As the second instalment of my fieldtrip series, we’ve got a fieldtrip which I went on as a fundamental part of my Heritage and Environmental Change module. As one of our assessments focused around the coastal harbour of Mullion, which is situated on the Lizard Peninsula, our first fieldtrip for this module was a coastal walk from Poldhu Cove to Mullion itself.
With our lecturers, we re-enacted Louise Ann Wilson’s interpretative walk ‘Mulliontide: A Guide for Walkers’, which encourages walkers to actively engage with the environment whilst exploring themes of loss, change and identity. Wilson’s original interpretative walk was done in October 2016 but was so popular that a guide has been published so that it can be re-created by anyone at any time. The walk itself went along some incredible areas coastline and some of the South West Coast Path – and you’ll be pleased to note that the weather on this occasion was bright sunshine!
In pairs, we carried the guidebook alongside us, which got us involved in individual stories, legacies and also some singing of the ‘White Rose’! Although we didn’t do the original choir justice, we all joined in and gave it a go and there was a lovely sense of community when were all singing along together. We followed the stations in the guide, sharing some gummy fish and also paddling our toes into the sea as recommended. At lunchtime, we stopped at the Chocolate Factory for a hot drink and also some of the best chocolate I have ever tasted!
For me, what was so poignant about this trip was that it would not have immediately sprung to my mind as a form of heritage. The ‘typical’ form of heritage often involves museums and archives, however this trip showed that heritage can move away from these more traditional forms. When walking through the landscape and interacting with stories, we ourselves were interacting with and also helping create the heritage of the landscape itself. I think this is what is so amazing about this MA – it opens your eyes to different forms of heritage and helps you consider things in a way which you never thought of before. If you had told me that I would be walking along the coast, singing with my cohort I think I would have laughed at you! But the experience and feelings of community that were felt, not only on the walk but also when we got to Mullion and learnt about the harbour, were hard to ignore.
https://louiseannwilson.com/work/mulliontide-a-guide-for-walkers