://nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/accidents-disasters/cornwall-devon/botallack-tin-mine-accident-cornwall-1863/ (Accessed: 19 February 2024).
Office for National Statistics (2024) Housing Prices in Cornwall, Home - Office for National Statistics. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/housingpriceslocal/E06000052/ (Accessed: 26 May 2024).
Penwith Local History Group (2022) Wheal Owles Disaster: On This Day: Penwith Local History Group: Penzance, Cornwall, UK, Penwith Local History Group. Available at: https://www.penwithlocalhistorygroup.co.uk/on-this-day/?id=10 (Accessed: 19 February 2024).
Shea, R. (2021) Updated Photoshop Actions for Color Infrared V3, Rob Shea Photography. Available at: https://blog.robsheaphotography.com/2021/08/07/update-photoshop-actions-color-infrared.html (Accessed: 10 February 2024).
South West Coast Path (2018) South West Coast Path - A Photo Tour, Cornwall - Engine Houses / Mine Buildings: SOUTH WEST COAST PATH - a photo tour. Available at: https://southwestcoastphotos.com/section764942_637255.html (Accessed: 13 May 2024).
Wigglesworth, R. (2023) Responding to Cost of Living Challenges: Cornwall Council, Local Government Association. Available at: https://www.local.gov.uk/case-studies/responding-cost-living-challenges-cornwall-council (Accessed: 26 May 2024).
Comments