In days of old, when man had time to dream,
And life moved with a nobler pulse, if slow;
And there were fairies hid in every stream
That laved the pulpy rushes-long ago!
Alas! dear days, and will ye not return?
Swift turning, hot and tired, the world doth yearn.
Ethel Carnie Holdsworth from In Farnham Park.
My local historical landscape has survived and has transformed into part of the geographical landscape, now something greater than the sum of its parts. Nature is taking back the land but that doesn’t mean the history has to go, you can still find it. Join me on a journey through the local ruins and machinery across Hyndburn through; landscapes, a magnified view of the land through still lifes and post-documentary through archives.
I invite you to view these ruins as something other than what they are. I invite you to consider their age, the time that has passed and the nature that surrounds it. I wonder if outside of these hidden areas there is an optimistic smugness in our daily lives as I turn to look at these silent structures, built at the turn of the century when man had time to dream; when Accrington alone was once a great place full of wealth, prosperity and connections.
The surviving local landscape you will see today showcases an archive of the gaps of empty space that linger in the abject landscape. Through the series I hope to bring together you, the local people, with its immediate historical landscape. Let’s remember these stories and see a beauty through something that failed and remember that anything with time is possible.
- Jasmine Wilkinson.
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