The commercial potential of Lundy was not considered until 1838 when William Hudson Heaven, the owner of the Island needed money and began to explore the possibility of exporting the stone for building works. Heaven leased the East side area to the Lundy Granite Company, who began a 5 year programme of granite extraction, changing the Lundy landscape for ever. This exploitation of nature, is what Gablik, S. (pg 77) talks of when describing how consumerism has affected the landscape.
‘modern individuals do not see the earth as a source of spiritual renewal – they see it as a stock pile of raw materials to be exploited and consumed. Native Americans say that for the white man, every blade of grass and spring of water, has a price tag on it. We are bred from birth to live on the earth as consumers, and this exploitative form of perception now determines all our social, economic and political relationships, in a style that knows no limits…..’
Smith’s Point Quarry, Lundy
Ironically most of the granite would have been cast aside. Ternstrom, M., (2008) refers to the work of Stanier and says that ; ‘The winning of granite blocks suitable for engineering and architectural work has always necessitated the discarding of much rock, as little as ten percent of the quarried material being finally used’.
Although the past 150 years according to Ternstrom, M., (2008)’have softened the contours of the shattered rocks and fostered trees and green plants’ I can’t but help wonder what the island would look like if the quarrying had not happened. With this in mind I took two photographs one of the quarry and one of the East side where there is no granite extraction and wove them together. You can start to see the grassy banks with their wildflowers.
Reference:
Gablik, S., (1991). The reenchantment of art. Thames and Hudson.
Garodia, R., (2022). Contemporary Weaving in Mixed Media. Rizzoli.
Ternstrom, M., (2008). The Lundy Granite Company: An Industrial Adventure. Westwell Publishing.
Jane Sharkey 
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