Silence at Ramscliffe - Foot and Mouth in Devon
Three Articles by Chris Chapman
www.chrischapmanphotography.com
MAFF employee moving cattle prior to their slaughter
(Copyright ) Chris Chapman)
The three articles below make for poignant but essential reading for anyone not directly involved and who wants to sense just a little of the tragedy that unfolded for hundreds of people during the foot and mouth crisis of 2001.
All photographs are by the author. (Jan 23. The photos will be added to the articles as soon as possible)
The Western Morning News ran "Silence at Ramscliffe" as a four page spread on January 22nd. There is a 25 minute film called Silence at Ramscliffe, based around the photographs but ending on a positive note when the farm restocked last November ( albeit as a beef and arable holding). This will be shown in late spring on HTV as part of an eight part series.
The articles are published here by kind permission of the author.
Silence at Ramscliffe
(Copyright ) Chris Chapman)
Foot & Mouth in Devon
- EXTRACT ~ The phone rang piercing the uncomfortable quiet. It was his bank manager. ' No, no, I'm fine Janet. Quite honestly it's a relief. It's impossible to farm at the moment what with this weather and all the restrictions.' They chatted away and I made some more coffee.
Finishing his second cup Philip sprang into action. 'I've got to empty that slurry tank before they come else they'll have me.' .....for me the day is remembered as one of unbelievable waste, a sickening solution to what many believe was an unnecessary crisis in the countryside. And because of it Ramscliffe, a small, good, typical North Devon farm, has joined the ranks of the silent.
(Copyright ) Chris Chapman)
- EXTRACT ~ The compensation was high but my feeling all the way through this was that the Government doesn't want to have so many farmers and this was the pay off. And don't forget that there will be a long period without any income. It sounds a lot but its not really.'...................
I've been looking at other things, diversification and looking into the grants and trying not to go back to such intensive farming. I took out the milking parlour. If I had gone back into milking I would have needed a new one. It had got too old and there was no sale value in the parts. The bulk tank will fetch something because that one is nearly new.'.......'I don't know what the future is - you tell me. The ones who seriously stay in farming will have to go big - two or three hundred dairy cows and a couple of thousand sheep. I've got three daughters so I don't feel I need to go back into serious farming. I can muddle along. Do a bit of arable, beef and sheep. But I couldn't walk away from farming completely. It's in my blood.
3 An interview with Percy and Roma Lake
- EXTRACT ~ The day Foot and Mouth came to Beaford was terrible. Nigel, my nephew, who farms at Brealeys, had been down to Ramscliffe in the morning. It was a Sunday morning, the 18th of March. He often came down cause he'd lost his father recently. That was my brother, Harold. Well, he stayed there talking in the milking parlour. He went from there over to Simmons's and stayed chatting with they for a while, which he always did, and in the afternoon, about six o'clock, he ringed up and you know he was in tears, he broke down. ' Us got it', he said 'us got it'. We couldn't believe it, no'
Jack Lewis and his Greyface Dartmoor sheep, Murchington, 1978 (Copyright ) Chris Chapman)
Chris Chapman's Website
Chris Chapman was born in Wigan, Lancashire in 1952. He began his photographic career at the Newport College of Art in South Wales where he was invited to join the Documentary Photography Course run by the Magnum photographer, David Hurn.
(Copyright ) Chris Chapman)
His photographs reflect traditional skills inherent in the indigenous population and emphasise the accumulation of knowledge associated with age and customs. He has a large archive depicting the culture and character of the region.
His photography has been widely recognised and is represented in both public and private collections, including those of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Arts Council of England and the International Center of Photography in New York. His work has been published under various titles, including The Right Side of the Hedge (David & Charles 1977) and Dartmoor: The Threatened Wilderness (Channel 4 Books 1986).
In April 2001 Beaford Arts commissioned Chris to make a photographic record of the effects of Foot and Mouth disease in North Devon. Concentrating on one contiguous farm, Chris made a picture story showing everyday life on a farm through to the day of the cull. The two landscape photographs from this body of work, taken from roads in North Devon, are included in East of Eden, a large-scale exhibition exploring the theme of art, nature and society. (Some sixty artists are involved including John Virtue, Damien Hirst, Andy Goldsworthy, Thomas Joshua Cooper, Rebecca Early and Louise K Wilson. Details from Spacex Gallery on 01392 431786).