Cinderloo 1821

This socially engaged project brings together history, contemporary responses, writings and artwork. We secured public funding from project partners for a range of different activities including walks, community workshops, film-making, zines, books and other artworks, educational work with schools, heritage skills workshops, local history and family history research and talks. I co-founded the Cinderloo 1821 community group to raise awareness of the Cinderloo Uprising which took place 200 years ago, when 3,000 miners and their families marched in protest at proposed pay cuts and increasing poverty. They gathered at the cinderhills of Old Park in Dawley (now the Telford Forge Retail Park), where the protest culminated in conflict with the Shropshire Yeomanry. Two men were shot dead with many injured, and one man, Thomas Palin, was hanged for “felonious riot”. I lead art projects, both self-initiated and participatory, focusing on different aspects of the historic event, working in partnership with Participate Contemporary Artspace CIC and artists and writers including Jill Impey, Andy McKeown, Jean Atkin, Amanda Hillier, Kate Allan and Jean McEwan. We worked with over 400 children and 9 primary schools in Telford as part of Historic England's Heritage Schools programme. The film Bear Witness: The Lie of the Land was created with Jill Impey. The Witnesses series of drawings and paintings of 200 year old trees stemmed from a poem I wrote reflecting on their being no totally reliable witness accounts of the events except perhaps the trees. I located old trees estimated to be over 200 years old with assistance of records provided by Shropshire Wildlife Trust and Severn Gorge Countryside Trust. I produced the zine Out of the Dark in collaboration with participants in project workshops and contributions from writers and artists.