Old Quarry Pools on Bodmin Moor

Pond at Trewint Marsh I
batik 1420 x 800 mm (56 x 31 inches)
for sale

Trewint Marsh lies on the eastern side of Bodmin Moor, adjacent to the A30 and just outside the village of Trewint. The site was last quarried for sand and gravel in the 1960s or 1970s after which nature again took charge. The remnant pools and sand piles became home to several rare species including the small red damselfly, and locally it was considered something of an informal nature reserve.

In the late 1990s, the site was sold on complete with mineral extraction rights (short-sightedness a long time ago granted 99-year leases for mineral rights), and Trewint Marsh is again being quarried for its sand and gravel.

These batiks were made just after the quarrying company began clearing the scrub and before the official environmental impact survey was done. They began quarrying a year later. By April 2002 close to half of the site had been dug, sifted, and stored in huge piles of variously graded sand and gravel (one of which attracted sand martins in 2001 and 2002 - an unexpected bonus!) leaving a deep pool. The company is required to backfill the pool and re-landscape the site. It is my plan to make more batiks once the site is once again 'abandoned'. I have been warned that I might be waiting up to 30 years, due to the length of time of the original lease.

Pond at Trewint Marsh II
batik 1420 x 800 mm (56 x 31 inches)
for sale

Pond at Trewint Marsh III
batik 1585 x 800 mm (62 x 31 inches)
for sale