This series was made in the context of a PhD that investigates how photography might be used to interrogate the visual consequences of conservation legislation enacted within the Mendip Hills. The objective in this case study was to make a series of photographs of locations recorded in a caving archive and located using a GPS receiver. These places are sites that were created or modified through mining activity, and, when viewed through this historical lens, operate as signs of a previous relationship with the land. The pictorial strategy uses the ‘scenic view’ to reference the inclusion of these post-industrial sites within the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. At the time of making the photographs the archive was in flux, with new sites being located and added and existing records being updated. The resulting photographs are, therefore, a response to the ways in which systems of knowledge create culturally valued landscapes. The geo-locative method employed is subsequently developed further in the series made at Banwell, Black Down and Dolebury.
Fern Mine ST 4292 5919 Length: 6m Depth: 4m January 2013
Sandford Quarry Mine ST 42523 59143 Length: 17m Depth 17m January 2013
Sandford Quarry Cave ST 422 591 Length: 21m Depth: 8m January 2013
Spar Shaft ST 4235 5910 Length: 17m Depth: 14m January 2013
SSSS-22-F ST 42731 59164 Length: 7m Depth: 7m January 2015
Scum Hole ST 42885 59162 Length: 20m Depth: 20m January 2015
SMCC-7 ST 4287 5935 Length: 7m Depth: 2m January 2015
Sandford Levvy ST 4291 5936 Length: 588m Depth: 43m January 2015
SMCC-12 ST 4277 5932 Length: 2m Depth: 2m January 2015
SSSS-22-N ST 42618 5900 Length: 7m Depth: 7m March 2015
Classic Shaft ST 4281 5903 Length: 5m Depth: 5m March 2015
High Mine ST 4253 5904 Length: 20m Depth: 15m March 2015
Sandford Rake ST 42902 59035 Length: 0m Depth: 0m March 2015
Summit Plantation Mine ST 4277 5903 Length: 5m Depth: 5m March 2015
Triple Hole ST 4268 5906 Length: 152m Depth: 37m April 2014
Udders Hole ST 43202 59067 Length: 0m Depth: 0m May 2014
Sandford Hill Mine No.3 ST 43137 59062 Length: 20m Depth: 15m May 2014
SSSS-22-O ST 42649 58994 Length: 7m Depth: 7m August 2015
Coffee Pot ST 42757 59148 Length: 0m Depth: 0m August 2015
Girl’s Hole ST 43303 58999 Length: 0m Depth: 0m October 2015
Sandford East Ochre Mine ST 4331 5895 Length: 18m Depth: 18m November 2015
MCRA-SH-14 ST 43249 59240 Length: 1m Depth: 1m November 2015
Pearl Mine ST 4283 5917 Length: 215m Depth: 31m November 2015
MCRA-SH-3 ST 4286 5934 Length: 3m Depth: 3m November 2015