tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post5562975225257026327..comments2024-03-25T15:10:13.792+00:00Comments on English Buildings: Widford, OxfordshirePhilip Wilkinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-60839216542060728492016-03-24T11:09:10.689+00:002016-03-24T11:09:10.689+00:00Joe Treasure: Yes, the Forest is an atmospheric pl...Joe Treasure: Yes, the Forest is an atmospheric place, and that atmosphere is in part due to a long industrial history. All those miners ('Free miners') for a start. By the 1960s a lot of them had given up or their pits were worked out, and they got on works buses to the nylon factory at Brockworth among other places, where they got paid quite well for shift work but had to endure the deafening racket of spinning and 'drawtwist' machines. Most returned at the end of their shift to the forest, which they'd refuse to leave for the convenience of, say, a house in Gloucester, because it was home.Philip Wilkinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-54686839895843910332016-03-24T11:05:10.687+00:002016-03-24T11:05:10.687+00:00Joseph Biddulph: Yes, slate mining could be a toug...Joseph Biddulph: Yes, slate mining could be a tough, exploitative business; I get the impression that limestone quarrying in the Cotswolds was carried on at a gentler pace, with a more natural, seasonal rhythm to the work (though even here some of the stone was mined underground in conditions that must have been tough and dangerous). But the fact that I'm more aware of these issues in the context of the slate industry is maybe more to do with the fact that the trade was more concentrated, involving more people in a tight geographical compass. In a similar way we're more aware of industrial exploitation than the plight of farm workers. Country workers are often isolated and their stories themselves are less easy to 'mine'.Philip Wilkinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04893714514416441572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-80025372055348211362016-03-24T10:58:02.851+00:002016-03-24T10:58:02.851+00:00Living in Monmouth, we used to walk in the Forest ...Living in Monmouth, we used to walk in the Forest of Dean. It doesn't have the obvious architectural charm (nor, I assume, the historical prosperity) of the Cotswolds, but plenty of natural beauty and lots of abandoned industrial remains. Coming across evidence of an old mine or mill in a clearing always added interest to a walk. <br />Joe Treasurehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11452665782271458318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4228081722487474323.post-45661889026082102882016-03-22T18:52:09.407+00:002016-03-22T18:52:09.407+00:00Bare winter trees and the section of lane - and th...Bare winter trees and the section of lane - and the farm walls - add so much to the beauty of this shot! Buildings and trees often complement one another most successfully. Welsh slate mining of course has its own saga, and at least one Welsh novel not-so-affectionately recalls the exploitation and unfair working conditions and the society that endured it. I noticed that the playground equipment my grandchildren were playing on today was made in the ex-slate-mining town/village of Bethesda - a much nicer trade! Joseph Biddulph (Publisher)https://www.blogger.com/profile/08655472675410890012noreply@blogger.com