Had a busy time at Habergham Mill in SW Burnley; it's a former textile mill and still a hive of activity where small businesses operate from a series of units. Houses surround the mill, so much so that from the main road you wouldn't know it was there. As you enter the yard you're hit by the sounds of industry, machinery, especially the saws from the wood yard and the clatter of the metal recycling. The proximity of industry and housing was one reason I wanted to set-up in this space - the domestic and industrial sit cheek by jowl.
Industry was the engine for Burnley's development, textiles, coal and engineering drew people from far and wide looking for work. The town has a rich and celebrated industrial heritage, most evident in the Weavers' Triangle. SW Burnley sits adjacent to this, forming its own awkward triangle, located between Manchester Road, Rossendale Road and the south side of Accrington Road (where the M65 runs). Manchester Road and Accrington Road don't join-up to form a neat triangle, they are linked via Trafalgar - where the Weavers' Triangle begins.
Standing at the southern tip of this truncated triangle, looking down towards Accrington Road and the hills on the horizon you see a largely residential area, where the grid iron pattern of nineteenth century terraces gives way to more widely spaced semis - especially the council estates. Looking at the roofs of the buildings you can see a distinct angular shape to some of the council semis - these are the Butterfly Houses, large family homes situated at the corner of streets and avenues.
This butterfly shape came to the fore in the 1920s when municipal housing was given the green light and the country set to work building Homes fit for Heroes. The municipal housing schemes built in the years between the two wars expanded the population of SW Burnley; Stoops, Bleak House and Hargher Clough estates were built on green fields, all three take their name from local farms.
I was really struck by the Butterfly Houses because they were built as big family homes and I've spent some time doing family history with residents at The Orchard in SW Burnley. A butterfly is a symbol of transformation, the magic of one thing turning into another, and this seemed to chime with family life, with a process of renewal and the new emerging from the old.
With this in mind, and with the help of artists I've worked with previously (David Pugh & Vincent James) a scale model of a butterfly house now sits in Habegrham Mill.
We began with a model in card, then built the wooden structure - working out the angle where the two pitched roofs joined was tricky. Once this was done, Emma, a local volunteer helped with painting. Emma was impressed with the structure but she questioned why build it here and why paint it white? I explained my thinking. Building a structure within a structure makes me aware of different kinds of spaces. Outside we walked from residential through to the industrial and once inside we again entered a different kind of space - as we entered this new space we were aware of how the sound of our voices changed, and how the sounds from outside were muted, the light changed and the scale of our immediate environment shifted too. I also liked the idea of a domestic structure within an industrial space - we move through industry and return to what remains - the houses, the families.
At this point Emma's mum arrived, at the same time as two council workers delivering chairs and tables. They were also curious, so I started to explain - "it's a model of one of the houses from the estate". One of the council men replied "I can see what it is, what's it doing in here"?
I continued with my explanation but was struck by the way they were busy identifying where the windows and doors should be - this was a blank wooden structure which referenced the houses - it had no representational detail - but they all recognised it - the shape of the Butterfly House!
Eventually, the structure was painted white and now it seemed to shine, a clean white object sitting beneath a north lights roof in a dirty industrial space. Emma's response? "It's sick". And that apparently is high praise indeed!
So why were the council workers delivering tables and chairs? The Butterfly House will go 'live' in the second week of September. Hopefully, different groups will help to decorate the house, which can now be collaged with photographs I've been collecting from people in the area. The space will also be one of performance, with a community choir, drama performances, a craft group and photo walks in the local vicinity.
So watch this space (literally).
Kelly
