The Tinner's Hounds

[changeling67]

These caused quite a stir when installed a few years back.  Estimated to cost £30,000 to make, these bronze dog statues were cast out of old miner's boots and the references made by the locals ranged from 'Mildly amusing' to 'grotesque...a waste of tax payers money.'  I think they are rather endearing and I am sure the furor has died down somewhat now.

Comments

[bluegerl.livejournal.com]

They're SPLENDID fun and very very original. NEEDED to be made!!! poopers need to get their heads on straight. Thirty K these days is peanuts compared to the wasted wastes that happen daily.

SUPER jobs. Once again, thanks dear lady! Am really chuffed at these. And they're sturdy enough to park a bum on if weary.

Bless.

[calico-pye.livejournal.com]

I think that some of the local people were in a tizz about it because they felt it mocked the demise of the tin mining in the area (Redruth was a booming town during the 'Industrial Revolution'). Like one retired tin miner quoted that he could live quite comfortably on the money for two years.

Looking up the info on it all, it was installed over 7 years ago, so I think the mumbles and grumbles have subsided a bit now.

[bluegerl.livejournal.com]

Oh dear me. Shame. Cos it seems to me to be a good way to 'eternalise' a way of life that went - so long ago now. But it does keep the boots on view, cos they're boots like no other miners' boots. Cos the tin-mines were always so wet, they had to have waterproof boots, not like the cleg-soled ones my Uncle Rich wore to his workplace in the coal mines of Nottinghamshire. (He had to change them before he went 'down' cos clegs spark against stone and could have blown them all to hell and gone if there'd been any methane.)

Those tin miners had a cold wet wet horrid life. More dangerous than coaling I think? Shall have to google now to find out where we get tin from these days!

[calico-pye.livejournal.com]

Cornwall was a huge mining force during the Industrial Revolution. Many historical features on the net. Also look up the names Humphrey Davy, Richard Trevithick etc - they were the inventive movers and shakers and both Cornish lads.

Below is a poem that I studied during my degree by Cornish Poet John Harris

In Dolcoath Mine

The heat, the cold, the sulphur and the slime,
The grinding masses of loosened rock,
The scaling ladders, the incessant grime
From the dark timbers and the dripping block,
The lassitude, the mallet's frequent knock,
The pain of thirst when water was so near,
The aching joints, the blasted hole's rude shock,
Could not dash out the music from his ear,
Or stay the sound of song which ever murmured clear.

The cavern's sides, the vagues of shining spar,
The roof of rock where scarce the candle gleams,
The hollow levels strangely stretching far
Beneath the mountains, full of mineral seams,
Where evermore to him befitting themes,
For his meditations and his rustic lay;
While in the darkness his pale visage gleams,
To read rich sonnets on the furrowed clay,
And craggy slabs that jut the ladder's lonely way.

[bluegerl.livejournal.com]

OOOh that's lovely. LOVELY. Lots and LOTS of mindpics and stories and.... the song of the mountain's heart.... oooooooh gurgles and happies. Thanks. Twas a bad hard life tho... and no Elf and Sifety then! Bless you.