What have I learnt during this project:
I am surrounded by nature and reminders of the history that has created Millom and Haverigg. More often than not every day life takes over and I accept its isolation and quirkiness as a matter of fact. It is only when one has to revisit and focus on the beauty and the industrial influence that true appreciation becomes apparent.
Re-visiting skills and strategies to take and capture photos that tell a story has been extremely challenging! With such wealth around me it has been difficult to filter my options. Even though I am an “Offcomer” I am part of the structure of the place, I breath its clean air that once was thick with sulphur, I appreciate the nature reserve where once stood the towering furnaces and I marvel at how nature has overcome (eventually) all that man has tried to change. Reading Norman Nicholson’s poems, I have tried to capture what he saw in nature and empathise with what he felt and loved about this mining town and village.
I hope through my photos others will see the raw beauty that once battled with man’s desire to develop an iron town and eventually regained the upper hand when the mine closed in 1968.
Millom Iron Works - Here once stood the power of British industry!
From the bustle, the smell, the hooters and change of shifts comes tranquillity. The only change now are the seasons and nature slowly claiming back the scarred landscape.
The three furnaces stood tall against the landscape providing work for 10,000 men!
This environment now emits serenity! The weeds stand tall like the furnaces. Are they mocking what used to be? They are now the focus of the landscape.
Like the Goat’s Beard the Nature Reserve is the skeletal structure that is left after the scarring!
What remains of the last furnace is a “plug” of molten iron ore! Once fired at 3,000 F is now a tactile structure like a prized jewel of the Nature Reserve.
These parasol mushrooms are in abundance and their gills like leaves in a book invite us to admire their strength to survive mans need to change the landscape.
The plug lies on a bed of fire bricks that resembles dentures! Here too, nature is starting to fill in the cavities!
We underestimate the determination of nature to overcome the interference of man.
Looking through the Nature Reserve we can still see the grey remnants of the slag heap from the furnaces. The local landmark of Black Combe watches on.
Many of the plants provide a wondrous backdrop to this changing landscape.
Visiting the Nature Reserve today it is hard to believe it has been 53 years since the closing of these mines and their affect on the town of Millom.
A former mayor of Copeland once said Millom “is a place in despair”. (Photo courtesy of Millom Heritage and Arts Centre)
Millom is not “a place of despair”. It is a vibrant town with an amazing history and a thriving ecosystem. Despair I think not! Two Sites of Special Scientific Interest makes it a very, very special place.
This photo essay includes lines quoted from Norman Nicholson, ‘Weeds’, originally published in Sea to the West (London: Faber & Faber, 1981). Their use within the context of this photo work conforms to ‘fair dealing’ exceptions under UK copyright law.