Hinterlands Cymru
Spring 2017 - Autumn 2020
“We are so lucky to have the canal on our doorstep. We already use it for walks and activities but this project has highlighted the huge potential of the space for wellbeing, learning and dreaming.”
Hinterlands was a project led by Peak and Canal & River Trust (C&RT), supported by Arts Council of Wales, inviting artists and communities to explore the Monmouthshire & Brecon canal as a space for creativity, biodiversity & wellbeing.
The project’s location is at the Pontypool end of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal in Torfaen. Phase I of Hinterlands took place in Spring/Summer 2018 and Phase II ran from Spring 2019 – Spring 2021 and was made up of three programme strands:
Ahoi! What Grows Here?
Apple pressing at Abergavenny Food Festival with Owen Griffiths and Ella Gibbs. Photo by Vaida Barzdaite.
Ahoi! What Grows Here? draws upon the history of the canal as an infrastructure for transporting agricultural produce, exploring the idea of the canal as a slow food highway, and mapping the region through food and geological evidence. Artists Ella Gibbs and Owen Griffiths researched existing food production along the canal, using Junction Cottage at Pontymoile Basin as a base, resulting in a food map of the Mon & Brec which can be viewed here.
Performance Butty
Blessing the fairies on the Mon and Brec, with artist Stefhan Caddick. Photo by Vaida Barzdaite.
Performance Butty was a floating art school responding to the Mon & Brec canal through performance, sound and text. Led by local young people (aged 16-25 years) and artist Stefhan Caddick, with invited collaborators including Teddy Hunter and Sam Hasler, MBACT’s community boat activated sites along the towpath as the group journeyed from Brecon to Pontymoile over the course of a week in Summer 2020.
Pont-y-Ddôl
Research on the Mon and Brec with C&RT, Rebecca Chesney and Sarah Price
Pont-y-Ddôl (bridge over the meadow) is a habitat creation project and artwork by artist Rebecca Chesney south of Pontymoile Basin on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal. After a period of research between 2018-19, identifying existing plant and insect species along the waterway, Rebecca Chesney proposed a project of 3 strands: changes to Canal & River Trust’s regular mowing regimes along the canal banks, providing increased habitat and forage for insects, toads, frogs and birds; preserving a triangular meadow plot at Pontymoile Basin, left to establish after a change of tenancy at the nearby Toll House; and blocks of water’s edge planting south of Pontymoile Basin in 3 native species: yellow flag iris, purple-loosestrife and meadow sweet. Please visit the Pont-y-Ddôl section of Peak’s archive for more information.
