James Ravilious Trail leaflet - Devon Wildlife Trust

avilious
Dolton
as seen by
James Ravilious
beafordarts
Images by James Ravilious for the Beaford Archive © Beaford Arts

Image of James Ravilious by Alan Winn
Dolton in the
Beaford Archive
In 1972, photographer
James Ravilious took on a
commission from Beaford
Arts’ founding director John
Lane to “show north Devon
people to themselves”.
17 years and more than seventy
thousand images later, James’
Beaford Archive had become what
the Royal Photographic Society
called “a unique body of work,
unparalleled at least in this country
for its scale and quality”.
After his death in 1999, James’
negatives and contact sheets were
placed in the strongroom at the
north Devon Records Office for
safekeeping. For more than a
decade they remained largely
inaccessible. Now, however, with
the support of Leader 4 Torridge and
north Devon, the 1700 images which
James regarded as ‘best’ and ‘good’
have been digitally scanned from his
original negatives. This leaflet marks
the re-emergence of these images
online (www.beafordarchive.org.uk).
ravilious
It aims to take you past sites
which inspired some of James’
best-known photographs - and to
show you some lesser-known
images made in and around the
same lanes. In the text, experts
and locals reflect on what the
images tell us about his routes
more than thirty years later.
Beaford Arts would like to thank
all who have played a part - family,
friends, colleagues, and the many
people who have been inspired by
his unique vision. Our special
thanks go to the Devon Wildlife
Trust, whose Halsdon nature
reserve makes up a key section of
the walk; to Devon County Council;
and to Leader 4, through which
this project is part financed by the
European Agricultural Fund for
European Development 2007-2013:
Europe investing in rural areas.
1 Ashwell Farm,
Ashwell, Dolton, 1977
2
Early morning mist
on the River Torridge,
Halsdon, Dolton,
April 1980
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All photographs have stories
associated with them. From the
works of great photographers to
family snapshots, an image
captured on camera will evoke
different reactions from different
people.
James Ravilious took a wealth of
photographs, and in the 1970s and
1980s became a familiar figure in
villages across north Devon - but
particularly so in the communities
close to where he lived, including
Dolton. Many of the resulting
photographs have achieved an
iconic status, black and white
images of a land lost in time.
From the time of his first 1972
Beaford commission until his
death in 1999, James made this
part of Devon his home and
undertook his own photography
here as well as working for
Beaford. This trail will take you
along some of the lanes that he
walked and knew well. You will
see where he took the Beaford
Archive photographs reproduced
in this leaflet. You can simply enjoy
the experience of walking through
the countryside, identifying each
location, but you can also use it to
challenge your own perceptions;
to think about each photograph
and perhaps to see it with different
eyes. Imagine you have stepped
back 30 years; note the
differences, the changes in the
environment. Look at the
landscape around you, look again
at what a Ravilious photograph is
ravilious
showing, or not showing; think not
just about the past, but also the
future.
Agriculture
James Ravilious was taking
photographs when north Devon
was in the middle of huge changes
in agriculture. In his own words,
his task was to compile an
“endless tapestry” of Devon life; to
record “the things [he] loved about
Devon”. He did not aim to
represent everything that was
happening during what rural
studies academic Martyn Warren
calls a "dynamic" time for farming.
"We were in the European
Community, there was a lot of
money in farming and there was
change. But how often do you see
a shiny new tractor in a Ravilious
image?"
Beaford Arts trustee Brian
Fraser Smith - who has farmed in
north Devon for more than fifty
years - said that the Ferguson
tractor had revolutionised
agriculture by the 1960s. "It
changed attitudes. Youngsters
who used to mess around with
cows were now messing around
with tractors. The rapidity of
mechanisation changed farming
completely."
Brian added: "Farms had been
getting bigger in order for people
to make a living. The younger
generation didn't want to live at
4
3
Early morning at
Halsdon, Dolton,
February 1987
Sawing-up timber,
Halsdon, Dolton,
August 1978
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the levels of the past. TVs and cars
had been coming in and intensive
farming was taking off."
You may not find a new tractor,
or scenes from modern farming life
in these images, but a careful look
still reveals signs of change, one
of which is the use of metal gates
which became commonplace in
the 1950s and 60s. They often
appear in these photographs;
there is even a glimpse of one in
7 Snowy lane with Heron, West
Lane, Dolton, February 1978, an
otherwise almost frozen-in-time
image.
Environment
Do you see many differences in
the natural environment when you
look around you now? Some things
appear to have changed little.
There is huge delight in spotting
the same sheds in 11 Ducks
beside a frozen stream, Millhams,
Dolton, April 1985, albeit more run
down and overgrown. It's
reassuring to sense the timeless
quality that still pervades these
valleys and lanes around Dolton.
But take another, closer, look.
Devon is famous for its hedges
and deep lanes, pathways that
have traversed history, creating a
funnelled oasis of timelessness -
an atmosphere perfectly caught in
15 Lost sheep in a lane, Millhams,
Dolton, June 1982. Martyn Warren
notes there is a "permanence"
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about these lanes; "rock in
abundance" was used to build up
the sides, the tracks were worn
down over the years by horses'
hooves and cart wheels. At the
same time green, rampant growth
flourished, the product of a damp
climate. But this time-worn solidity,
the heaviness sensed in this
image, is paralleled by a constant
fluidity.
North Devon Biosphere Reserve
manager Andy Bell explains how
over the years, verges and banks
have been eroded by much larger,
modern vehicles, creating a
channel effect in the lanes. These
roads and pathways have always
provided a way for water to get to
rivers, but in the past much was
absorbed by hedges. Now
however, without verges "water
comes down like a torrent,
sweeping sediments into our
rivers". Delicate shifts through
history in one lane will have an
impact on the wider environment.
5 Beside the River
Torridge, Dolton Mill,
April 1980
6
Jean Pickard leading
her flock, Woolridge,
Dolton, September 1975
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Ravilious' landscape is now in
the heart of an internationally
recognised Biosphere Reserve
stretching across more than 1350
square miles - one of fewer than
600 such places on the planet.
North Devon is an area of land
identified for its unique variety of
moorland, valleys, rivers, culm
grasslands, estuaries, dunes and
marine life. The strength of this
diverse landscape is its ability to
withstand change, each element
linked together to play an
important role in sustaining a
balanced, productive and lifesupporting
environment.
Andy looks at these photographs
and sees "a remarkable lack of
change" but he also knows that
environmental shifts, caused by
pollution or climate change, are
taking place. He knows that the
River Torridge at the time of
5 Beside the River Torridge,
Dolton Mill, April 1980, was "a very
polluted river, brown with
discolouration". He knows that the
tree species seen in 13 Archie
Parkhouse and his dog Sally,
Millhams, Dolton, April 1982, will
be changing, the beech with its
shallow, drought-vulnerable roots
being the first to go. These
changes may not be apparent
when you look at the photographs,
or the present day landscape, and
some may take hundreds of years
to reveal themselves, but they are
taking place nonetheless. We can
quickly swap a corrugated iron
ravilious
roof for slate tiles; we can
demolish buildings or hedges in
days. These are quick and easy-tospot
changes, but it will be many
years before the trees that
populate our woods and
hedgerows adapt to shifts in the
climate.
Andy said: "It's not about
avoiding change but managing it.
You need to future proof an area
and this is about keeping variety
and the way it hangs together. So
we still need to make sure we
keep our woodlands, even if the
type of tree that grows in them
changes. In future we may have to
grow different crops, but for the
past 40 years we've been adapting
and the older farming communities
have the skills to do this, we can
use that knowledge to adapt to the
future."
This diverse landscape, with its
challenging farming conditions,
has perhaps forced a slower pace
of change in north Devon when
compared to the wide open arable
landscape in some other parts of
England. But that slowness, a pace
that is reflected in the images of
Ravilious, perhaps makes this
environment better able to adapt
to the demands of the future.
7 Snowy lane with
Heron, West Lane,
Dolton, February 1978
8
George Ayre and Jo
Curzon spraying a
shorn lamb, Addisford,
Dolton, July 1985
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To Beaford
2
1
P
Ashwell Car Park
(North Entrance)
3
River Torridge
The suggested circular route
starts from point 1 at Ashwell
and follows the numbered
locations sequentially. The
walk is approximately 9km
covering riverside meadows,
woodland and lanes and
incorporating Devon Wildlife
Trust’s white route through
the nature reserve.
The marked route covers
publicly accessible land.
Please respect private
property and do not stray
from this path.
4
16
West Lane
To Dolton
7
8
6
P
Quarry Car Park
(South Entrance)
5
9
10
11
12
13
15
14
To Langham

People
Ravilious recorded a human
element to his landscapes,
showing how people had an
impact on the environment around
them. Andy Bell notes the
frequency of women portrayed in
farming this landscape. One of
these familiar faces around Dolton
and Beaford was Jean Pickard.
Simon Berry, from Devon Wildlife
Trust, remembers as a boy on his
way to school being held up by the
"effervescent" Jean with her flock.
The photograph, 6 Jean Pickard
leading her flock, Woolridge,
Dolton, September 1975, brings
back fond memories of that time,
but also of the present when
Simon leads his own special breed
cattle along the same lane.
Simon also remembers Archie
Parkhouse as "the wise man of
Dolton". "He died when I was very
young. He was a big man and I
was afraid of him, you'd know
when he was around because you
could smell his baccy. He loved the
woods, and could tell the weather
by the woods. He knew by the
leaves if it was going to rain."
Brian Fraser Smith knew similar
characters in other villages.
"Archie Parkhouse was of a breed
that was vanishing by the 1970s.
There was a huge change going
on at that time, a change that
broke up a lot of traditions, an
influx of people coming into
farming who were not traditional."
ravilious
Brian also speaks of frugality, a
pride in the older generation of
“making do”, and a “waste not,
want not” attitude. But at the same
time, the younger generations
were moving around more,
communities were breaking up
and evolving. "We had been fairly
content, but by the end of the 50s
and 60s, we could see another
world out there, within reach."
For the casual viewer, the
romantic nostalgia of some of the
images can hide the underlying
hardship. Martyn Warren points
out that "there is a danger of
looking at a Ravilious picture and
investing it with a romantic view of
what's lost. You smile at someone
putting a bag on their head in
12 Archie Parkhouse, Millhams,
Dolton, April 1975, but he’s
traipsing around in the mud and
cold. What would have been his
reaction if you'd offered him a nice
shed with straw in it for lambing?"
10 Millhams cottages with
crossed geese, Millhams, Dolton,
June 1975, is another bucolic
image, the country cottage with a
smallholding; but a closer look
reveals the antithesis of a quaint
image. "It's a collection of old
gates and binder twine, crumbling
cottages and a rough, probably
very unproductive, pasture." said
Martyn.
9 Archie Parkhouse
and Ivor Brock moving
a sick ram, Addisford,
Dolton, March 1976
10
Millhams cottages
with crossed geese,
Millhams, Dolton,
June 1975
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In 8 George Ayre and Jo
Curzon spraying a shorn lamb,
Addisford, Dolton, July 1985, we
see once more the tell-tale signs
of modernisation reflected in the
use of mechanical clippers and the
fertiliser bag. It is a beautiful
image, sheep shearing in the sundappled
shade of a tree, but to
some it has different undertones.
Brian said "He's having to treat the
lamb, something has gone wrong
somewhere. To some of those
farming at the time, this would
have seemed old fashioned." A
contemporary farmer commented
that in the present day he would
not carry out such work under the
trees, in the damp. "There's
something lovely about it, but for
some it might also be a little
disturbing."
Likewise, the sheep in 9 Archie
Parkhouse and Ivor Brock moving
a sick ram, Addisford, Dolton,
March 1976, might be quite unwell.
Is this the best way to transport
such an animal? These days it
would be more likely to be carried
safely in a quad trailer. An almost
comic image suddenly takes on a
different feeling. But despite this
harsh rawness, it's an image that,
to some, reflects a community
spirit, farmers getting together to
help each other out. "Farming was
very labour intensive, so people
helped each other, everybody
interacted", said Brian.
Look at a Ravilious picture and
try and put yourself in the image.
ravilious
What did it really feel like for these
people? A bag was to hand, so
Archie used it to shelter from the
snow, but what would he have said
if he'd been offered a better hat?
Would these people have rejected
or embraced change?
Martyn said: "Our instinctive
reaction to these powerful images
is regret for times past, and a
desire to preserve. Our second
thought, though, should be for the
people depicted and, particularly,
their successors. We ourselves
value the comforts that have
brought about change in society.
Do those in north Devon villages
value them any less, and would
they want to turn the clock back
for the sake of a simpler, more
picturesque lifestyle?”
Art? Documentary?
or both?
So how should we view these
pictures?
Martyn sums up: "I think he was
an artist first and foremost, and
without the great aesthetic and
technical qualities he brought to
his photographs we would not be
so interested in them today. But
what gave focus to his work was a
determination to preserve an
image of something he saw as
dying under the influence of
change. He was capturing, before
it was lost, something precious.”
12
11 Ducks beside a
frozen stream,
Millhams, Dolton,
April 1985
Archie Parkhouse,
Millhams, Dolton,
April 1975
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"James saw things were
shifting," added Brian, "and it was
fortunate that he caught that
change, the tail end of a way of
life."
It's the old Foden vehicle that
catches Brian's eye in 4 Sawingup
timber, Halsdon, Dolton, August
1978. A relic from the past. "It must
have been very dry to get that
Foden down there," he said, "and
Health and Safety people would
throw a fit, they have no protective
gear! James was certainly
recording things that were
changing."
Simon Berry feels above all else
James was on a never-ending
quest to 'capture the moment'.
James was taking photographs
when Simon was growing up in
Dolton, so Simon was very familiar
with the man who was "always
around with his camera". James
was viewed by some locals as "an
artistic type", always very polite,
very unassuming, but also keeping
his distance, never getting directly
involved. The essence, some might
say, of the documentary
photographer.
"He was very conscientious, he
never took a photo for the sake of
it, the conditions had to be right. I
know the trouble he'd go to the
make sure the picture was right."
Simon himself appears in several
of James' photos, but when he
looks at them now, it's not himself
or a memory from the past that
comes to mind. "I don't think about
ravilious
the images. I think of James. I
think James wasn't so interested
in what was happening to the
sheep, or the fact it's a good bit of
hedgelaying, he's only interested
in the moment. That's what these
photos mean to me."
So it's not a portrait of two
children in 5 Beside the River
Torridge, Dolton Mill, April 1980,
but a study in light that Simon
sees. He notices the line of light
edging the mill and the tree, the
mist in the distance, the way the
boy near the water's edge leads
your eye upstream towards that
mist. "I don't know if James even
saw the children, but he did see
the light and the the shadows".
Again in 1 Ashwell Farm,
Ashwell, Dolton, 1977, we can see
Ravilious' love of the light, the use
of black and white photography
enhancing the atmospheric haze
over the distant hills. And in
2 Early morning mist on the River
Torridge, Halsdon, Dolton, April
1980, the stark uprights of the
foreground trees show in contrast
to the sunlit mists rising up from
the river. Simon thought James
seemed to prefer photographing
the lower woodland and river
areas, rather than the higher
viewpoints of Halsdon Reserve.
Maybe it was this quality of light
and atmosphere that appealed to
the artist's eye.
13
Archie Parkhouse
and his dog Sally,
Millhams, Dolton,
April 1982
14
Hedger’s lunchbreak:
Stephen Squire,
Lower Langham,
Dolton, February 1980
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Final Thoughts
So these images, just a small
handful of the many thousands
taken by James Ravilious, can be
viewed in many ways.
What do you see when you look
at 14 Hedger’s lunch-break:
Stephen Squire, Lower Langham,
Dolton, February 1980? Do you
think of Stephen and wonder if he
still works in this field? This is a
perfectly laid Devon hedge bank,
worked on by a master craftsman.
Is it still the same today?
"This shows a real professional
who knows what he's doing," said
Brian Fraser Smith. "The sides dug
up to strengthen the bank, the
hedge on top laid very effectively
to stop animals going over and
grass turves have been cut and
put in underneath. This was a skill
you learned."
Or do look at this image through
the artist's eye, as a series of
shapes, a perfect study of form,
light and shade?
Or perhaps it is the mood of the
image that overwhelms, creating a
very personal response.
"It doesn't really matter how
people see these images - it's
what they mean to them that
matters," said Simon Berry.
Another endless moment intended,
in the words of James Ravilious’s
original commission, “to show
north Devon people to
themselves”.
ravilious
15 Lost sheep in a
lane, Millhams, Dolton,
June 1982
16
Huntsman
calling the hounds,
Halsdon, Dolton
December 1976
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How to Find Halsdon Nature Reserve
By public transport
There is a bus service to the nearby village of Dolton. For up to
date bus and rail timetable information call 0871 2002233 (open
7am-9pm daily except Christmas day).
By car
Follow the A3124 north past Winkleigh, turn off to Dolton
opposite the petrol station at Dolton Beacon. In Dolton, turn
right up Fore Street, passing the Royal Oak pub on the left.
Continue out of the village down West Lane until you reach a
crossroads. Turn right (signposted Halsdon), either park in the
lay-by on the left (grid ref SS 560 116 please park here for
disabled access) or continue for about 1 mile until you reach a
track on the left with a wide entrance and a DWT sign. Follow
the track to the car park (grid ref SS 557 133).
From Torrington: follow the A3124, past Beaford take the minor
road towards Dolton taking the next right (signposted Halsdon).
Follow this road for about 1.5 miles until reaching the track on
the right with a DWT sign at the entrance. Follow this track to
the car park (grid ref SS 557 133).
A388
To Holsworthy
To Bideford
Great
Torrington
A386
Halsdon
Nature
Reserve
A3124
A377
Chumleigh
Winkleigh
The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas
Contacting Beaford Arts
Beaford Arts, Greenwarren House, Beaford, Winkleigh EX19 8LU
Tel: 01805 603201 Email: info@beaford-arts.org.uk
www.beaford-arts.org.uk
Contacting Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT)
Tel: 01392 279244 Email: contactus@devonwildlifetrust.org
www.devonwildlifetrust.org
Enjoying your visit – Information and
Health and Safety Points
To get the most from your visit without
harming the wildlife, please remember:
Respect wildlife
Don’t pick flowers or disturb nesting
birds! If you see anything particularly
exciting during your visit please note it in
the record book in the nature reserve
wildlife hide.
Riding & cycling
Horse riding and cycling are not
permitted on Halsdon nature reserve
Gates
Leave all gates as you find them.
Dogs
Dogs are welcome in the woodland areas
of the nature reserve but are not
permitted in the riverside meadows at
any time. Keep your dog under close
control at all times. Please clean up after
your dog.
Getting around
The terrain is uneven with some steep
and muddy paths. Wear sensible
clothing and make sure you have suitable
footwear.
Access to riverside meadows (Locations
2 and 4)
To help wildlife we ask that you respect
the following restrictions:
Summer months: access is by permit
only. Permits are available from DWT.
Winter months: no more than two people
walking together.
Dogs are not permitted in the riverside
meadows at any time.
Take care
Visitors are reminded that all areas of the
countryside contain inherent, natural
hazards so we ask you to take suitable
and sufficient precautions to avoid injury
or harm.
Text by Catherine Jones
Designed by The Olden Group
Tel: 01271 375393
Beaford Arts is a registered charity. Registered
in England and Wales, charity number 279784.
Company number 1485291.
Leaflet available in larger print