I met an interesting man today while at Burlish Top. He was walking his dog and stopped to ask me if I’d lost mine as I must have looked confused. The purpose of my visit today was to try and map the Nature Reserve against the locations of the American Army Camp from WWII. I told him about my purpose and he gave me some fascinating information about the history of the place. The place I was standing in marked where the mess buildings were. The concrete pathways around the reserve were contemporary to the Army Base. He pointed out some holes on either side of the pathway and told me they were posts which held up the roof of a covered pathway. He had been invited for a meal to the base and remembered it well, it was fascinating to meet someone who had personal experience of the place.
I have gained an insight into the location which I did not have before and a mission to look for the location of the church which was used by Polish immigrants after the war, apparently just a concrete square is all that is left.
I took the photograph straight after the conversation as he walked into the distance to mark the moment and the location.
Although the history of Burlish Camp is fascinating my project does not depend on such. Finding out about the background to a location flavours the response and therefore the images produced. I am going to spend some looking a bit further into the history but also to place a limitation on the project.