Up to the Grass Roots

Houseman’s Shaft engine house at Minions in the Caradon Mining District, boom town at the height of the mining era at the end of the 19th century. Now abandoned - mined out - right up to the grass roots and not a worker in sight.

I’m flat out on the marshy ground, elbows, knees and other parts soaking wet, focussing on the swaying reeds in the hope of getting them sharp while rendering the main subject soft through Depth of Field.

Standard lens, large aperture, fast shutter, bit of patience, no problem. Just need to explain to ‘Er Indoors why my clothes are in the state they are.

Happy with the image, nice low point of view for visual interest. More important to me, I hope my use of differential focus will communicate my point of view that if we want to focus on a green environment we need to ask questions about the cost and consequences of unrestrained capitalism.

The Residents of Tincroft

In 1870 Tincroft was reputedly the richest tin mine in the world and in 1896 employed 466 men underground with a workforce of 607 on surface before closure in 1921.

Built with obvious pride in 1891 to house an air compressor the magnificent brick arches and windows have a cathedral like sense to them, underlined for me by the finger of the chimney pointing heavenward as though in acknowledgement of blessings found deep underground.

If that’s too fanciful for folk then perhaps we might agree that these stones are a testament not only to the pride of the owners but also a monument to the skill of the craftsmen who made them, the longevity of the one far outlasting the other.

Anyway, I’ve set up the camera on its tripod, wide angle lens and careful selection of point of focus to get everything sharp when the crows show up.

Lucky to catch them like this? Perhaps, but I spent an hour trying different exposure combinations to get their positions and the wings right so I’m claiming serendipity - fortunate hard work - if that’s OK with you!

Condemned

The headgear at New Cooks Kitchen shaft at South Crofty taken from the pavement of Dudnance Lane. The point of this image, of course, is not the headgear.

Just a few yards up the road in March 2007, on the wall of the old settling ponds, you could still make out the faded hand painted graffiti that in large white letters once asked the same question as the songwriter:

"Cornish lads are fishermen and Cornish lads are miners too. But when the fish and tin are gone, what are the Cornish boys to do?"

“That’s life” I hear some say “Market forces and all that - get on your bike and find work”.

The Cornish have heard that before, of course.

Between 1861 and 1901 it’s estimated that around 250,000 people moved from Cornwall to other places within the UK and the same number again emigrated overseas to places like the USA, Canada, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand and South Africa. This mass exodus included farmers, tradesmen and merchants but by far the largest number were miners.

World Heritage status says we really don’t need advice about bikes in Cornwall.