Simon English
England Revisited
Summer 1971: Simon English visited 75 points across the country to write the word 'ENGLAND' on England.
Summer 2010: Simon English made a new artwork by revisiting those points.
Observation 1971
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Point:
37
Letter:
L
Date visited:
12th August 1971
Flag:
On a telegraph pole on the east of the railway line opposite the new paper factory S.E. of Danesmoor.
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Observation 2010
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label
Point:
37
Letter:
L
Date visited:
16th August 2010
Observation:
On the same electricity pole that was used in 1971. The drawing pins were still there with fragments of flag although these bits may be from a trial run for England Revisited in 1992. The field and immediate surrounding area seems fairly unchanged. In the immediate vicinity it seems that rosebay willow herb that grew along the railway fence is still here but much less a feature. Maybe its dominance in the past was aided in the days of coal fired trains by grass fires along the railway. The burnt ground allowed ‘fireweed’ to spread along the railway system but slowly coarse grasses, with toadflax and tansey, are reclaiming this field edge and bank.
The fence is typical of the elegant security fences erected to keep animals and people off the railway. It is concrete uprights with five tight strands of wire threaded through holes in the uprights. This was designed to last and be resistant to fire. Rusting wire next to it shows that occasional renewal of wire is necessary.
The field has boards advertising its sale as along with the farm however it has had a crop of hay taken off it this year. One cannot let the grass get rank between owners. A previous years’ haylage is stacked rotting in the hedge.
The railway that runs north south here seems to carry a fair amount of freight. A small indication of modernisation is the replacement of a small shed standing in 1971 by a trackside galvanised steel box.
From the bridge a locked road leads down to a siding. This is not in use. I gather that it served the local coal mine as did the bridge over the railway. Possibly one other remnant is the collapsed oak style next to the field gate that seems the mark of Coal Board restored lands.
On the west side of the railway the car salvage yard is still there but is a much more modern, cleaner and efficient operation than the scrap yards of my youth.
Other industry here seems to have had to adapt to the end of local coalmining perhaps by getting involved in the search for other hydrocarbons. However coal is not forgotten as there is a mining museum in nearby Clay Cross.
Points 36, 37 & 38