Carscapes

Carscapes - How the motorcar reshaped England. A major exhibition by English Heritage examines the  impact the motor car has had on the physical and psychological landscape of the country.

The show includes my picture of the M62 at night as traffic passes around the Stott Hall Farm, one of the few signs of human habitation on the moors.

Legend had it that the motorway was built around the property because the farmer Ken Wilde refused to sell his land to the Government, and waged a war against the roadbuilders. The truth, however is more prosaic and was, in fact that because the farm sits on a geographic fault which meant the motorway had to be constructed around it. 

About 90,000 vehicles pass by each day on the road which runs from Hull to Liverpool.

Mr Wilde lived at the farm from when he was five until aged 76 when he died in 2004, whereupon a new tenant took up residence.

To get the picture I spent several hours hiking around the moors until I found the right location.  I waited until dusk, about 9pm shooting two rolls on the now discontinued 35mm Velvia slide film. I think it was about a  ten minute exposure. This was one of about three frames that looked right.

Carscapes runs until 6th July 2014 at The Quadriga Gallery, English Heritage, Wellington Arch, Apsley Way, London W1J 7JZ