Image courtesy of Jasper Fell-Clark
ABOUT
Red River: Listening to a Polluted River was an 18-month research project. It investigated the history, ecologies and stories of the Red River, which runs from the heart of Cornwall’s historic mining landscape into St Ives Bay. The project was devised and led by Dr John Wedgwood Clarke of the University of Exeter, who has written a book length poem in response to his collaborative research. It was made possible through funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council through their Leadership Fellowship scheme. The project included a series of public walks and events, artists’ commissions, schools’ workshops and the development of educational resources, all of which can be accessed here.
WALKS RESOURCES
As part of the project four circular routes were plotted, each exploring a different stretch of the river from mouth to source. Across the course of summer 2021 four public walks took place, each following one of the routes. If you would like to explore the routes at your own pace the audio and visual resources for each walk are available below, along with a map of each route. Images courtesy of Harvey Gorst and Jasper Fell-Clark.
Image courtesy of Harvey Gorst
LEARNING RESOURCES
A selection of free downloadable education resources were created based on workshops run with partner schools and community groups during the Red River project. Each pack includes a selection of resources and research from the wider project along with prompts and instructions to stimulate writing.
INTRODUCTION
RIVER MUSEUM
A DIALOGUE BETWEEN RIVER AND ROAD
RIVER OF MACHINES, RIVER GODS
FISH-NOSED THINKING
a polluted river
explored through
poetry
In the shadow of the granite cross on the hill
and fluctuations on metal markets;
in the shadow of the great spoked wheels
of the headgear turning in the gale;
in the shadow of the bulldozed tin mill,
Costa, Subway and ’40 Acres of Cultural Candy’
a river like a conveyor belt left running
in a tunnel of gorse forgets the lines it learnt to death.
Red River Valley: Camborne-Redruth Bypass construction, 1973. Image courtesy of Kresen Kernow. REF: corn02967
