Ashton Moss

I left the rundown sheds and walked along a track to where it joins Moss Lane and turned left, heading towards National Gas Engine Co. In the distance I could see a brick and corrugated asbestos building which looked like a barn (part of the crop spraying man's estate). I wanted to have a closer look at it.

I approached it. On the side of the building, against a black background, in big white block capitals were the words: "G. LOMAS MARKET GARDENER". I wondered if we were related.

The building looked bold and solid and in the flat landscape, it stood out like a house on a prarie. I set up my camera at the side of the field and began photographing it.

1 - 4 In those initial photographs of the building I tried to isolate it from the other buildings in the area. It stands out in the landscape and this is what I wanted to emphasise. The ploughed lines of the field form a good lead into the photograph. The billowing clouds which fill the sky had recently formed and closed in. I like the gap in them (negatives 1 and 3) which hangs over the building.

6 - 10 Further alterations in the camera angle as I moved seeking to emphasise the strength and position of the building. Negative 8 was made by taking the camera right down onto the level of the field. The building and the track which runs alongside it are raised above the surrounding land - in reality I think the peaty land has probably shrunk and its level fallen. The building is also slightly lobsided and falls away towards the corrugated extension.

As I was taking the photograph from the side of the track (negative 10) I spotted the guy who had been spraying the field. I asked him if he was Mr. Lomas. He said, Yes. I told him I was as well, although it doesn't appear as though we are related. His family come from Droylsden, mine from Moston. He said his family had been working this land for over 200 years. The only tenuous link I can find in our family with the land was my great grandfather, who as well as being caretaker of the Simpson Memorial Hall, Moston, also looked after the gardens and bowling green.

At this point I left the Moss and went into Ashton to get a drink and a bite to eat (it was about midday).

When I came back I virtually

Rephotographed the areas I'd visited in the morning.

The position of the sun had altered and the buildings were now shown in a different light.

11 One more photograph of the group of rundown sheds - the white sign on the door is the one that says "ELECTRIC METER IN SHED".

13 - 17 Now back to Lomas's estate. Notice the way the sun is now cleanly striking the end of the building. In negatives 16 and 17 I confronted the end of the building square on and tried to emphasise the simple shape and form of the shed and the signwriting on it. In the other two negatives (13 and 14) I'd wandered right around to the other side.

(I look at the contact sheet of the negatives and I honestly can't decide which of them I prefer).

Just as I was about to leave the Moss I met a bloke called Jimmy Davies. He said he was 78 (although he didn't look it), he was dressed in overalls and a cardigan which was held together with orange sticky tape.

He told me he'd worked the Moss most of his life, initially part-time (he worked as an engineer before the Second World War), and now full-time. He had no intention of packing in yet, although he said his wife never tired of asking him when he was going to retire.

Jimmy struck me as a very sensible and wise person and I enjoyed listening to him. He also talked with a great deal of frankness. He was under no illusions about life on the Moss. He told me there was no longer much money in vegetables and revealed that many of the Market Gardeners were increasingly growing bedding out plants. He said that Gordon Lomas had turned out 70,000 in the previous year. Why was this I asked him? Because small market gardeners with the huge estates down south (he cited London) can't compete with their high-tech green-houses, and automated farming methods. No doubt there are similar estates nearer home in West Lancashire. Jimmy admitted that he could no longer produce crops at competitive prices, and only planted late in the season, relying instead on bedding out plants for his major source of income. We talked about other things and he reiterated what I'd often heard said before, that the Moss wasn't what it was, say, 15 years ago. He felt many people had given up the fight and left. The motorway he said would be the final straw. He told me the route through his estate had already been staked out. I gained the impression that Jimmy was prepared to say things that other people just thought. His outlook wasn't pessimistic (he was a cheerful person), just very honest and realistic. I hope we meet again.

Rolleiflex 3.5F.

Agfapan 100 (80 ASA) Rodinal 1:60. 10 mins @ 68°F.

<span class="wrapper"><p>Work Print</p> <p>Negative c7/1/20/1</p> <p>Work Print c7/3/20/1</p> <p>CH : 510mm</p> <p>Exposure : F22 @ 13s</p> <p>Paper : Gr 2 (G)</p> <p>Comments : Although not particularly well printed I like this image because the building is relatively isolated. You get a feeling of space, openness. The ploughed lines along the edge of the field form a good lead into the picture and take the eye towards the shed. I was fortunate that there is a break in the clouds over the shed which again brings the eye to the building.</p> <p>Straight print.</p></span>