chain coral Chorus
The Geosites in the Black Country offer exemplars for what I discussed in part 2; these are lands where one might lose their footing, both literally and imaginatively. They are beautiful, rich havens of the natural, but know where and how to look and their liminal qualities come to the fore too.
Here is where Prehistoric relics rest; blumenbachii, ammonite, sea lily locked in fossil time-traps. Time and space changes can be mapped in the varves, lines and layers of coloured rocks that pierce through the grounds and form valleys and cliffs. Stare for long enough at Wren's Nest ripple beds and one is rushed with awe in realising, physically touching and sensing, that this land was once an ocean. These relics humble us. The Industrial past can muster similar sensations. Ruins of engine houses, railway lines and mine shafts are everywhere in the Geopark. Eerie in their new setting; they are absent from the sensory and communal things associated with industry. Weird in their newly re-wilded home; they are off-kilter, out of place, out of time. Again, investigating the heritage in these sites gives one the sense of connectedness to our forebears and ancestors. It provides a deeper understanding and connection to the modernity and mundaniety that surrounds places like Barrow Hill or Buckpool. What we have in these spaces is a primordial limen between prehistory, industry and our everyday realms. This limen is now embedded with Wild roots. They are home to rare species of newt, dragonfly and wild flower. Places for dog walks and family picnics, bird watching and conservation. The untamed natural has returned to the rich geo-topography and taken back that which once plundered it. And all this layering of different ghosts and growths are set against domestic life. Saltwells Nature Reserve is orbited by Netherton's housing estates and Merry Hill shopping centre. So these places that hold so much symbolic and scientific treasure, that connect us to the earth and our history, do so on the doorsteps of normal everyday realms. What we get here then is a series of rhizomes of Place-identity markers. Fossil, bluebell, bell pits and terraced house all share space. Caught in a beautiful in-between. Place-identity is a term used for the ways we attach ourselves to our locales. Places are packed full of different things - smells, sounds, memories, activities, movements, people, artefacts - all site-specific - which the subject takes into their sense of self. Place is fundamental to selfhood. The bottom line of that is the land, the makeup of the rocks and soils that allow all these things to bloom. In recognising this we are awestruck at our mutual connectedness as well as our grand insignificance. This is a post-industrial sublime, in the Gothic / Romantic sense. Just being here, gaining what White called the 'topological presence' is inspiring. But dig into the earth, search out your own Dudley Bug, and you're in a state of reverence, wonderment, joy and terror. Find out more about the Black Country Geopark - https://blackcountrygeopark.dudley.gov.uk/ Find out more about the Black Country Geological Society - https://bcgs.info/pub/ Find out more about Geopoetics - http://www.geopoetics.org.uk/ Comments are closed.
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January 2022
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