Cornish Mining Landscapes: Public Perceptions of Industrial Archaeology in a Post-Industrial Society
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CORNISH MINING LANDSCAPES: PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN A POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY HILARY ORANGE UCL Institute of Archaeology March 2012 1 Page I, Hilary Orange, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 2 Page ABSTRACT This thesis considers local residents’ perceptions of Cornish mining landscapes, with a particular focus on tin and copper mining. The aim of the thesis is to better understand the changing economic, political and cultural values which Cornish mining sites and features have embodied during the post-war period (from 1950 to 2010). This research has focused on the familiar and the everyday including industrial remains of the later 20th century. The three case studies examined, Botallack, St Agnes, and Minions, are part of the Cornish Mining Landscape World Heritage Site (designated in 2006). This research has been strongly informed by the social archaeology of industry and contemporary archaeology, and a number of complimentary ethnographic and statistical techniques have been utilised, supplemented by archival research and visual data methods. The themes which have been examined include: site descriptions; paths and networks; metaphors of industry; significant features in the landscape; time and change; contention in the landscape; and World Heritage Site status. This research has concluded that public perceptions on Cornish mining landscapes are strongly informed by romanticism whilst the use of demonic, heroic and romantic tropes is another key theme. Since mine shafts were closed for health and safety reasons perception is now focused on the surface of mines and the subsurface world is largely out-of-sight and out of mind. Changes in the landscape are often defined around concepts of the ‘local’, the ‘incomer’ and the ‘outsider’; the latter largely standing for external authority. Statistical analysis has shown that longevity of residence is a significant factor in shaping perception, whilst qualitative data has demonstrated different ways in which incomers become ‘local’. There are many different connections to Cornish mining landscapes and these relict industrial sites are not dead or derelict spaces. 3 Page LIST OF CONTENTS CORNISH MINING LANDSCAPES: PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN A POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY...................................................................1 ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................................3 LIST OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................................................4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS...................................................................................................................18 PREFACE...................................................................................................................................................23 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.....................................................................................................................25 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................28 1.1. Introduction................................................................................................................28 1.2. Field of study..............................................................................................................30 1.2.1. Industrial archaeology of the social archaeology of industry............31 1.2.2. Contemporary archaeology.................................................................................31 1.2.3. Cultural heritage studies.......................................................................................32 1.3. Scope of the research..............................................................................................33 1.4. Research agenda and original contribution..................................................35 1.5. Research questions..................................................................................................37 1.5.1. How do local people perceive and experience the remains of the Cornish copper and tin mining industry?......................................................38 1.5.2. How have the mining areas changed over the last fifty years?.............................................................................................................................38 1.5.3. What does World Heritage status mean, if anything, to local 4 people?..........................................................................................................................39 Page 1.5.4. What is public opinion on the future management of Cornish mining sites?...............................................................................................................................39 1.5.5. What is the relationship between Cornish mining sites and identity?........................................................................................................................40 1.5.6. Overview of the thesis............................................................................................40 CHAPTER TWO: INDUSTRY IN CONTEXT..................................................................................43 2.1. Introduction................................................................................................................43 2.2. Cornwall’s location, geography and geology................................................43 2.3. Cornish mining literature.....................................................................................45 2.4. History of Cornish Mining.....................................................................................47 2.4.1. Early mining...............................................................................................................47 2.4.2. Medieval and early post-medieval periods...................................................49 2.4.3. The industrial period: 1700-1866....................................................................50 2.4.4. Deindustrialisation: 1866-1945........................................................................53 2.4.4.1. Mining............................................................................................................................53 2.4.4.2. Celtic revivalism and tourism.............................................................................55 2.4.4.3. Abandoned mining sites in the early 20th century...................................56 2.4.5. Post-war Cornwall: 1946-1988..........................................................................57 2.4.5.1. The end of the mining industry..........................................................................57 2.4.5.2. Tourism and nationalism......................................................................................59 2.4.5.3. Abandoned mining areas in the post-war period......................................61 2.4.6. Post-industrial Cornwall: 1988-2010..............................................................62 5 Page 2.5. Chapter summary.....................................................................................................66 CHAPTER THREE: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK...................................................................68 3.1. Introduction................................................................................................................68 3.2. The development of industrial archaeology in the UK............................68 3.2.1. The formative years ...............................................................................................68 3.2.2. Industrial archaeology and academia (1960s and 1970s).....................70 3.2.3. Social archaeologies of industry........................................................................71 3.2.4. Industrial archaeology and academia (1980s, 1990s and 2000s)......72 3.2.5. Industrial archaeology or ‘other’ archaeology?..........................................72 3.3. Heritage........................................................................................................................73 3.3.1. Heritage debates.......................................................................................................74 3.3.2. Values............................................................................................................................76 3.3.2.1. International conventions and charters.........................................................78 3.3.2.2. World Heritage and universal value................................................................79 3.3.3. Benefits and costs of WHS....................................................................................82 3.4. Industrial archaeology and the public.............................................................83 3.4.1. Time and industrial archaeology.......................................................................84 3.4.2. The interval of neglect............................................................................................85 3.4.3. The redemption of industrial space.................................................................86 3.4.4. Aesthetics and the singularity of industrial remains................................87