In 2011 we helped the Cornwall Wildlife Trust to interview local farmers at a Memory Day in Pendeen. The aim of this was to capture the local farming community’s knowledge of rough land management practices and how these have changed over the years. These included memories of wildlife in the area, stories of grazing the land, tales of harvesting furze and ferns and memories of burning the land.
It was amazing to hear how much our land use in the area has changed. Within living memory farmers would roam the area with small herds, geese would graze the cliffs and gorse was used for cooking in large cauldrons. It struck me how much more the land was used in the past. The rough land in particular had many uses for both animals and humans.
These films include extracts of some of these fascinating stories. (The first slide in 40 seconds long so you may want to skip this by fast forwarding to get to the stories.)
Stories of grazing…
Memories of wildlife…
Memories of harvesting furze and ferns…
Stories of burning the rough land…
The Farmer’s Memory Day was held as part of Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Wild Penwith project. For more information about our project please visit their website: http://www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildpenwith
