Hushing
Hushing is an old technique of damming streams and then releasing the water into a man-made trench in order to remove soil from mine sites. This destructive industrial process created valleys in the land, many of which can still be seen in the former mining sites and quarries of Weardale - a vast rural ‘Area of Outstanding National Beauty’.
Quarrying for limestone and sandstone and mining for lead ore and quartz played an important role in the history of the North Pennines, leaving an indelible trace of scars and spoil heaps that forever reshaped the landscape. When most of the mines closed in the early 20th century, many local people left the area to find work. The buildings and scarred landscapes were abandoned and nature slowly began to reclaim the land. Over a hundred years later, what has evolved is a picturesque and sometimes alien landscape.
This series of images explores what happens after a key industry diminishes in an area in which it was once dominant, traversing the landscape that is left behind, whilst observing how other industries - such as farming and tourism - eventually begin to transform the land once again.
Hushing is an old technique of damming streams and then releasing the water into a man-made trench in order to remove soil from mine sites. This destructive industrial process created valleys in the land, many of which can still be seen in the former mining sites and quarries of Weardale - a vast rural ‘Area of Outstanding National Beauty’.
Quarrying for limestone and sandstone and mining for lead ore and quartz played an important role in the history of the North Pennines, leaving an indelible trace of scars and spoil heaps that forever reshaped the landscape. When most of the mines closed in the early 20th century, many local people left the area to find work. The buildings and scarred landscapes were abandoned and nature slowly began to reclaim the land. Over a hundred years later, what has evolved is a picturesque and sometimes alien landscape.
This series of images explores what happens after a key industry diminishes in an area in which it was once dominant, traversing the landscape that is left behind, whilst observing how other industries - such as farming and tourism - eventually begin to transform the land once again.