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Culture 2000

European Union

 

The Cultural Landscape of Arfon - a child's eye view

by Kate Geary

An important aspect of the Arfon project involves defining what local people consider to be important about their own cultural landscapes. Where better to start than with school children who have not yet begun to develop preconceptions about the past, the landscape and their culture? The school chosen for this part of the project is Ysgol Rhostryfan, a small village primary school. Rhostryfan is a largely Welsh speaking village and the majority of the pupils at the school will have Welsh as their first language. For that reason, most of the work of the project will be carried out through the medium of Welsh, although the end product will be fully bilingual, in line with the school's policy.

The village of Rhostryfan is located on the northern edge of the Arfon project area at around 140m above sea level, overlooked by the low hills of Moel Smytho and Moel Tryfan. The land was mostly Crown common until the enclosure movement and Rhostryfan, and the nearby village of Rhosgadfan, grew out of the dual economy of slate quarrying and small scale farming from the early nineteenth century onwards. Now it is mostly used for grazing sheep and cattle. The villages are surrounded by extensive field systems which may have their origins in the late prehistoric period, and there is plentiful evidence of the settlements of that period. Within a kilometre of the village centre, the remains of twelve prehistoric settlements and three medieval settlements can be found. Eight of these archaeological sites are protected as ancient monuments of national importance. The village itself is made up of predominantly nineteenth century terraced houses, quarrymens' cottages and tyddynod, the dual economy small-holdings.

The aim of this part of the project is to introduce the idea of cultural landscapes to a group of eight to eleven year olds and to help them explore their ideas about the past, their culture and their landscape. They will asked to share their experience of the landscape with each other and with us by writing about it and taking photographs of aspects that they feel are special, distinctive or simply typical of the area in which they live.

The children will also be encouraged to think of stories about their area - either ones that they have made up themselves, have heard at school or have learned from talking to parents and grandparents. To make the project more exciting, we intend to link up with schools in the Finnish project area and encourage the Arfon children to write and send their photos to their counterparts in Finland.

The project will tie in to a number of different aspects of the schools' curriculum. It will look in detail at the area in which the children live and explore concepts of time and the past, the development of a landscape and the stories that are inextricably linked to it. It will encourage the children to see their environment as a living landscape with a past and a future, which needs to be cared for and protected.

There are a number of reasons for including children in the Arfon project. Firstly, we can gain a different perspective of the landscape - a child's eye view - to contrast with the views sought through the questionnaire and the travelling exhibition. Secondly, through the children we can reach members of the community in their roles as parents and grandparents who might not otherwise come into contact with the European Cultural Pathways project. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the children that we work with on this project will be the next generation of farmers, builders, countryside managers, planners and decision makers. They will be responsible for the way Rhostryfan and its hinterland develop in decades to come. By encouraging and building on their own interest in their environment, we will not only be providing them with skills and knowledge that will enhance their lives in years to come, we will also be ensuring that the next generation of decision makers have an interest in, and appreciation of, the cultural landscapes of Arfon.

 

  
design: Kai M. Wurm
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