25th July 2011

SIDMOUTH: Local school children discover how our landscape has changed over 160 years

By Huw Hennessy

Coastal erosion is a constant concern in the Sid Vale, and pupils at two local schools have been studying how our landscape has changed over the last 160 years.

Year 7 pupils at Sidmouth College and Year 6 pupils at Newton Poppleford Junior School have been observing, photographing, painting and drawing, to build up a visual record and find out how and why landscapes change. Their work, called the Changing Landscapes Initiative, is part of the “In the Footsteps of Peter Orlando Hutchison Project”, run by the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Hutchison was a historian, naturalist and artist who lived in Sidmouth in the mid 1800s. Pupils have been studying his landscape paintings and comparing the scenes with how things look today. They looked at two of Hutchison’s 1849 paintings; one of Sidmouth Esplanade and another of High Peak, then painted the same views today, having noted the differences in natural and man-made features. 

Sidmouth College gave a preview of the pupils’ artwork last week, prior to Sidmouth Museum’s one-day tribute to the town’s best-known Victorian scholar. 

A group of Year 7 Pupils gave a presentation at the College, talking about their work combining Geography and Art studies:  Beth Nutting, Charles Powell, Jean MacCourt, Amy Greenslade and Emily Keenan explained some of the visual clues they had spotted, including seeing chimney pots at different levels, possibly because of land erosion and cleared vegetation, as well as noticing wider footpaths in Hutchison’s paintings, as a result of most people walking or travelling by horse and cart in the 19th century.

Jan Youngman, Geography teacher at Sidmouth College, who ran the project, thanked all the pupils for their efforts. “This event is to celebrate your hard work”, she told them, “and I am so proud of you all.”

The project group included: Year 7 Sidmouth College: Jean Mc Court, Reece Cabot, Amy Greenslade, Beth Nutting, Will Down, Kerri Anderson, Charles Powell, Emily Keenan, Frankie King- Keast, Freddie Proctor, Tessa Mitchell, Esme Lowrey.

Year 6 Newton Poppleford Junior School: Harriet Moore, Charlotte Bond, Amberlie Hellier, Matthew Hill.

Also attending the preview evening was Peter Youngman, of the “In the Footsteps of Peter Orlando Hutchison” project, who congratulated the pupils for their work, which helps, he said, to “raise awareness and encourage young people to get involved.”

The aim of this Hutchison project is to study his works, conserving and making more accessible some of the archaeological sites that Hutchison “put on the map”, as well as transcribing his writings, to be published online. 

In the Footsteps of Peter Orlando Hutchison Project is funded mainly by the Heritage Lottery Fund, as well as the Sid Vale Association – Keith Owen Fund, EDDC, AONB and DEFRA. 

For more information, or if you would like to join the team of volunteers, contact the Heritage Project Officer, Phil Plane, telephone: 01404 46663, email: [email protected], or visit: www.eastdevonaonb.org.uk

PICTURE: Mrs Jan Youngman, Sidmouth College geography teacher, with year 7 pupils in front of their Changing Landscapes artwork: Beth Nutting, Charles Powell, Jean MacCourt, Amy Greenslade and Emily Keenan.

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