Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Once

Once there was a town that grew overnight, a town that became engorged with life from the tin that was discovered deep underground. Within a decade a set of nondescript little villages became a boomtown, a hive of industrial buildings and the pride of Victorian mastery over granite.
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Tin became akin to gold, money poured in and the whole town worked it until the rivers ran red with ore waste. The town grew until most of the population were underground, or tending to the various smelting, stamping and milling processes.
By the 1970's Strange town had outlived it's usefulness. The mines started to close and and unemployment was rife. Buildings fell to ruin.
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Ten years later there was only one working mine and the buildings along the once busy railway started to crumble away.
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Not all was lost, many buildings took on a new persona but the locals thought the statues in need of some trendy headgear (this happens at least once a week).


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And the train station, that once fed tin to a hungry world....




..became a sad little place, but still retained its rather fetching chimney's. Today the town is pulling itself up off the floor.

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Not all of Cornwall is beautiful but this is Strange Town and this is where I live.


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Phoctobering

18 comments:

The Moon Topples said...

You have totally outdone yourself, my Minxish friend. These shots are gorgeous.

Unknown said...

Thank you, Maht, very kind. There are nice bits in my town, but mostly it's a bit weird and we won't talk about the population, okay?

Yodood said...

a town that became engorged with life from the tin that was discovered deep underground

Your peculiar wording here set me up for a bit of fantasy about the origins of characters other than Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. What kind of town did the Tin Man hail from, what field the Straw Man, what jungle the Cowardly Lion, what reformatory the Wizard?

Anonymous said...

I have been there sometime in the past - but oddly I am not sure when ... late 90s I think.

Anonymous said...

your part of the world looks lovely, wild, with a slight impish sense of humour .... sort of like it's inhabitant ....

thank you for sharing, minxy !!!! i hope to visit one day ....

red

Roberta said...

What great pictures. It's nice to see where you come from.

pundy said...

Interesting, and oddly moving. Everything changes, I guess, sometimes for the better, sometimes not.

It can't be a bad place to live if it's got you in it. It's the people that really matter, after all.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful story and absolutely lovely pictures, Minx.

The post reminds me of my own town, which used to be overflowing with cotton mills and fields of white fluff as far as the eye could see. The grand mills with glorious arched windows and the endless cotton farms fell to the wayside, when the industry went overseas.

However, after twenty years of impoverishment, this town has grown into the fastest growing metropolis in the Southern US. Weird towns always thrive. :)

Jon M said...

Very fetching chimneys! Why was it called strange Town?

Unknown said...

I am glad I am not the only one who spends time thinking about weird stuff, G&G. I think the straw man came from Strawberry Fields. The others? Who knows.

Mutley, that was Redruth, and you don't want to go back to Redruth Station, do you? No, didn't think so.

I hope you will, Red, we can go shoe shopping together!

I think everyone should do it, Roberta - I wish to see the world.

That's very flattering, Pund, but the people are nuts - have you read Coven of One?

Nice to see you, Jefferson. Towns are sad when they lose their identity.

Why do you think, Jon? It is also known as Granite City, and yes, I love a nice chimney.

Unknown said...

Great shots, Minx and loved the storytelling.

Taffiny said...

I like your pictures and the story of a town. I have often heard like stories of towns (though perhaps not as strange. And certainly not worded as well), sleepy, booming, deserted.

The steel mills are very close to where I grew up, they used to thrive, now the town keeps trying to find other ways of being to survive. ( I think they just finally voted against letting casinos move in).

Kind of interesting that towns like people, need to evolve and grow over time.

I feel that I should feel insulted for the statue, but I rather like him with the hat. (now I am thinking about that horrible story about the boy statue in the center of the town, watching all the people go by, and the bird who visits him. Emotional trauma has caused me to block out title)

Can't help but wonder, just how strange the strange people of your strange town are. ?

GayƩ Terzioglu said...

Aaargh, I should be really working but following your link from your comment on my blog here I found myself reading your wonderful post and looking at the photos to accompany it. The way you wrote it made me want to visit Cornwall and see the places in your beautiful photos!
Well, great to meet you and will be back but for now back to work with me!
Gx

Unknown said...

Thanks, Vanilli, have just been looking at yer cute bollards!

Stranger than strange, Taff, but probably no worse than anywhere else.

Anonymous said...

I love the head gear. I bet it makes a lot of people smile. Reminds me of the time someone put bubbles in the Boston Common fountain.

We have a deer crossing sign that someone has stuck round red stickers on, making it look like Rudolph.

Iota said...

This is a lovely description of your urban surroundings, following a beautiful post about your rural ones. Can't think of a good reason not to live where you do.

Unknown said...

Hello, Gaye, followed your link from MT, will reciprocate the visits - do you like tea?

We have stopped smiling, Colleen, but I did raise a laugh when they put diving gear on him a while back. Halloween is coming - we are expecting a pointy hat.

Plenty of reasons, Iota, we are almost cut off from civilisation, barely housetrained really!

Debi said...

Civilisation sucks!

Give me strange any day of the week ...