ariadne

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

15/15 Through work at the site we’ll keep poking at the boundaries of what archaeology is and who gets to do it. And we’ll also, to co-opt Lee’s words, continue to endeavour to make archaeology ‘weird, but interesting’. Thank you! (Apols messed up the thread with 1&2!) #PMAC20

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

14/15 The work culminated this February in a week long exhibition at Nice Things Gallery, Ramsgate*. We’re planning further work together at the site as well as wider collaboration and cooperation across cultural/natural heritage #PMAC20 (*https://t.co/IJ16aRraxS)

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

13/15 And Lee’s view towards Ramsgate, from one port to another, capturing the fragile windblown loess topping the neighbouring chalk cliffs. Lee summed up the site perfectly: ”It was weird, but interesting” #PMAC20

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

12/15 Michael’s, a great illustration of expanse of sea and weather that affects the site #PMAC20

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

11/15 Robert’s with the roots of butterfly friendly buddleia pushing up through tarmac #PMAC20

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

10/15 Sarah’s long view, complete with fennel, grass and white lining, dog poo bag and dead rabbit #PMAC20

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

9/15 Last autumn I visited the site with @EastKentMencap photography group, for an exploration and a sample based condition survey. Their photographs show the inseparability of the cultural/natural, capture the site's complexity and contradictions #PMAC20

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

8/15 The site still contradicts: colliery waste makes it contaminated land but it's surrounded by multiple nature designations (National Nature Reserve, Ramsar, SSSI +) https://t.co/2EhL4SSK3N The conflict inhibits development but ensures, so far, survival as public space #PMAC20

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

7 /15 And so to other-than-human interaction with the site. An escapee beaver, sadly found dead soon after. Buddleia, birch, tamarisk and orchids encroaching. And the sea: 2019/2020 high tides washed right over the apron, contributing to the fracturing of the concrete #PMAC20

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

6/15 Go karters too: see the stacks of tyres. The poster, I only found out recently, is for a Neo-Nazi social network. No date on it and glad no more from subsequent visits but very disturbing all the same. All this shows the site is claimed by different groups #PMAC20

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

5/15 Now a haven for dog walkers: accessible with a café, parking and toilets. There’s also fire pits, beer cans, food wrappers: evidence for evening gatherings. There must have been at least one illegal rave here in the late 80s/early 90s: we need to find glow sticks! #PMAC20

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

4/15 But: 1970s oil crisis + slower but larger ferries = Hovercraft no longer viable and the Hoverport closed in 1982. The buildings were last used as a centre for Kent police during the coal miner’s strike of 1984/5, another irony that sandwiches the site #PMAC20

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

3/15 4000 crossings planned p.a. “The new hopping off point for Europe!” https://t.co/D0BBVDKIyq Ramsgate, famous for seaside hols, now sends people away instead. ‘Pilots’ ‘fly��� hovercraft; pillbox hatted stewardesses attend passengers. Souvenirs of glamour & connectivity #PMAC20

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

2/15 Construction began in 1968, using waste from Chislet Colliery 10 miles away to build up the ground: “a fleet of 100 lorries is carrying away over ¼ million tons of black shale – disposing of an unsightly tip and improving the local amenities” https://t.co/zqAjrIreb3 #PMAC20

[Lara Band @_LaraBand]

1/15 Thank you @EverydayElvis & great paper @AAPiccini. Hello everyone. I’m presenting on work I've been doing as part of the @heritagefunduk supported #PublicArchaeology project @CITiZAN1, at the site of #PegwellBay Hoverport: a huge concrete apron on the #EastKentCoast #PMAC20