River, Road & Rail

Elevated Road & Riverside Building, Newark, Nottinghamshire, May 2013

In a gap between completing my most recent painting, (‘Belgrave Gate: Yours 1’), and starting work on a series of small studies which may culminate in the next one, I found myself out with the camera in glorious Bank Holiday sunshine recently.  This post features some of the photographs taken on what was the nicest day of the year so far, climatically speaking.

Elevated Road, Weir & Branch Line Railway Bridge, Newark, Nottinghamshire, May 2013

Foot Bridge, Newark, Nottinghamshire, May 2013

My chosen location was a stretch of the River Trent just beyond the edge of the Nottinghamshire town of Newark, - a spot I drive past regularly on its elevated by-pass.  I always gaze down with interest at this zone where river, canal, footpaths and, unusually, two crossing railway lines all meet in a complex of bridges, lock gates, gantries, signals and a weir as the road flies overhead.  An adjacent sewage treatment works and nearby sugar processing plant add to the sense of utilitarianism resulting from so much infrastructure being concentrated into this relatively compact area around a bend in the river.

Branch Line Railway Bridge & Sugar Processing Plant, Newark,
Nottinghamshire, May 2013

Sewage Works, Newark, Nottinghamshire, May 2013

I soon discovered it’s pretty easy to access the area by walking out of the back of a modern retail park, past light industrial units and the impressive edifices of Newark’s Victorian maltings, and onto part of the river bank which has been redeveloped for leisure use in recent years.  In fact, the coming together of dilapidated industrial archaeology and contemporary retail, industrial, leisure and residential development are a major factor in what makes this whole area so resonant.  I have a family connection with the maltings themselves as my Great, Great Grandfather worked there when it served Newark’s burgeoning brewing industry back in the day.  The main part of the complex has been redeveloped as stylish apartments but, inevitably, it was the partially derelict remains nearer the river that interested me most.

Elevated Road & River Bank, Newark, Nottinghamshire, May 2013

Main Line Railway Bridge, Newark, Nottinghamshire, May 2013

Main Line Railway Bridge, Newark, Nottinghamshire, May 2013

Trusting the derelict remains of my own knees rather more than they’ve merited of late, I walked the few hundred metres to my chosen destination, passing under the bypass and through the waterways junction to the dramatic curved railway bridge that marks the far edge of this knot of transport routes.  Once again, I was struck by the juxtaposition of charmingly renovated lock gates with the dilapidation of a neighbouring building in which some ad-hoc enterprise was being pursued.  Nearby, scrap metal and discarded tyres were being reclaimed alongside new housing under construction.  Vans were parked up in a compound beneath the road and discarded broken furniture lay abandoned in the open as regular main line and local trains passed by.  As so often before, I became acutely aware of the massive transitions surrounding me.

Electrified Main Line, Newark, Nottinghamshire, May 2013

Ironically, the beautiful conditions and verdant new vegetation all around created a rather more idyllic mood than one might normally associate with the general subject matter.  I do plan to revisit the site to see how it looks and feels in different conditions but am also aware that the most genuine response to a subject is to register how it actually appears on a given day, rather than how one thinks it should look in some stereotypical sense.

Electrified Main Line, Newark, Nottinghamshire, May 2013

For now, these photographs stand as relatively self-contained images.  However, along with January’s images of Birmingham’s Spaghetti Junction they do point towards a possible theme for future work that I’ve been contemplating for a while.  Both locations could be classified as more typically ‘Edgeland’ subjects than my more normal, inner urban sources.  However, I think that my specific focus within that general, somewhat romantic sensibility, is actually on the transport channels, connected infrastructure and systems of movement and control which shape our lives.  That is something that could be examined just as easily at the heart of a conurbation as at its fringes.  Clearly, in our economic, industrial and post-industrial context, it’s effectively impossible to exist beyond such networks and thus, they must be acknowledged.  It may, however, also be possible to linger for a while in the unintentionally activated gaps between them or to drill down through their tangled layers to examine how they interconnect through historical time as well as physical space.

Branch Line Railway Bridge, Newark, Nottinghamshire, May 2013

Electrified Main Line, Newark, Nottinghamshire, May 2013

It’s too early to tell as yet, but I have a sense that this may all coalesce into a discrete third major work stream, alongside the ‘Risk Assessment’ pieces and ‘Belgrave Gate Project’ on which I’m already engaged.  Whilst clear connections exist between them, there does seem to be some logic in categorising them into distinct groups and setting some clear parameters within which to progress.  Where I’ll actually find time to attend to it all is another matter, of course.  On Bank Holiday Monday it felt mostly like just dropping down to ground level and watching at leisure as others hammered along the beaten tracks.

Elevated Road, Newark, Nottinghamshire, May 2013