Killhope & Love IRL
This weeks entry is about Killhope Lead Mining Museum. The what3words for the site is ///joined.camera.fuzz (chosen purely because it had the word camera in it).
On the face of it, Killhope has everything that I look for in a photography trip. There are old industrial buildings in the museum, with stunning views down Weardale within the North Pennines AONB. There is even a woodland walk, although that was closed due to storm damage when we were there.
My love for this place runs a little deeper than simply that its aesthetic leans towards the proclivity of my chosen photography subjects.
The big wheel at Killhope Lead Mining Museum
The first time I took my wife to visit Killhope she was pregnant with my eldest child. We walked up the steps to the bunkhouse, and through to the office.
On the desk was a book, filled with signatures from where people had signed when they attended the site using a quill and pots of ink.
The quill in the office at Killhope Lead Mining Museum
I flicked through a couple of the pages, and there was my signature from visiting the museum, aged 7. With me also signing the row below on behalf of my little sister aged 0. I remember chuckling to myself that my handwriting hadn’t improved, and I still did certain letters like the D in Dan exactly the same some 20 years later.
The building contaning the forge, the bunkhouse and the office at Killhope Lead Mining Museum
I signed the margin next to my original entry, along with my wife signing for herself and bump. At the time we continued to look around the site and thought nothing of it.
The next time we went to visit Killhope was a little over a year later. We had a 1 year old in tow, and another bump.
We went to the bunkhouse, and through to the office. Keen to update our entry from last time with a name for bump one, and add another entry for bump two. Sat on the desk in the office was the book. I flicked through and couldn’t find our names. I was a little confused, until another visitor gestured towards a cupboard to the rear of the room. Opening it I was met with the sight of around 50 of the guestbooks. It had been sheer fluke that the first time I took my wife, it happened to be the same book on the desk as the first time I had visited as a child.
The mine entrance, Killhope Lead Mining Museum
But these were in truth not my only visits to the museum. I had family from the area, and we would normally be up a couple of times per year into Weardale. My Grandad used to enter the mineral shows, and I may have also entered a few in the junior category before they moved to St John’s Chapel. I have many a memory of exploring the site, both as a child and now with my children.
We have started going once or twice per year with our little ones. They are yet to go down the mine above but that is something which they cannot wait to do (maybe next year?)
Minecart
From this point on I’ll stop reminiscing and focus on the photography (no pun intended). I have posted these images chronologically. As ever, some of my favourite images are upfront, with a small selection of other images at the end in a gallery format.
Some of the images slightly further down are my favourites of the landscape. Whilst they still contain some of the old industrial buildings, such as the Powder House, the afternoon treated us to some more changeable light.
Mine buildings at Killhope
This is probably one of the hero shots that everyone takes. I have this in better light from a different time of year where the moss was more yellow and there was snow on the ground, taken back when I used to carry a tripod pretty much everywhere I went (my back thanked me for stopping that habit). The other version, which will be way down in my landscape IG accounts feed now spent a few years as my background at work. Whenever asked about it I’d always rejoice in telling the guest book story from above.
Variation on the Minecart
The above image is taken looking left from where the wheel image preceding it was taken. I prefer the minecart in the previous minecart image, however I think this one gives a better view following the river down the valley.
Love IRL - Sculpture by Stuart Langley at Killhope Museum
Often when there are art works framed within industrial or agricultural buildings I will photograph the buildings in a way which makes it look like the artwork isn’t there. To me the the old buildings, full of character from centuries of use will generally be more enjoyable to look at. With this sculpture however I still wanted to take the time to stop and capture it in the environment.
I don’t know what it was about it. I think partly it was due to being well placed for framing against the wheel (with the exception of its accompanying signage that was had to not get in the shot, one sign still is) that gives a bit of juxtaposition between the old textured environment, and sleek modern clean lines of the sculpture itself.
One of the smaller mine wheels near the washer floor, Killhope
I can imagine this wheel is often neglected in favour of its bigger sibling situated right behind it. Unfortunately there is work being carried out on the big wheel which means you can’t get close to it as it’s fenced off. But even so, I love the pops of orange in this image from the brickwork, especially with that lone fern poking through…
Changeable light looking down the valley
The above image is as much about the light as anything. I had put my long lens on to frame the building with the orange autumnal leaves of that tree to the right of the image, and just as I was swapping back to my 35mm, the light changed. It went from being overcast to more dappled, with varied light and shadow being cast on the landscape. This is the first of three where the focus is placed squarely on capturing that light.
The Powder House, Killhope
The above building is situated across the valley from the museum itself, but it still has connections to the site. When the mine was functional, this is where the gunpowder was stored so it was away from the main mine, I’m assuming to minimise risk of any unwanted reactions or explosions with the powder.
Light catching a house near Killhope
I just missed the light catching the above house from a viewpoint I’d been at near to the lake. I let the wife and little ones wander off to the wildlife hide whilst I stood and waited for the light to catch again. By this point in the afternoon the shadows were moving visibly quickly across the hills, so I didn’t have to wait long…
There is a further selection of images below in a gallery format from our time at Killhope at the weekend.
If you would like to see more of my landscape work, moving forward most of the images will be here in blog format, but I will notify of new entries on my Instagram page for landscapes - @photog.righ
If you are interested in following my portrait and product work, links to my instagram and twitter for those accounts are just below at the bottom of this page
