STRANGE EDEN
Bickershaw is a 247 hectare
nature reserve that is located on the site of the former Bickershaw Colliery in
Leigh, Greater Manchester. Following the closure of the coal pit in 1992, the
fate of the site fluctuated according to the changing political and economic
winds of the age. During the relative boom years of the New Labour government,
plans were drawn up to convert large swathes of the land into a golf course
complete with visitor’s center. These grand ambitions were swiftly abandoned with
the global economic crash of 2008.
Through the years of
austerity that followed, Bickershaw, like many brownfield sites across the UK,
remained an unmanaged post-industrial wilderness. Characterised by spoil-heap
dunescapes from the mining years, and punctuated by signs of low-level criminal
activity, the site was largely off limits for the local residents that
inhabited the housing developments on its periphery. Throughout these years of
neglect, nature, in all its chaos and tenacity, has thrived amongst the remnants
of human excess.
In an era of environmental calamity
where ecological issues have come to the fore, Bickershaw has recently become a
point of focus for the local council and charities who’s laudable aim is to rewild
and restore the site in an image of semirural harmony. The fresh maze of quad
bike trails, burnt out vehicles and the remnants of an illegal rave attest to a
continuing resistance to this idyllic vision and speaks to the larger paradoxes
that confront us today around our place in the natural world. These images taken
on this contested and mutable landscape, describes the mystery and imperfection
that lies at the heart of every Eden.