On the 8th March 2014 the long awaited, new permanent
Bideford Black display case was finally revealed upstairs at the Burton Art
Gallery & Museum. After an exciting year of research, public engagement and
workshops the Story of Bideford Black team, along with help from Murray Design[i],
Myriad-UK[ii]
and Kingfisher Multimedia[iii], have
brought together a visually pleasing and informative addition to the already
much respected Bideford museum. Production of the display case has been made
possible by the Friends of the Burton following a bequeathal from the
late Peggy Lines, a long time supporter of the Burton. The Mayor of
Bideford, Simon Inch, Chairman of Torridge District Council, Tony Inch, Pam Biggs, Chair of the Friends of the Burton, and Tamsin Daniels of the Heritage Lottery Fund
officially revealed the display case in front of a large gathering of people
connected to Bideford Black and the project. The project has been most
appreciated both as a much-needed document of a locally significant industry
and also as an exciting vehicle to engage young and old with their local
environment and history.
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Mayor
of Bideford, Simon Inch, Chairman of Torridge District Council, Tony Inch, and
ex-Bideford Black Miner, Ron Pither, opening the new Story of Bideford Black
permanent display (photo courtesy the Burton Gallery 2014)
The display, designed by Peter Ward and Warren Collum and put
together by Murray Design, Myriad-UK and Kingfisher multimedia, utilizes
artifacts, images, samples of Bideford Black and material gathered throughout
the project, along with a touch screen audio-visual display holding stories and
images that could not fit in the fixed display. Even as the project was coming
to a close, people were coming forward with more information and artifacts that
could unfortunately not be included. Joyce Webb, whose father had run Manley
Tucker’s Paint Shop in Kingsley Road in the 1950’s and 60’s, offered a pot of
paint from her shed along with some photos of the paint shop. (Unfortunately the
paint turned out to be salmon pink rather than the hoped for Zats Black[iv].)
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Mr W.H Gifford using the grinding machine at Manley
Tucker Paint Shop in Kingsley Road. Photo also shows tins of 'Zats' black being
stacked. (Image Courtesy - Mrs Joyce Webb)
Paint
pot brought in by Mrs Joyce Webb mixed at Manley Tucker Paint Shop, Kingsley
Road, Bideford.
Barry Hughes, of the North Devon Museum Trust, more lately
revealed a set of key documents and images about Bideford Black donated to him
by the last owner of the mines, Howard St Louis Cookes in the early 70’s, along
with a shovel used in the mines that has been thankfully included in the
display. The documents – a scrapbook of cuttings and memorabilia including a
technical manual about the machines that ground the pigment at Chapel Park -
were in turn donated to Mr Cookes by the mine’s previous owner in the 1930’s.
Please contact the North Devon Maritime Museum[v]
in Appledore for further information.
Despite the project officially ending with the completion of the
new display it is sincerely hoped that people will continue to get in touch
with the Burton Art Gallery & Museum if any new information or artifacts come
to light. There is also a learning pack for schools to accompany the display,
created by learning co-ordinator Sadie Green, so that children may continue to
learn more about their local environment and history[vi].
Furthermore, the project has hopefully inspired artists to explore local earth
pigments in their own environment and think more about where the materials they
use comes from – already exhibitions at the Burton Gallery are including more
work using local earth pigments. Along with last summer’s BIDEFORD BLACK 5 artists exhibition at the White Moose Gallery in Barnstaple,
I have been contacted by a number of artists who have started to explore Bideford
Black in their own work.
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Lastly many thanks to Tilly, Warren, and staff of the Burton Gallery
& Museum, Julian Vayne, Sadie Green and Ros Ford, and to all who have
contributed to a most worthwhile and enjoyable project.
‘‘Art does not reproduce the
visible but makes visible’’ Paul Klee
Pete Ward
Lead Researcher, The Story of Bideford
Black
[iv]
If anyone does have a tin of Zatz Black, made with Bideford Black, then there
is a space waiting for it in the display! It has become somewhat of a holy
grail for the project.
