The Landscape and Architecture of Postwar British Infrastructure: Coal

During the Research Method Unit ‘Landscapes of Post-War Infrastructure: Coal’ post-graduate landscape and architecture students worked together to understand the interconnected landscapes of extraction, power production and environmental amelioration through the case studies of the Aire Valley power stations of Drax, Eggborough and Ferrybridge, the Gale Common ash disposal site and the Selby coal field including Gascoigne Wood Mine and Kellingley Colliery. The focus of the unit was to understand and actively use a variety of methodologies to interrogate the history and present of these sites, and to contextualise these histories in the broader questions of political and social history, nationalisation and privatisation, mining and power production, and the questions of amenity and community. The unit relied on archival research that was made possible through the effort of our collaborators, the Museum of English Rural Life, Historic England, the National Coal Mining Museum and the Yorkshire Film Archive in a digital format, during the intensive week. The students also benefitted from oral history training and conducted interviews during the project.

This unit is part of the AHRC funded live research projects ‘Landscapes of Post-War Infrastructure: Culture, Amenity, Heritage and Industry’ and ‘Cooling Down’ led by Richard Brook and Luca Csepely-Knorr. The project works with a variety of research partners and community groups to uncover and understand the various values attached to the landscapes of post-war infrastructure.